The Haunted Hoard: Mystik Belle (PS4)

While the exploration-focused platforming of Metroidvanias and the dialogue heavy puzzle solving of point-and-click adventures might feel like two very different types of experiences, these two genres do line up in an interesting way. Both of them often feature a large interconnected area that expands in potential as you start to go deeper into the game, Metroidvanias often relying on upgrades and point-and-click adventures tending to hinge on using items in the proper manner. Mystik Belle is a case of both genres intersecting and keeping some of their more recognizable qualities, this game featuring both character upgrades and inventory puzzles as ways of advancing the story and exploring more of its spooky but cartoony setting.

 

Mystik Belle’s plot begins on a pivotal night at the Hagmore School of Magic. The Walpurgisnacht Brew has been prepared to help hold back an ancient evil, but a strange figure breaks in and sabotages the brew. A young witch named Belle McFae happened to be in the area when the attack happens but fails to identify the saboteur, and with no one else to blame, the higher ups of the academy blame Belle and insist she go out and collect the vital ingredients before the end of the night as her punishment. With monsters roaming the school and nearby forest on this dangerous night, the novice witch is forced to better her magic, make creative use of what she can find, and scour the grounds to help prove her innocence and prevent the calamity that would unfold should she fail to have the brew’s ingredients ready in time.

 

One of the most appealing aspects of Mystik Belle is apparent the moment you get a good look at it. Detailed sprite art brings to life monsters and characters who fight right into the spooky yet friendly magic academy. Many ancillary characters lean heavily into cartoonish exaggeration of their features and our lead Belle McFae has a round yet expressive experience. While the heroine may be adorable the game does try to make creatures like a toothy plant, evil tree, and the ghostly knights on their skeletal horses look more intimidating. On the other hand, some of the enemies include things like a bear in a Russian hat who dances towards you, so the mystery of whether the next room will contain a giant fearsome spider or a fluffy rat who shoots laser beams from its mouth makes exploring a new area intriguing just from a conceptual standpoint.

The Hagmore School of Magic isn’t too large and the game gives you a map on the pause screen to help navigate it more easily, but there is some location variety as you head out into the forest, learn to breathe underwater to explore the flooded caverns, and head into an abandoned mine nearby in your search for the ingredients. The lively chiptune music meant to evoke retro game soundtracks has a nice Halloween air to it and there are a few catchy songs like “Dubious Castle Safety Gigue“, so in regards to its overall aesthetic, Mystik Belle is able to create an inviting and scare-free horror setting that can call back to old games like the Dizzy series it takes inspiration from while also being modern enough in its appearance that it won’t scare off people with no nostalgic attachment to retro games.

 

Exploring the world of Mystik Belle doesn’t quite combine its many elements with that same degree of finesse though. Most of the regular enemies Belle encounters in her quest fold easily to your simple fire spell, the player only needing to be positioned right to ensure the flame hits the opponent for the kill. To counter this fact though most enemies are less about being tough fights and more about dominating their space in some form. Sproutlings rise up from beneath your feet, flying creatures move in patterns so you have to anticipate their movement to nail them, and some like the earlier mentioned laser rat can cover a lot of the screen with their attack if you don’t kill them quickly enough. While you begin with a dinky little fireball as your only means of attack, you do eventually unlock a lightning spell that must be charged up and leaves a lingering ball of electricity to deal continuous damage, but rather than this making things too easy, instead the monsters become a bit tougher to keep pace. You’ll still not struggle too much to dispatch with any single one but you have to attack properly to get around whatever defensive or placement advantage they might have for that quick kill.

 

One odder aspect of your magical attacks is the fact the basic fire spell can be upgraded over the course of the game by earning experience. Killing monsters will gradually lead to your fire spell gaining new aspects like a split shot or bigger fireballs, but there’s no need to worry about being underpowered since you can level up to max power surprisingly early on. Your final fire spell isn’t so tough it breaks the difficulty curve at least, but it does raise the question of why this was handled in such a way since that progression will end before you’re even halfway through the game. For the most part it does seem like the regular monsters are less about being small battles as you move about the world and more as hazards that can whittle down your health if you don’t take care of them. Health is limited to enemy drops and it’s not too uncommon to gradually rack up enough damage from monsters and area hazards that an upcoming boss can be quite a challenge. Dying only resets the current room and tosses away experience points earned for leveling up your spell, but the experience loss only matters when it’s too early for you to likely die and the room reset can mean a difficult challenge will become easier as you are given your full health back to try again. Mystik Belle is likely trying to be pretty approachable though, and at least the boss fights tend to throw a lot at the player to land hits and make a win feel more like you did have to both survive and keep up the offensive in equal measure to succeed.

The art style and explorative platforming are only two of the three ingredients used to create Mystik Belle though, as the inventory puzzles and character interactions make up a big part of how you’ll make progress in the game. Many items appear throughout the adventure that you need to pick up and find a use for, with determining which interaction is needed making for an enjoyable puzzle element to your quest. Belle’s inventory though is sadly limited, and while there are treasure chests for storage near the warp rooms that can carry you to different parts of the overall map, you can even potentially fill up your chest and inventory both because of all the items the game throws your way. There is no penalty for leaving most items out on the ground if you can’t pick them up at least, and combinable items will automatically be put together once they’re all in your inventory as well. While limiting your inventory space might seem a little archaic, it’s only really felt at a few points in the game, partially because it does throw a few actual garbage items into the mix to throw you off the trail of a puzzle’s solution. These can be chucked into a garbage bin for a trophy at least, but most every other item is tied to a specific interaction in the game world, some even having multiple pieces coming together like the point in the game you actually need to make the mold for a gear and subsequently forge it with a wide variety of items and tools coming together for the project.

 

There are some interactions or items that are only available once you’ve spoken to the right side character or hit a certain mark in the story so it can be a bit unfortunate to go back to a place and suddenly have an item now available for pickup or use when it should have been available earlier, but for the most part figuring out how things go together is a good way of ensuring some deeper challenge remains in Mystik Belle despite the regular enemies not being too tough. There is only one randomly dropped item to worry about too and it’s mostly just to see a secret area with an amusing reuse of assets from the game’s prototype stages. The items do definitely feel like they add more texture to the world as you need to speak with characters and make use of parts of the environment to make progress, so just like with the action platforming, Mystik Belle is able to make this design choice appealing despite some clear areas for improvement.

 

The ending of the game definitely could have used with some improvement unfortunately. Getting the game’s true ending can be done naturally but with a bit of effort, the player able to spot scrolls that don’t appear on their map but are tantalizingly out of reach at first. Collecting all of these to learn the truth of the Walpurgisnacht Brew and its purpose will open up the game’s better finale, but the final boss fight loses itself in a gimmick that means the fight can end too quickly either with victory or defeat. It’s definitely an ending done more for a funny finale that ties together parts of the story, so while it’s tonally cute it’s not quite the big climax you’d hope to see to wrap up this magical little adventure.

THE VERDICT: Mystik Belle’s lovely sprite work, silly characters, and inviting world of cartoony monsters can immediately charm a player into liking it quite easily, but the platforming and puzzles involved in exploring its world do a lot to keep things fun as well. While the difficulty level of regular enemy encounters is low, they do move in smart ways to keep the player moving and active while the bosses manage to hold their own in the more involved battles. Meanwhile, the inventory puzzles ask for a greater degree of thought from the player on how they can interact with the world. While many of its ideas hit on limitations that hold them back to some degree, what does work well mixes together into something enjoyable, breezy, and brimming with Halloween style.

 

And so, I give Mystik Belle for PlayStation 4…

A GOOD rating. Mystik Belle reminds me a fair bit of Spooky Ghosts Dot Com in that they’re short but sweet games with adorable cartoon approaches to their horror aesthetic, but Mystik Belle definitely does a lot more than that simple PC game. The attention given to the look of the title does a lot to make moving into new areas more appealing, and while the enemies can often be easily trounced by your fire spell that grows in strength far too quickly, the game takes measures to ensure that new areas are never filled with pushovers. Mystik Belle’s cute look and general difficulty level does make it feel like it’s trying to balance an enjoyable adventure with one kids won’t get too lost in, although the inventory puzzles asking for some smart problem solving could potentially scare a few children off. Those definitely help to make the overall adventure have more texture though as returning to an area to find new locations or goodies isn’t just about the skills you get from beating bosses like the air dash but it can also be from finally gleaning what you’re meant to use a specific item for. Tipping the balance towards a few more engaging fights and less fiddly handling of the inventory could definitely lead to a more exciting and streamlined experience, but Mystik Belle gets enough right that it can be a fun and casual way to scratch two genre itches at the same time.

 

Mystik Belle is an adventure game, it just chooses to filter that through Metroivania elements to make things a bit more interesting than just walking to destinations and using items to make progress. The blend of both means getting around can be enjoyable even when it’s through familiar ground, and you have enough tools at your disposal that making progress is never absurdly easy or overly challenging. In the end, it’s pretty easy to be charmed by this little witch game.