Time a cute game! This is a game heavily inspired by Japanese takes like Kiki’s Delivery Service. You play the role of Mika, who is an apprentice magician, and is on her way to get trained by a great sorceress living at the top of the tallest hill. She’s ready to learn from her. Her broom is ready, she’s made her decision to give it all. Yet the sorceress does not see it this way, and tricked her to fall from the mountain. Not to her death, since she still has her broom. But it was close enough, as she was not ready to fly just yet.

Mika lands on a beach, just next to a small village. Her broom is broken, but her will is intact. She WILL get back on that mountain, and this time, she will fly there directly. Easier said that done. Lucky for her, the people living in the village nearby are super helpful and are willing to give her a chance. There’s a delivery service in search of couriers to handle a strong demand for merchandises. Turns out that someone who can somewhat fly with a broom would be a very helpful addition to their staff! And so it begins with very simple deliveries around town. At the end of Act 1, you are given a better broom, which makes it easier to fly higher (using the horizontal and vertical gusts of winds that you find around, pretty much everywhere) to access new places.

You won’t be able to get to the highest mountain just yet, but it’s a question of steady progress. The game makes you deliver things to people who are farther and farther away, leading to new conversations with strangers. This trick ultimately lets you also discover what’s happening in this big island, who likes who and who hates who, and what are the dynamics at play.

There is no combat in Mika and the Witch’s Mountain. All you do is flying from one point to the next, while trying to find the best path to get there. It’s not always the most direct one. Some deliveries are timed and you need to reach the recipient before time runs out. Some deliveries impose that you keep the items as intact as possible, or prevent them from getting wet (no dipping the items in the water as you cross the seas!). In other words, a series of slighly different challenges every time. The game is chill. There’s very little stress, it reminds me a lot of Koa and the five pirates of Mara, which is I think from the same developer. It also has vibes of Hat in time. This time the production is somewhat superior: the world is beautiful, colorful and very anime-like. The whole thing works very well because the controls are very good, there’s not so many camera issues, and the music wraps the whole package very nicely.

Of course nothing is perfect. The dialogs are somewhat unoriginal and generic. The presentation with static pictures of characters during conversations feels a little cheap, especially after you are served with an animated intro at the beginning of the game. It’s also a very short game that you will complete in a few hours, so don’t expect to spend several weeks on it. It would be great if they extended the content in the base game as it feels a little light.

Anyway, it’s not the game of the year by any means, but it’s a nice surprise. It works perfectly on Linux with Proton, as well as on the Steam Deck, where it got a Verified status just a week ago. It also happens to work very well with Ultra-wide screens. Nice.