WitchSpring3 Re:Fine - The Story of Eirudy

WitchSpring3 Re:Fine – The Story of Eirudy is an eye-pleasing and adorable RPG that has some heartfelt characters but suffers at the cost of being a bit repetitive. The game employs some nice systems like doll summoning to act as battle allies but the awkward translation and frequent revisits to the same game areas equate to a ho-hum experience. At the price point of $39.99, you'd do best to try the series on the cheaper mobile phone versions first before plunking down that much coin on the Switch version.

WitchSpring3 was originally available in mobile platforms, but has been ported and found a better refined home at the Nintendo Switch library. With no complex difficulty levels, the game is well approachable by all ages. Character designs, background renders have become much smoother in higher resolution so everything feels like a big visual upgrade. Clean UI and fully voiced dialogue for the entire ride is a bonus touch to evaluate the story of its world without discrimination and warmth. The main story is based on a witch and a boy who agree to lean on and become each other’s light in the forest full of foggy mist. After your first initial adventure comes to an end, the additional contents fill in the extra colors for a more diverse world to explore and discover.

WitchSpring3 [Re:Fine] – The Story of Eirudy is a port of a made-for-mobile, turn-based JRPG that should've stayed on mobile devices. It's not bad, but it's better played in short bursts where the game's lack of a solid hook and issues with repetition are more forgivable.

WitchSpring 3 Re:Fine is a glorified mobile game, there is no doubt about it, but one with some heart to it.

In spite of the decent things Witch Spring 3 Re:Fine does right, it falls short everywhere else. Obviously, this focuses on the die-hard fanbase of the franchise, and could be boring to new players. Playing for the hours I did left me bored, even when enjoying the smallest charms but never held up.

WitchSpring3 Re:Fine isn't bad, but the Switch version doesn't feel well optimized or especially exciting compared to the mobile release.

More than anything else I think the real issue with this game I have is the asking price. At time of writing it is going for around £30. You can get all four games in the series on mobile for just over a third of that, almost half of which is for the fourth (and newest) game. WitchSpring 3 on Google’s Playstore is priced at £3.87, a far more compelling price point for the title. Given how well it played in handheld compared to docked mode, and the implementation of the touchscreen controls, if you are at all curious about this game I would certainly recommend the mobile version over the Switch for price alone.

While it was a noble effort to port the game to consoles, the transition is rough around the edges and makes for an uncomfortable playing experience.

I actually feel terrible that I haven’t enjoyed WitchSpring3 more. In isolation it has a lot going for it – I love pastel aesthetics, I love cute witches. I love the CG art. I really love alchemy JRPGs. Unfortunately, WitchSpring3 is a little too obviously a “mobile JRPG best practices” game, so a lot of its potential is let down by less-than-enthusiastic storytelling and a mechanical approach to gameplay systems that left me feeling very cold.

Witch Spring3 [Re:Fine] – The Story of Eirudy was a nice little surprise. While I struggled initially with all the options available it soon cast its spell on me and I really enjoyed it. The flexibility on offer allows the player to really play this in their own way and at their own pace. This is a very rare example of a game where I am kinda keen to look at the previous entries on mobile. A great introduction to the series and hopefully we’ll see more entries in the future on Switch.