Deliver Packages And Change Lives In The Ghibli-Inspired Mika and the Witch’s Mountain
This charming adventure lives up to its anime inspiration.
The cute, feel-good game Mika and the Witch’s Mountain begins with you being tossed off a cliff. But don’t worry, it’s for a good reason. Playing as apprentice witch Mika, you start the game by arriving at the top of Mount Gaun, where your magic teacher, an old witch named Olagari, questions whether you really have what it takes for this whole magic thing. Your first test is to make it back up the mountain alone, hence your unceremonious yeeting.
Landing all the way at the bottom of Mount Gaun, near a beachside town at its base, Mika sets off with a broken heart and a broken broom to begin her climb. She soon meets Allegra, a local craftswoman who agrees to fix your broom for a fee. Fortunately, a local delivery service is looking for a new courier, and Mika’s flying broom makes her a perfect candidate.
Mika’s flying mechanics are a little limited, but get much more interesting over time.
It should be clear at this point that Mika and the Witch’s Mountain bears more than a little resemblance to the classic Studio Ghibli film Kiki’s Delivery Service. Both star young witches setting out to achieve their magical dreams only to get stuck doing gig work delivering packages by broom. Both have their heroines meet a colorful cast of townsfolk to guide them on their way when their new jobs don’t quite work out. Superficially, Olagari looks a hell of a lot like a Ghibli character and Allegra might as well be Kiki a decade or so after Kiki’s Delivery Service ends.
But Mika and the Witch’s Mountain elevates itself above pastiche by capturing the more subtle side of Ghibli’s film as well. A cutesy story on the surface, Kiki’s Delivery Service is actually about passion and burnout, adjusting your plans when your life’s dream doesn’t work out how you expected, and the need for community to pull you through your darkest moments. Mika and the Witch’s Mountain touches on similar themes, while also telling a surprisingly mature story about labor exploitation and environmental degradation by profit-seeking companies.
Magic and delivery work surprisingly go hand-in-hand.
That might make Mika and the Witch’s Mountain sound like a dour affair, but have no fear, it’s also every bit as cute and enjoyable as it looks. The game’s world is full of charming characters, from the bratty children of an aristocratic but deeply in debt painter to a brilliant scientist who isolates herself for fear of alienating others with her enthusiasm. Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is full of funny, energetic dialogue, but nearly every named character also has a deeper emotional issue to sort through, which Mika can help with. What makes the game so impressive is how it weaves its more serious themes through an overall joyful experience without letting either side falter.
Then, of course there’s the flying. You’ll spend most of your time in Mika and the Witch’s Mountain ferrying packages back and forth between residents of the island. At first, you’re working for Amazing Deliveries, a courier service with a convoluted pay structure designed to screw its workers out of as much of their earnings as possible, then later you set out on your own. Either way, each package has special considerations to pay attention to. Some can only take a few bumps along the way before they break, others will need to be kept out of the water, and still others have a tight time limit for their delivery. It’s never too punishing to meet all the conditions, but it does add a nice challenge to what’s otherwise an easygoing game.
Getting to know Mika’s new neighbors is one of the best parts of Mika and the Witch's Mountain.
You’ll make your deliveries by broom, as any good witch would. Your starter broom is a barely repaired stick that slowly putters around and can barely hover a few feet off the ground, but by the end of the game, you’ll be effortlessly leaping over hills and soaring through the skies on the magical equivalent of a Ferrari. The early stages of the game can be a bit frustrating given the unreliable starter broom, but the progression from fledgling flier to queen of the skies is satisfying, mirroring Mika’s own emotional journey. The struggle at the beginning makes it all the more worth it when you’re able to do laps around Mount Gaun on your deluxe broom just for the fun of it.
There are quibbles to be found with wonky flying controls and a lack of complexity in both its writing and gameplay, but they’re easily overshadowed by everything the game does right. Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is an utter delight, its joyful flying and heartfelt story making it a perfect mood-lifter you can finish over the course of an evening.
