Gwen is a young witch in training who has just started witch school, but on her first day magical stars have gone missing and it’s up to Gwen and her limited magic skills to save the day.  The Legend of Gwen is a retro styled fixed camera 3-D platformer, and it’s available to play on Switch and PC, but reviewed on Switch here.

You’ll start in a hub world where you walk around and select levels.  In most levels your job is to collect all the stars and find the exit, but there are also action stages and boss fights every now and then, too.  You have three lives to complete a level, but if you get hit once or fall in a pit, you lose a life and must start back at the beginning.  Gwen can double jump and fire a magic blast to defeat enemies.  Baddies can also be stomped.  Some levels give you a special spell to try, such as a dash move or letting you control a separate character for a while.

The game has two main problems.  One, play control is stiff and slow, and the perspective makes it hard to judge distance when you jump.  This makes it very easy to fall into pits or get hit by enemies, which makes you lose a life and start over at the beginning.  And that’s the other main problem is how frustrating this game is.  It’s a shame, too, as the game has such a cute premise and retro blocky visuals.

Kid Factor:

The Legend of Gwen is rated E-10 with an ESRB descriptor of Fantasy Violence.  You can zap enemies with magic or stomp on them, but they just turn over upside down when defeated.  When you get hit or lose a life, you just disappear in a cloud of sparkles before starting over.  Reading skill is helpful for some of the text, and younger gamers may find it too difficult.

Tags: Game Reviews