In 2016 a small indie company was founded in Spain with the goal of creating different games and engage with different players across the globe. Their name, Chibig Studio. These developers began working on small phone games as their starting point. However, this small beginning sparked their interest and was used as a motivation
for something bigger. Their own Unique Video Game universe. As small developers, they wanted to differentiate from all the others and the idea of making all of their games interconnected was the way they decided to do it so.
Their first big game was Deiland: Pocket Planet and Summer in Mara. Both Games were praised for their relaxing gameplay, their story and theway the game was delivered. Chibig's Mara universe was becomming a reality. Years later they decided to announced their next two projects.
Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara
Mika and the Witch's Mountain
Both projects had a kickstarter which was instantly reached. The first game that was release in 2023 was Koa and the Five Pirates of Mara. The second game set to be released in 2024. During the development, Chibig studio showcased and still showcases early builds of the game, different areas and gameplay clips but also physical parts such as the figurines,
parts of the artbooks and other.
The game was originally released without any physical copy, but as per promised the game also received physical copies a few months later. The releases consist of:
Standard
Included the game alone
Collector's Edition(Burnout edition)
Included the game, art book, Tarot Cards, Poster, stickers and a figurine
Mara Bundles
Digitally the game can be found with other Chibig properties of Mara adventures.
Story of the Game
On a starry night two witches were flying on their broom, these were Mika our main character and her mother. Mika was sent to the Stellar Lighthouse in order to join the school her mom told her about. With an introduction/recommendation letter on her hands Mika is searching for the Mistress Witch Miss Olagari.
Miss Olagari was admiring the view from her mountain and was expecting the little witch. She told Mika that a reccomendation letter is not enough to accept her on the magic school but she had her own test. She told Mika she needs to jump off the mountain and make it back whilst on her broom. Without hesitation she uses a spell
that sent Mika flying down the mountain. Upon landing Mika's broom broke so she walked to the near village in order to fix it. Mika meets Allegra, a citizen and soon to be friend from Orilla Town. Allegra fixes Mika's broom but explains her brrom wont have enought power to get her to the top. If Mika truly wants to go on top
of the mountain she ll have to get a new broom and offers her assistance for the right ammount of coins. Mika mentions she has none and Allegra recalls hearing the Delivery company of the village was recruting.
Mika Then rushes to the Post office of the village and meets up with Greff, the bussiness owner. Greff explains how he deals with his work and Mika discusses the salary. They proceed to agree on giving Mika a day to test her delivery skills and
also discuss the payments awards. The idea was that the recipients will stamp Mikas delivery card based on their satisfaction. Based on that, the award will be decided. After a successfull day Greff decides to employ Mika and gives her an official
card and outfit. Mika with her payment goes to Allegra and gets a new broom and the two talk about Mika's new responsebilities. A new broom wont be enough to fly her up and thus using these delivery services Mika can master flying. Mika agrees with Allegra
who also offered the little witch a place to stay.
One night, the factory that provided energy in the island malfunctioned and Greff rushed to find Mika. On his way, he damaged the goods but proceeded to find her at Allegras and assigned her an urgent delivery. Mika explainned that her shift was done but agreed on the delivery
as it was immportant to the island. She noded the parcel was damaged but Greff said it was nothing. Mika delivered the parcel to the bussiness man W. Soot a grumpy old man who gave Mika bad ratings for no reason prior. W.Soot was mad at the quality of the goods and began
complainning to Mika for various reasons. Greff also made it there and before listenning to Mika's story, he sided with W.Soot and fired Mika. Devastated by the events Mika returns to Allegra but on her way she meets Alex who asked for Mika's service. Mika said she no longer worked for
the post office but agreed to help as Alex was desparate and the recipient was Allegra which is where she was going. Allegra sees the sadness within Mika and the two discuss the situation. The next morning, Allegra hands Mika a new broom and tells Mika that even though she doesnt work for
the delivery services, she can always Help the citizens with their needs which will also help her practice her flying. Just like that Mika's life continue.
Will she make it back to the Miss Olagari?
Will she get her job back?
What can she discovere in the island?
Thoughts on the story
This was a good game which definitely inspired by the studio Ghibli film Kiki's Delivery Service. Afterall we are controlling Mika, a young witch who delivers parcels around the island. Honestly it was a quite relaxing experience, the plot doesnt get too complicated, there are surprises here and there
and its oveall enjoyable. The characters do not have any deep development but they work in their context. Mean guy is mean, troublemakers are troublemakers and supporting cast supports Mika. There are some nice stories with certain heroes, such as the farmer mother who wanted all the best for her kid but had
to ask for his help, and the son himself who honestly adored his mother and appreciated everything she did for him, inspiring him to pick a career based on her lessons. These nice moments can be seen with a couple of characters around the island.
Gameplay
Gameplay wise, Mika and the Witch's Mountain is very plain and simple. The player gets control of Mika, a young energetic witch who came to the island to train under the guidance of Mrs Olagari. Duo to circunstances Mika find herself on the island under the mountain with her broom broken. The entire island acts as Mikas
open world. Before fixing her broom the player gets the basic 3D movement where Mika can walk and jump. There is no sprint button not double jump. Mika can also interact with her environmet with a tap of a button, either to communicate with NPCs or with objects around the world. The real gameplay begins 5 mins later when Mika
reaches the Village and has her broom repaired. With her broom repaired, the entire world becomes available to the player.
With a tap of a button Mika summons her broom and soars through the sky. Whilst on her broom the player controls the direction of movement as well as going up and down. Down is easy to go but up is a bit tricky and its based on the broom. The player then becomes a delivery personel as Mika gets a job by Greff. When delivering an item the
player will have to Pick the item and then find the appropriate NPC to deliver it to. Each item consist of hearts point which will determined the satisfaction of the customer upon delivery. Above the hearts of the item, theres an indicator of either a warning sign, a water drop or in some cases both. This means that if the parcel has a drop icon
the player should try to avoid flying ontop of water. If its the warning sign, the player should try to avoid hitting the ground or a wall whilst flying on high speed. Damaging the goods will make them dissappear in which case Mika will have to go and pick them up again, and in the case of story items, the player will receive one of the three stamps.
Green Stamp: The item was delivered in perfect form and the customer was happy
Orange Stamp: The customer find your services medium
Red Stamp: The customer was not happy with your services.
The ammount of parcels the player can carry differs based on Mikas broom. At the start she can only carry one thing only, but eventually as the story progresses the player will be able to move 4 items at the same time. Usually there is no time limit so the players can take their time delivering the goods but ocasionally the player will receive Ice cream deliveries whose quality is
based on a time challenge. There arent many Ice cream deliveries, and those that exist usually have the target close.
Upon receiving the job, it up to the players preferance to choose the path which they will follow in order to deliver the goods. Around the island there are wind currents. These current will help Mika by increasing her speed or even her height above the ground. Each time she uses one, her ability to fly upwards become available.
Whilst flying around the player will find temples with a blue or gold shiny fragile orb. The player can pick it up and deliver it to some ancient catapults around the world. These catapults will then activate wind currents that launch Mika higher and help her reach higher grounds with a decent speed.
Thoughts on the Gameplay
This was the first time i played a game like Mika. There is nothing that can be done to kill Mika and nothing the player can do to replay certain objectives. For exmple, in Koa the player can join and replay any platforming level but here there's noting. The player can freely ride the wind around the island. Im not saying its a bad thing but after achieving the platinum trophy i dont
see myself playing the game for longer than i already did. The player simply moves around and rides the broom. The mechanics are simple and the gameplay straight forward. There is nothing to customize skills and abilities. The brooms change on their own and you can revert to the previous model so thats just it.
Post Game Content
In terms of Post game content, there are a couple of activities the player can do. First thing the player can do, is be a completionist. The player can collect Napopo statues and exchange them on a Napopo statue in order to get cosmetics. These cosmetics can be in the form of Costumes, Charms and Broom Trails. All of these change the appearance of
Mika and her Broom. The Napopo statues can be found around the village and in the island in general. These statues come in small sizes and various colors. The statues can also be given to Mika as rewards when she completes a Churro Express course on time. Around the town, a churro bussinessman recruits Mika for his campaign. He proceeds to tell Mika that
she ll have to deliver his churros fast enough so that the chocolate wont get cold. When interacting with him, th eplayer can choose a Churro course which will then give a time limit to Mika and a predetermined course where she ll have to fly between the rings in order to reach the end. Around the land, there are some Vase structures that Mika can break by landing on top
of them from a high place. A broken vase will reveal a Tarro Card. Last but not least, upon completing the game, the player can do some side quest. When flying above the ground, the player will find key items thatt need to be delivered to certain NPCS. For example, the player can find Kites, Ostrich, cats, TV etc that have a recipient to be delivered to. These
recipients are unknown but leave clues for the player. For example, an Ocarina can be found with claw marks on top of it, the only character with Claws is Kiala.
Sound and Graphics
Given how both Koa and Mika were developed at the same time the games look alot alike. However, Mika seemed to be the bigger project of the two as the game's design is slightly different.
The sound of the game is like every game of Chibig studio meanning is fun and entertainning but not memorable or something you will be praising th game for. It has happy tunes and good melodies matching the vibe of the level but it's not the music you re going to search online or download on your spotify account. Aside from that as mentioned before
the heroes dont have any voice acting but they do release sound effects whenever they talk.
On the visual department, the game uses alot of hand drawings. As mentioned above, the game has a very small ammount of cutscenes that are hand drawn to the style we get to know from Chibig. Each hero's portait is also hand drawn and they appear everytime the characters interact with each other. As for the overall austetic of the game, the company proceeded
with a more chibi like art style and a cartoonish setting which works good for the game they made. It has a few in-game cutscenes and the game also has some unfinished animations. For example, you ll find a lot of NPCs who dont even move an inch. They stand like plain statues. This doesnt mean that the game doesnt have good animations, as the backgrounds
and the characters are well designed with nice details. Furthermore, this game is an open world with alot of wind currents that Mika rides which add realism when she hovers above water and tall grass..
Final Thoughts
Overall, Mika and the Witch's Mountain is a great game but only when you dont expect much from it and you obtain it on sale. Its by no far an expensive game but it does take more or less 5 hours to 100% which for many is not ideal. The story of the game is simple and very straight forward. There are some very good side quests that
have a nice narrative but nothing too complicated or intense. Nice moments exist here and there but this is not a game people will pick for its narrative alone. Gameplay wise, the game is very simple and plain, there are no complex mechanics and nothing changes as the player progresses. The player controls Mika who has a limited moving
ability on the ground and a very limited mobility whilst on air. To say it rewards the players the more they progress is an understatement. It does control well though. Visual wise, the game combines some well designed handdrawn animation with some questionable visuals of the in game engine. On the audio department the game does not have
any special or unique audio. Upon completing the game, theres only a few things to do but again the entire game can be completed within 5 hours. On the bright side, the game's gameplay is polished and is relaxing. Its a nice game to have on the background whilst doing something else.
This is a video with my Honest review close to when i played the Game
