Magical Delicacy

I always love the opportunity to play as a witch so I was excited when I saw Magical Delicacy show up on game pass. I had heard some good things about this and the gorgeous 2D pixel art certainly had me intrigued to see what this is all about. The thing with this game is that I came into it expecting a super easy and chill “cozy” platformer as that is pretty much what the game describes itself as. Do not get me wrong, there are certainly chill and cozy elements at play here. However, this is far more challenging than I thought it would be, but once I got my head around that, I truly appreciated what this game had to offer.

The Good Witch

I do not want to dive too much into the story of Magical Delicacy, but I really liked this. We play as a young witch who wants to learn her powers and have a good life. We move to a new town on a cliff that is like a port where adventurers come. We open up a little shop that sells baked goods, potions, and more to the people who live here and travel through. Yet, there is more than that here, we end up being tutored by two magic people from different covens. Add to this some magical secrets that pop up and there is a lot more going on here than you may think.

Magical Platforming

There are two main parts to the gameplay of Magical Delicacy. First of all, we have the platforming, they straight up say that this is a Metroidvania game and I can see what they are saying. There is a lot of exploring and traveling back and forward in this game and to be honest, it can become a bit of a chore as you do not unlock all the traversal moves in the game until a decent way through it. The controls are solid enough, but the game does suffer from a lack of direction and I found myself having to consult a guide as I was completely lost in regards to what I was supposed to do next. For me, a cozy game should not require me to get frustrated and pick up a guide.

A Witches Brew

My favorite part of Magical Delicacy was making potions and other goodies. You do this by finding the ingredients, buying them from merchants, or even growing them yourself. You will be tasked with creating something for someone and this can be a straight up recipe or you can get a bit creative and try your own custom things. This starts off pretty easy, but the difficulty here does ramp up pretty quickly and it becomes more challenging to find the right items or know what exactly to do to make something just right. To be fair, if the developer did not class this as a cozy game I do not think I would have minded and probably got a kick out of the challenge. I liked the progression of getting new and better equipment in the game and found this aspect pretty addictive.

A Magical Kind Of Charm

What really won me over with Magical Delicacy was the presentation. As far as the looks and the sound goes, this is a game that is 100 percent worthy of being classed as a cozy game. The pixel art they have gone for is just so well done and while I love the character designs in the game. It is the amazing backgrounds and locations that I think really make this a game that is so pleasing to the eye! The artist did a truly wonderful job here of making this world seem alive and magical. Also, I have to say that the soundtrack is awesome, it goes perfectly with the visuals and has a very chill and whimsical vibe about it.

Pros:

• I found the story to be very intriguing
• The game has a very charming look and vibe about it
• Once I got used to it, I liked the more involved gameplay
• Playing as a witch is always cool

Cons:

• The game is probably harder than some people may expect
• There were a couple of times I had no idea what I was supposed to do next