A Pinch of Magic -- No Spoiler Review

 A Pinch Of Magic

System: PC 

Price: Free 

Voice Acting: No 

ESRB Rating: Not Rated, Reviewer Suggests E10 (10+) 

Overall Rating: Stole 6/10 ♥s

Pre-Game Perception: An entirely fantastical outlook on what life is like with responsibilities. Probably something very comedic and teen-angsty since there’s avoiding authorities and also being required to help family while “friends are jet setting” which just isn’t how it is after high school.

Morning-After Reflection: A wholesome and cute game that felt entirely too short with the amount of world-building that took place. Definitely my sense of humor with a love for alliteration and bad puns.

Story: “Varsha is a young witch who has just graduated high school. While their friends were off jet setting and traveling around the world, Varsha had to go back to their hometown Lynnsdale to take care of their grandparents who ran a small magic store. There were two major issues though: one, magic is strictly banned and two, their grandparents' store is on the verge of bankruptcy.”

Interest Rating: 6/10 The premise really didn’t grab me because it sounded too fantastical, but it was a game that was featured for a weekly play-along (which I didn’t manage to participate in) and it was free so I thought I’d give it a shot. Although so many of the games I play have fantasy settings, I’m not big on the magic aspect of fantasy stories. Weird, right?

MC: I was surprised to see that Varsha (MC) not only had their own sprite, but had TWO sprites. A Pinch of Magic gives you the option to choose your pronouns and a sprite to match. I really enjoyed that they were both designed in the same manner, same brown hair, same darker skin color, same outfit even. One was clearly feminine in presentation, and the other masculine. Since you get to choose both your pronouns and sprite, you can mix and match however you feel comfortable. Want to have a femme presenting NB? Pick the female MC and They/Them pronouns. Want a butch woman? Pick the masculine MC and She/Her pronouns. Seriously, this option was amazing and made me feel so seen.

Since you can choose a sprite, it should seem obvious that the sprite appears during most of the game. This is a full sized sprite, so there is less self-insertion and more getting to watch the story unfold, but I wouldn’t have it any other way, honestly. You’re also prompted to change the name right away, they don’t even fill it in with Varsha. I had a mild moment of panic as I tried to think of a name on the spot. I don’t do well with pop quizzes. Because of that we got a… um… interesting string of names. Ahem. Moving on.

Varsha also has a personality to match their killer style. For real real, I dug the aesthetic of the MC. They were cool and funny, and maybe a little bit of an ass dealing with one of the LIs who comes off as a complete ora-sama. But that guy totally deserved it. You get a lot of Varsha’s thoughts during the story, and see how they motivate themselves even when things don’t work out quite the way they imagined. It was nice to see the MC with so much personality and really driving the story while the LIs were supporting characters.

Likability Rating: Yu. Bonus points for pronoun and presentation choices, plus sprite included through the whole of the game. Fun personality and design. I’d enjoyed hanging out with Varsha.

Plot: Like most game jams, the plot is pretty simple and straightforward - there simply isn’t enough time to construct a sprawling story with many branches in the time allotted for a game jam. And honestly, I don’t think that’s a problem. Sometimes I’m looking for a straightforward slice of life game, with a little coffee and magic, and that’s what I got with A Pinch of Magic.

You start out the game getting off the bus in the small town your grandparents live in, getting the rundown of the history of the town and where your character stands in the midst of it while you make your way towards the coffee shop. First, I have to say that I absolutely love the way the shop is named Coffee & CuriosiTeas. A+ pun right there. But I also really enjoyed the way the story unfolded without a massive dumping of info, yet enough information that I had no questions left unanswered.

That being said, the all out there approach leaves nothing to come back to. While that is understandable due to time constraints of constructing the game during a game jam session (usually 60 days or less from start to finish), there is little to no replayability. Most answers give you only the slightest differences in choices and though the two routes are different, if one of the characters isn’t your thing then you’re not missing anything by not playing it. Trust me on that, I did it myself.

Replayability Rating: ★★☆☆☆ Although a cute story, and enjoyable the first time through, there isn’t enough difference to play each route more than once. A well thought-out world, but not enough time to really explore the whole thing.

Love Interests: A Pinch of Magic has two love interests, one male and one female. I’m not going to get into the argument about whether or not this still counts as otome, we can all hold different opinions on that and no one is right or wrong. That being said, I was not a fan of the male LI at all, and didn’t manage to even finish his route. So I guess I played a dating sim rather than an otome. Haha.

There is not a route order to A Pinch of Magic. You just start the game and pick answers that are in line with the character you want to romance. I’ll give you the limited LIs in order of appearance.

Kiana is the first notable character you meet - meaning she has a sprite. I love her design, and while I found her a bit soft spoken and entirely too gentle for her own good, I really enjoyed the short, short, short route I played starring her. Her part of the story revolves around her own conflict, that being pollution and the effects on the environment. Sure, you’re still trying to revive the coffee shop, but it almost becomes a backdrop for Kiana’s struggles while you try to help her deal and overcome them. Probably because Kiana’s conflict encompasses much more than just herself. Literally the world depends on limiting our impact on the environment. It was a large moral to try to put into a small route, but I guess I’m more aware of plastic being bad? Okay, not really, but maybe someone out there feels a little guilty for using disposable items after this route.

Mikhail is the male love interest in this game and I just did not vibe with him. I don’t typically have characters I dislike enough to not finish their stories, but tsundere characters can be entirely too aggressive for me depending on how I’m feeling in that moment day week month. Sometimes I like the bickering, especially if it is portrayed in a way that doesn’t feel like bullying, and sometimes I just can’t stand it because it comes off cruel or worse yet, the MC gets (rightfully) upset and doesn’t just roll with it.

That was Mikhail’s route. Varsha is as rude as Mikhail is, and the insults didn’t feel like teasing banter, it felt like barbed attacks between the two of them. Do not want. So I skipped finishing his route. :shrug: Unfortunately, Mikhail’s route is at least twice as long as Kiana’s, so I might have missed out on some good story and character development, but I just didn’t want to listen to read the fighting. Sorry dude, you’re not pretty enough for me to deal with it.

Boy Crazy Rating: 62%. Neither LI really stood out, and if not for Kiana, I wouldn’t have even finished a route. Sorry, dudes and dudettes, I’m just not that into you.

Romance: Oof. While I’m totally aware that I only played 1.25 routes out of 2, I think it’s fair to say the romance is seriously lacking here. Not once did I get to kiss my pretty girlfriend; we both were too busy trying to put a coffee shop back together on limited funds and only our manpower, while simultaneously trying to stop garbage from making it into the nearby ocean. There was no time for wining and dining– Well, I say that but there actually is a scene about wining and dining so… Unfortunately, the sweet and romantic parts are overshadowed by the looming dread of failure and, you know, destroying an ecosystem.

We just pretend Mikhail doesn’t exist in this part.

Heart Palpitation Rating: F. Nothing says “I love you” like desperately trying to keep an entire town from killing the planet. Unfortunately, that’s not the “I love you's" that I want. No dokis to be found here.

Spice: Chances are if the romance is lacking, so is the spice, and you couldn’t be more right! I don’t require physical intimacy to qualify a game as romantic, or full of love, but I do require some physical contact to consider a game spicy. If I don’t even get to lock lips, is it even worth scoring on the Scoville Scale? There’s not even a healthy dose of sexual tension in this game.

Cold Shower Rating: Fail. I felt like I was not only sucking on an ice cube during the entire game, but also that I was maybe sitting on one? Or encased in one? Seawater is warmer than this game was.

Angst: Despite making pointed comments in the other sections about how “the morbs” brought the whole game down, there isn’t much angst to speak of. Sure, the existential dread of the world ending is there, but like… that’s a very, very slow process considering the world ending, or life ending matters that are in other games. Varsha isn’t in danger of dying, their mortality isn’t questioned once, but there is a general sadness to the game and angstiness that does color all interactions. No one wants something they love to disappear, and that is the central theme here both for their grandparents’ coffee shop and the ocean’s residents.

Drama Llama Rating: 2/10. It has been so long that I don’t even remember what the Drama Llama looks like, and it seems I’m not going to see him around today either. General sadness exists. Big world problems abound. Nothing unsettling to see here.

Voice Acting: Nothing to hear here.

Expression Rating: N/A Voice actors are costly. Free games don’t tend to have them.

Art: I thought the art was relatively cute. I enjoyed the designs of all the characters (all three), and I really liked that the MC wore very similar outfits between the two gendered sprites. The backgrounds are pretty generic in some cases, and extremely detailed in other cases. It was this weird juxtaposition of backgrounds with a lot of thought, time, and effort put into them, and then what appeared to be rushing through the rest because the deadline was looming. I’m not sure if that really was the case, but that’s how it felt to me.

There are a lot of backgrounds for such a short game, which was surprising to me. And while there are only three characters with sprites, the fact that there were two MC sprites is just something I can’t get over. This was easily my favorite feature of the game - getting to pick a gender presentation along with my pronouns. And for a game jam game! Like, that’s a big deal. 

Still Picture Rating: ★★★☆☆ Many background. Such rush. Very gender.

CGs: There aren’t many CGs in A Pinch of Magic, again, let me wave my hand towards the big sign saying this game was done in less than 60 days as a game jam. You do get a handful per character, so it isn’t non-existent, but there clearly wasn’t a push to include several CGs per route. I’d say overall I was happy with the amount of pictures I received for this limited game. I also really liked the additional promotion art that their various artists did. Those were cute, you can find that in the extras section.

Look at this Photograph Rating: 75%. Not much to look at, but any CG is better than no CG. Keeping in mind that the game is free, this rating is not surprising. Money really does buy happiness, at least in CG form.

UI/Mechanics: A Pinch of Magic is a typical visual novel, where you read through a story and make choices to determine which route you get on, and what ending you receive. There are no additional mechanics for this game. The general UI was clean and cute and thematic. I really enjoyed the pinks and purples and they weren’t garish. There’s honestly nothing to make note of here, standard UI with standard options, done in a manner that seems rather standard.

What’s this button do? Rating: C. Your typical UI with nothing more or less than what you would expect. Proper design and function, and nothing worth noting.

Errors: A Pinch of Magic is an OELVN (Original English Language Visual Novel), meaning it was written in English and didn’t require any translating or localization. I tend to be more strict with OELVNs because the script literally has less hands involved (in most cases), and so there are less ways for accidental mistakes. I’m very happy to announce that even though I’m the strictest mistress taskmaster spellchecker, there were only a few very minor mistakes overall. Clearly the scripting and programming was combed through well, because even native English speakers tend to make typos constantly occasionally.

Here there be Bugs Rating: Pass. Brand new and thoroughly scoured, A Pinch of Magic boasts absolutely nothing in regards to errors and bugs. Live your life without the peskies.

Background Music: The background music was good enough, I guess. I’m going to be honest here, it has been almost a year since I played the game, and when BGM is generic enough to not make an impression, I kind of forget what it sounds like. There are games I haven’t played in years and can hear a composition from them and instantly recall many scenes about the game. That’s not the case here. It wasn’t something I turned off, but I don’t think I really felt much for the music in either direction.

BY OUR RATINGS COMBINED!: Oh ho! You thought you were done, didn’t you? Don’t worry, this will be short. Sometimes my individual ratings do not always add up to my overall rating; this is because I find a reason to rate the game based on things that are not listed in my (very) long review. I couldn’t section everything. Sometimes price factors in. Sometimes personal tastes. Basically, what it comes down to is would I buy this game knowing everything I know? Would I recommend it to a friend? Well, seeing as how A Pinch of Magic is a free game, yeah, I’d “buy” it again. I have recommended it to other people, mainly because of the choice of gendered sprite and pronoun options, but I caveat it noting that the game is short, cute, and doesn’t have much substance to it. This isn’t a game that I think is a must play, but giving a little love to the developers that put together these passion projects is always nice. I wouldn’t play it again, but I don’t play most things again, but knowing what I know now, I’d play it for the first time all over again.