Abracadabrew

Review

Are you ready to be initiated into the world of magic? Not just any type of magic; I am talking about something that you have to follow carefully to create the perfect effect every single time. That’s right, we are talking about magic potions! You might make a few mistakes here and there; people might turn into frogs or any sort of strange thing if they drink a potion that is brewed incorrectly. But don’t worry about this, because you’ll learn from the best witches in the Kingdom.  The real issue is that the mad King wants to get rid of all witches in his Kingdom. So, my new apprentice, let’s Abracadabrew!

Abracadabrew is a local co-op/base memory game developed and self-published by Miju Games on the 15^th of October 2020 on the Steam platform.

The game consists of three chapters with 26 levels, including 3 boss fights.

As you start the game, only the first level is available to you, and your goal is to manage to win a minimum of one gold star out of three to unlock the next level, all the way through the game. In each of the levels, you’ll also have a time limit, and the minimum number of potions required to win one, two or three golden stars varies as well. It might be easy if you play by yourself in the first few levels of chapter one but be prepared to sweat a little if you want to bring home the three golden stars in each level. If you play with friends or family members, the chaos will probably start from the get-go as you have to communicate with each other to create each of the potions. You see, to create the perfect potion, you have to place in the cauldron the exact ingredients in the correct order to brew that potion. And each potion has different elements and quantities; it varies from 3 to 8 parts. Can you imagine four witches running around, picking up ingredients and putting them in the correct order in the cauldron? Some will definitely lose their broomsticks!

To make it slightly harder, you and your friendly witches will have to check 6 or 7 cabinets or boxes (you can’t miss them as they will be highlighted in white when you touch them) each of which contains four items. So, there are a minimum of 24 ingredients for which you’ll need to remember the location. Well, if you’re like me, you’ll be thinking after your first game, “I know where the ingredients are!” Wrong, wrong and wrong again! As each game is randomly generated, you’ll find that each ingredient has been moved or that new ones have been introduced.

Plus, a few weird things will happen during each game. A gust of wind or cloud of bats will appear as you play. The wind will push you witches back towards the other side of the screen while bats will block your view by flying across the screen. Other events (that I’ll leave you to discover) will occur, and when they do, remember that you must place your witches on the white circle that just appears on the level and click on the action button in rapid succession like a mad wizard to make them disappear.

In the boss’s fights, you have to create a certain number of potions within the time limit to defeat a big spider. What you need to be careful of here is the webs, as the spider will spin them periodically throughout the level. If you get hit by one, your witches will be stunned for a few seconds.

It is a fun little game to play, either by yourself, with friends or with family members. I think if you have children between 7 and 12 years of age, you’ll have a blast playing together! You’ll also have several skins to unlock, which is always a bonus. It is a bit repetitive after a while, as most games of this genres are. The most important point is that you’ll have fun playing it, and you might finally remember where you lost your car keys tomorrow morning!

The graphics are cute, and you can play with a keyboard or gamepad, which is recommended. The game has been translated into 10 languages, and you also have a leader board if you are of a competitive nature.

Review written by THE CPT FROGGY for Zeepond.com!