We took a deep look at the recently released Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree and are here to tell you all about it.
The Story
Mandragora Whispers of the Witch Tree takes place in the corrupted world of Faelduum, a world where the remaining humans have crammed behind city walls to hide from the legions of monsters that roam the countryside. The player assumes the role of the King’s Inquisitor who finds themselves sent out into the world to find a dangerous monster at the king’s request. Of course, being a dark fantasy world, there’s way more going on beneath the surface, and the Inquisitor is in for more than they realize.
Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree
Developer: Primal Game Studio
Platform: Playstation 5, Xbox Series X/S, PC
Release Date: April 18, 2025
The Gameplay
Gameplay in Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree can be described as being divided between standard Metroidvania gameplay and Soulslike elements. The player has to make their way through various areas by climbing, jumping, and avoiding deadly obstacles while also encountering monsters, bandits, and monstrous boss creatures.
The exploration is where the game most feels like a Metroidvania game, albeit an extremely dark one. The game design does a good job of blending the platforms and various ledges into the background, though sometimes they do their work a little too well. Early on at least, there were several occasions where I had to really look to figure out where I needed to go next. Sometimes the next place to go isn’t always clear, but I found that if one used a process of elimination the way forward would be found eventually.
Everything changes when the player encounters a boss. These fights come with little to no warning so it’s important to be mindful of your health bar and how many potions are on hand. Whereas the exploration aspect of the game is relatively relaxed, boss fights require precision timing and lots of patience. The boss monsters hit hard and will quickly whittle down the health bar if you’re not careful.
Given how tough this game is, I was pleasantly surprised to find how forgiving it can be in certain situations. For example, let’s say the player is exploring a new area and pull a lever that opens a trap door to the next level down. If they die immediately afterward, the trap door will still be open when they make their way back to the original spot. On a similar note, boss monsters only have to be fought once, if you die before reaching the next way point, the monster will not be there when you cross through the area again. This feels like the sort of game that didn’t have to do that, so I deeply appreciated that the developers went that direction.
A Game World That is Darkly Beautiful
One thing that will really grab your attention is the art style of Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree. For a game that’s mostly 2.5D, the figures are very well rendered and the landscapes are truly haunting. It’s meant to be the type of world where it feels like you can be attacked at any time and it feels like it too.
I also like that there are seemingly secrets scattered all over the game world. The player runs by ruins and mysterious statues, the kind of things that make you wonder “Just what happened in this world?” The best part? The game feeds the answers just slowly enough to keep the player coming back for more.
Things You Should Know
The most important thing to know going in to Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is that you are going to die a lot. This is one of those games where it is really easy to die, be it from an insta-kill obstacle or one of the many monsters roaming the land. The good news is, the game only shuffles you back to the most recent waypoint you visited, so most of the time you haven’t lost much progress.
Speaking of waypoints, be sure to activate these any time you come across them (it doesn’t happen automatically), as they effectively serve as your save points in the game. They also function as fast travel points, so the more that can be activated, the better. Speaking of fast travel, I really liked how this game implemented that option in the game. I’ve gotten used to games where you have to be at a waypoint to reach another waypoint, but that’s not how this game does it. Instead, anytime you want to fast travel, you can just open the map, select a waypoint, and go, no matter where you are. This can be very convenient for backtracking to the start of an area if you’ve gotten turned around and just want to start the area over.
Combat as I said before is very similar to Soulslike games, where you face off against a massive boss monster and have to evade massive attacks while trying to whittle their health down. How effective your combat will be will depend a great deal on the weapons you choose to wield. There are pros and cons for each type of weapon. For instance, a claymore deals huge damage but the swing is slower and you can’t use a shield. By contrast, a broadsword and shield does less damage but you can move faster. It is definitely recommended to experiment with different weapons to see which combination works best for you.
In conclusion, Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is an absolutely beautiful game that combines the best of Metroidvania games and Soulslike games into an unforgettable experience you won’t want to step away from. Finishing each area unlocks that much more of the story and it becomes a fun challenge to learn how to overcome each boss you encounter.
