Reigns: The Witcher Review – Short Tales, Shallow Impact

Reigns: The Witcher Review

Reigns has steadily grown, garnering a cult following with each release. After the success of its mainline games, crossovers followed, bringing its signature gameplay to Game of Thrones and Three Kingdoms. Continuing down that path, the franchise now delves into The Witcher universe, but can it capture the complex lore that enshrouds the tales of the White Wolf?

For those unfamiliar with the franchise, Reigns is a decision-based game, with each run telling a bite-sized adventure. Told from the perspective of Dandelion the Bard, your goal is to spin wonderful tales to improve your reputation. The branching plot leans into replayability, as each run acts as a retelling, and possible exaggeration, of an adventure from about Geralt of Rivia. Familiar faces wander into the narrative, adding excitement and fan service to the tale. While the notion is appealing, there are flaws in how these stories unfold. Story snippets rarely link together, reducing the overall sense of adventure. This can lead to disjointed runs that feel more like a string of loosely connected anecdotes than a cohesive saga.

Take a Swipe

You are presented with a portrait and some text that communicates a scenario. With a swipe to the left or right, you can choose a response that will then affect icons at the top of the screen. Each action you choose will either increase or decrease a meter. If it fills to the top or sinks to the bottom, it results in failure. This means you must consider each decision in order to balance these aspects. While a dot indicates which icon your decision will affect, it can still be difficult to gauge the consequences of your action. A deeper tutorial or more intuitive indicators would help improve this, but unfortunately, you’re left to muddle through.

Death is frequent, but as runs are short, it’s easy to jump on for another go. After your demise, Dandelion levels up and new Inspirations appear. You get to choose three of these before your run, which varies the experience. Some open up new story paths while others impact the effect of cards. When your run ends, your score will result in star ratings for Inspirations while also levelling up Dandelion to unlock more Inspirations. Although it has the potential to be an addictive loop, it never truly immersed me. Many of the scenarios repeat, decisions lack weight, and the passive gameplay makes each run feel more like going through the motions than shaping a meaningful adventure.

A Mobile Match

At points, a combat segment appears where you must shift an icon from left to right, avoiding hazards and landing on the correct location to unleash a strike or perform magic. While this varies the gameplay, it’s a shallow mini-game that doesn’t capture the intensity of battles with Geralt; aspects like this further anchor the game as a mobile product with its simple mechanics and pick-up-and-play nature.

The Reigns franchise has built a distinct look, which continues in this iteration. Simple and clean, each character resembles their counterparts from The Witcher while embracing the series’ distinct art direction. There’s a certain charm and personality with the presentation, which welcomes newcomers and will feel like home for returning players.

Fans of the Reigns franchise are likely to enjoy this Witcher iteration. It retains the staples of the series while developing elements that successfully blend both worlds. However, if you’re new and looking for a deep, immersive, ‘choose your own adventure’ experience, this isn’t it. While the scenarios are interesting and there are plenty of branching paths, the experience often feels disjointed, as decisions lack real impact. Though the short runs can be addictive, the basic gameplay may ultimately leave you swiping left on this one.

***PC code provided by the publisher for review***