Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch

 Switch
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 137 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 94 out of 137
  2. Mixed: 21 out of 137
  3. Negative: 22 out of 137
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  1. RagnarX213
    Jan 14, 2020
    10
    Simply put: One of the best RPGs EVER
    Beautiful art design (courtesy of the incredible Studio Ghibli) it looks incredible on the Switch! A truly gorgeous anime come to life!
    Amazing soundtrack (courtesy of some prestigious royal symphonic orchestra) Deep gameplay with many layers I wish all games were this skillfully ,carefully and thoroughly crafted. Excellent character design with many    Simply put: One of the best RPGs EVER
    Beautiful art design (courtesy of the incredible Studio Ghibli) it looks incredible on the Switch! A truly gorgeous anime come to life!
    Amazing soundtrack (courtesy of some prestigious royal symphonic orchestra)
    Deep gameplay with many layers
    I wish all games were this skillfully ,carefully and thoroughly crafted.
    Excellent character design with many memorable enemies and boss battles
    If you love RPGs i highly recommend this game!    … Expand
  2. Smoke_jaguar
    Oct 3, 2019
    9
    Crashed once for me so a patch might be necessary in the future. Gorgeous graphics and a very solid frame rate. Looks amazing both docked and in handheld...the game play is good and has many classical JRPG elements. One of my favorite RPGS ever.. if the crash-glitch were to be fixed I'd give it a perfect 10
  3. Welkinz
    Dec 29, 2019
    7
    I feel pitiful for the game. Its art and music are so good and they are the two biggest factors that keep me playing right now, yet its in game combat and data setting are so weird and awful. Why would you set iced coffee at 200, while MP is so important and low at the beginning? Why do you make the combat half-turn half-real time, and makes no shortcut button for commands? Why would youI feel pitiful for the game. Its art and music are so good and they are the two biggest factors that keep me playing right now, yet its in game combat and data setting are so weird and awful. Why would you set iced coffee at 200, while MP is so important and low at the beginning? Why do you make the combat half-turn half-real time, and makes no shortcut button for commands? Why would you only allowing players to save at waystones in “dungeons” but only set a waystone at the entrance and one before boss fight? This game has no learning curve but deliberately make it hard for no good reason… Expand
  4. Dkhenny
    Aug 23, 2020
    9
    Great game, great story and great battle system. The story of two worlds and Olivers story is amazing.
  5. bazzzinga
    Sep 28, 2019
    9
    wow, there's some guy saying this is one of the worst games he's ever played... shocking. it's a RPG drawn by studio Ghibli! it's like one of their movies was made explorable and playable. sure, the characters are simple and there's an overall innocence about the game that's not for everyone. but it's a really great JRPG, with a nice battle system, great heartwarming story and a beautifulwow, there's some guy saying this is one of the worst games he's ever played... shocking. it's a RPG drawn by studio Ghibli! it's like one of their movies was made explorable and playable. sure, the characters are simple and there's an overall innocence about the game that's not for everyone. but it's a really great JRPG, with a nice battle system, great heartwarming story and a beautiful world to explore. sure, if you don't like JRPGs, this is not for you. I'm 4 hours into the game and haven't experienced any serious slowdowns. to be confirmed. if you have played it before, it's not essential; if, like me, this is your first chance to play it, you should grab it now!… Expand
  6. robomartion
    Nov 15, 2021
    7
    The Studio Ghibli influence is strong and that at least adds up to fantastic sense of place in the game and a beautiful art style. The story is very charming, and starts off very strong, however, after the intro and the revelation that you run around as a mini version yourself on the map the game quickly goes downhill.

    With a mix of turn-based and realtime gameplay you would think this    The Studio Ghibli influence is strong and that at least adds up to fantastic sense of place in the game and a beautiful art style. The story is very charming, and starts off very strong, however, after the intro and the revelation that you run around as a mini version yourself on the map the game quickly goes downhill.

    With a mix of turn-based and realtime gameplay you would think this would be an improvement however it just ends up being a mind numbingly slow grind. Overall the combat is badly designed and boring and the battle music is extremely bad and that combined with the downgraded over-world once you leave the first town (the first in the fantasy party of the game) the game is just not worth playing after the beginning - which is a very beautiful and promising beginning to be sure. The gameplay in dungeons and areas outside of the overworld are just far too linear and Ni No Kuni never feels like it lives up to its own promises.

    Dragon Quest VIII is a far superior game and the artstyle and gameplay even holds up today and I think the challenging combat and depletion of mana and HP is to thank for that. If Ni No Kuni simply had DQVIII gameplay and world traversal with a Studio Ghibli aesthetic it would be an absolutely hit title for sure. I'm sure this game will hold a special place in many peoples hearts and the story and world is more charming than nearly any other game out there but the gameplay just doesn't make it worth while. As it stands they made too many changes to the formula and it just doesn't end up being any good.    … Expand
  7. shado474
    Jan 3, 2021
    7
    The story is great and charming and the art style and music are beautiful. The main thing this game suffers from is its combat, which is what nearly ruined the game for me. I had to switch it to easy difficulty to make battles as short as possible toward the end because I had no fun at all fighting bosses.
  8. crazymurdock
    Mar 1, 2020
    10
    Looks amazing. 18 hours in so far and loving it. Story is good, and combat is simple but fun.
  9. Sunshadow87
    Jun 5, 2020
    7
    Francamente, cuando por fin he podido jugar a este juego ha sido una decepción.
    Voy a clarificar los puntos buenos del juego: la historia, los personajes, el mundo, los gráficos y arte estilo Ghibli... es decir, casi todo.
    ¿Cuál es el problema? El sistema de combate. Francamente, un punto MUY importante para un juego de rol, donde vas a pasar muchas horas combatiendo. El problema con el    Francamente, cuando por fin he podido jugar a este juego ha sido una decepción.
    Voy a clarificar los puntos buenos del juego: la historia, los personajes, el mundo, los gráficos y arte estilo Ghibli... es decir, casi todo.
    ¿Cuál es el problema? El sistema de combate. Francamente, un punto MUY importante para un juego de rol, donde vas a pasar muchas horas combatiendo. El problema con el combate es que esta completamente desequilibrado. Básicamente, durante el juego serán los monstruos los que peleen por ti, con ocasionalmente cambiando entre ellos si se les agota el tiempo o no son los más adecuados para un enemigo, y cambiando a los personajes humanos solo cuando sea necesario para utilizar una de sus habilidades (ya que sus estadísticas son muy inferiores a los monstruos). Pero el problema esta en que una buena parte de los monstruos son una bazofia... esto hace que el juego acabe consistiendo en conseguirte alguno de los monstruos buenos y espameandolo contra todo (uno de los monstruos buenos puede acabar con grupos de enemigos con uno o dos golpes hasta el final del juego, además de resistir bastantes ataques... mientras otros monstruos pueden estar atacando durante minutos para conseguir reducirle la vida al mismo enemigo...). Sumale que el sistema de batalla tampoco es el más rápido del mundo y en fin... pues esto es lo que tienes.
    Y otro punto negativo... el sistema de alimentación de los monstruos tipo tamagochi. No es el sistema en sí lo que esta mal, si no su lentitud. Osea, que cada 10 batallas me tenga que tirar 15 minutos dando de comer a todos mis monstruos es una manera de aumentar artificialmente la duración bastante ridícula...    … Expand
  10. Onioncreature
    Jun 19, 2021
    8
    A flawed yet beautiful RPG with involvement from the renowned Studio Ghibli. The music in particular, composed by famed composer Joe Hisaishi, is a stand-out element that elevates the rest of the experience. The gameplay is generally quite enjoyable, with fairly dynamic battles and deep systems to experiment with. There are a wide variety of collectible monsters, dubbed familiars, whichA flawed yet beautiful RPG with involvement from the renowned Studio Ghibli. The music in particular, composed by famed composer Joe Hisaishi, is a stand-out element that elevates the rest of the experience. The gameplay is generally quite enjoyable, with fairly dynamic battles and deep systems to experiment with. There are a wide variety of collectible monsters, dubbed familiars, which are pretty fun to obtain and manage. Unfortunately the game is held back from it's full potential by some irritating decisions. For one, there's simply too much padding, it feels as though portions of the game are arbitrarily long and serve only to increase the length of your journey. Another issue is the difficulty, which is pretty unbalanced, certain familiars were over-powered at times, while some were borderline useless. Additionally, some bosses were braindead easy, but others required far more effort than should've been necessary. There's also a notable lack of voice acting for much of the game, which is understandable, but it's absence does deafen the impact of some story moments which should've been more emotionally resonant. One of the selling points of the game, the involvement by Studio Ghibli, is also a bit thin, as the included 2D animated segments feel far more sparse than would be expected. Fortunately the story is actually very good, and though imperfect does hit the right notes and ends up being quite memorable and poignant. The characters are also strong, the cast includes a fair number of memorable and charming characters, with Drippy in particular stealing the show. I would recommend Ni No Kuni if you're willing to put up with a few rough patches, the overall experience did leave me satisfied in spite of the issues I encountered.… Expand
  11. ProjectPeete
    Sep 20, 2020
    10
    As a fan of Studio Ghibli and JRPGs this is one of my favorite games ever. Only game ever that made me shed a tear. Truly fantastic story and presentation.
  12. DreamCore
    Sep 20, 2019
    9
    After reading NintendoLifes review I was very sceptical about getting this for Switch. However I decided to get it and after 2 hours of playing I didn't experience any of these glitches.

    I did play Ni No Kuni 2 and finished it. It was a decent game, although way too easy and a bit too childish. I can start by saying that it's unbeliavable that Ni No Kuni 1 is originally a PS3 game. It    After reading NintendoLifes review I was very sceptical about getting this for Switch. However I decided to get it and after 2 hours of playing I didn't experience any of these glitches.

    I did play Ni No Kuni 2 and finished it. It was a decent game, although way too easy and a bit too childish. I can start by saying that it's unbeliavable that Ni No Kuni 1 is originally a PS3 game. It has aged really well and looks better than many games released today. The story is really well made as well (3 hours into the game currently).

    The game feels a bit old when it comes to the combat system however, but it's still way ahead of most other RPGs released during the PS3 era. Also don't get fooled by the art style. This is not a toddler game. If you're an RPG fan, definitely pick this up!    … Expand
  13. Aerostat
    Sep 20, 2019
    9
    Exactly as expected but better than ever is how I'd describe the portable Switch version of one of, if not the best, JRPG's ever made.
  14. KrolMyruh
    Jun 18, 2020
    3
    Let me just jump right out of the gate and say I think this game is a 3/10 just cause of the combat. Not because of its depth or complexity, but because of a lack of a damn pause/slow time button. Honestly, it's just too much to try and find the right move before you get hit and die. More importantly though, enemies at the beginning of the game deal an insane amount of damage, so you'llLet me just jump right out of the gate and say I think this game is a 3/10 just cause of the combat. Not because of its depth or complexity, but because of a lack of a damn pause/slow time button. Honestly, it's just too much to try and find the right move before you get hit and die. More importantly though, enemies at the beginning of the game deal an insane amount of damage, so you'll just be running around the arena, eating white bread and casting heal spells on yourself. Definitely not my idea of fun.

    Also, the baffling design decision to allow people to return to their last checkpoint without their money is just ridiculous, especially since you can just return to the title screen and go back to your last checkpoint with all your money.

    Honestly, great game apart from the combat. This turn base gameplay just sucks    … Expand
  15. raymx3
    Apr 2, 2020
    3
    Well... I dont know where to start. This is one of the most fun but also one of the most boring and time consuming games I've ever played. I love myself a good jRPG but this one just doesnt do it. After a while, the game became very stale. The creatures are the only redeeming part of the game... and maybe the graphics as well. But after a while, the game just becomes a snooze. Rinse andWell... I dont know where to start. This is one of the most fun but also one of the most boring and time consuming games I've ever played. I love myself a good jRPG but this one just doesnt do it. After a while, the game became very stale. The creatures are the only redeeming part of the game... and maybe the graphics as well. But after a while, the game just becomes a snooze. Rinse and repeat. Grinding and evolding the creatures isnt even fun, as they go back to level 1 (yes, bufffed) but I just had to spend the last 2 days grinding to beat the next boss... I feel like I shouldnt have to do that after powering up my dudes. The graphics/world/animations? Awesome. really really great. I absolutely HATE the overworld but everything else is pretty sweet. Combat? Not my thing. Not at all. Its extremely clunky and often times a challenge to navigate. I have two tactics in the game: spam spells from the main character or rushdown with my creatures. Maybe I just havent figured it all out, but according to the walk through I am about 60-70% though the game. I should not be this lost in combat. The game holds your hand. A LOT. Not necessarily a bad thing, but the game would be equally as unfun (and many times harder) with the guide star off. The game feels extremely linear. One big game of follow the leader... but across an entire digital world for 100+ hours. Another thing that totally irks me is that every time something in the game/story can go wrong, it goes wrong. It feels like the writers had to go out of their way immensly to make this game last even 30 hours. Its just... gross.... and very very annoying. "Oh, Drippy is talking again. Oh his tone dropped. Oh guess we have to go do this and fix that now" Every. Single Time. Initally I was going to give this game a 6. I put it to a 4 then typed this. Now, as im wrapping up and rereading what I've typed, Im going to give it a 3/10. Maybe its just not my game, who knows. But if youre a fan of Dragon Quest, Octopath Traveler, or any decent JRPG, you may want to think twice about this one. Cheers!

    Someting to note: I went out of my way to make my account just to write this recview. I have been on Metacritic maybe... 5(?) times before today, if that. Okay, 'nuff said.    … Expand
  16. Ulfrik88
    Sep 27, 2019
    10
    Falta un parche para mejora de rendimiento pero todo lo demás muy buen juego
  17. mtkf
    Apr 14, 2021
    4
    Game looks great, music is great, but the battle mechanics are so clunky it becomes an absolute chore any time you fight a strong enemy. Played a lot of ports on my switch and this one def feels like a PS2/early PS3 game. Probably won't finish it.
  18. EmCza
    Jul 2, 2020
    4
    This game is bad. Weak story, weak gameplay, only fantastic graphic. Nothing special.
  19. dmorris38290
    Sep 21, 2019
    1
    Probably the worst video game I have ever played. More like a long, slow, boring movie. Combat is so easy there's no reason to gather new sprites because your original few will dominate to the end. Nothing epic happens, nothing grabs you, no interesting characters. The combat is a yarn fest after the first few battles. When compared to other RPGs like Final Fantasy, Xenoblade Chronicles orProbably the worst video game I have ever played. More like a long, slow, boring movie. Combat is so easy there's no reason to gather new sprites because your original few will dominate to the end. Nothing epic happens, nothing grabs you, no interesting characters. The combat is a yarn fest after the first few battles. When compared to other RPGs like Final Fantasy, Xenoblade Chronicles or Octopath Traveler, this is just awful. Most overrated game on any platform, it feels like a failed Pokemon rip off, but why would you even collect more sprites when the first ones are overpowered? Just avoid this game.… Expand
  20. VTL
    Jan 3, 2020
    8
    Un excelente y gigantesco juego.
    Una buena historia sin ser espectacular, pero hemotiva al estino Totoro, Mononoke,... Gibli.
    Jugabilidad muy bien trabajada y un mundo muy rico y con millares de cosas por descublrir. Lo unico que empaña a mi modo de ver es que esta version de Switch a parte que es la original sin remasterizar ni nada, durante las 45 horas que me ha durado el juego se ha    Un excelente y gigantesco juego.
    Una buena historia sin ser espectacular, pero hemotiva al estino Totoro, Mononoke,... Gibli.
    Jugabilidad muy bien trabajada y un mundo muy rico y con millares de cosas por descublrir.
    Lo unico que empaña a mi modo de ver es que esta version de Switch a parte que es la original sin remasterizar ni nada, durante las 45 horas que me ha durado el juego se ha cerrado "por que ha encontrado un error" 7 veces, con lo que he de reiniciar el punto de guardado y perdwer el correspondiente progreso... eso es un poco fastidioso. Ahun asi un juego más que recomendable !!    … Expand
  21. Phuz
    Oct 25, 2020
    2
    OK, so I might change this review as I play more but this is not proper Ghibli. The dialogue sounds American, the names sound American. I am 20 minutes in and so far it has sounded like the production process of American rubbish. There is nothing remotely Ghibli about this other than Joe Hisaishi doing the music, which is the only reason I am continuing past 20 minutes. I really hope theOK, so I might change this review as I play more but this is not proper Ghibli. The dialogue sounds American, the names sound American. I am 20 minutes in and so far it has sounded like the production process of American rubbish. There is nothing remotely Ghibli about this other than Joe Hisaishi doing the music, which is the only reason I am continuing past 20 minutes. I really hope the dialogue picks up because so far it is dreadful. I have seen many a Ghibli film ruined by OTT American voice overs that portrayed the characters terribly, so I have gone for the Japanese audio and subs on this. Not got to any gameplay yet but the cutscenes are a big disappointment so far. Anyway like I say, if it gets better I'll return and up the score but this does not exude Ghibli at all and I've seen at least a good 75% of everything from that studio, so I have a lot to compare against.… Expand
  22. TruckHeck
    Sep 23, 2019
    1
    The Switch version is NOT remastered in any way. It is a straight port of the original, last gen version on Ps3. Not lying, look it up. All the pretty videos you've seen in recent promotionals are in no way representative of this Switch version. It's a solid game, but this not-remastered PS3 port is completely passable. Maybe I'm being hard on it, but the marketing has been deceitful andThe Switch version is NOT remastered in any way. It is a straight port of the original, last gen version on Ps3. Not lying, look it up. All the pretty videos you've seen in recent promotionals are in no way representative of this Switch version. It's a solid game, but this not-remastered PS3 port is completely passable. Maybe I'm being hard on it, but the marketing has been deceitful and the actually visual fidelity of the game looks bad for a FULL priced game.… Expand
  23. matt1184
    Jul 28, 2021
    0
    This game is dreadfully awful. Thankfully, you might find it on sale. The story is very boring and the gameplay is fraught with annoyances. Don't bother playing this unless you very much don't like yourself.
  24. NvaderZim
    Feb 3, 2020
    9
    Good story, amazing animation, stunning visual, terrible combat system. I wish we had the enchanted version
  25. DinoBeam
    Oct 23, 2021
    3
    The world this game creates makes you feel like you might just be on the adventure of a lifetime, and then it tears that all apart every way it can! I warn you about this game, and am amazed and appalled at the high ratings it keeps getting. The only way this can get high ratings is from underdog-identifying jrpg obsessed fans that refuse to see flaws because they use a mindless grind toThe world this game creates makes you feel like you might just be on the adventure of a lifetime, and then it tears that all apart every way it can! I warn you about this game, and am amazed and appalled at the high ratings it keeps getting. The only way this can get high ratings is from underdog-identifying jrpg obsessed fans that refuse to see flaws because they use a mindless grind to cope with reality.

    First of all, that beautiful, unique, aesthetic world is constantly ruined with puns. The spell to open doors is Open-says-a-me! HAHHAHAHAHAHA. WOW SO FUNNY! Imagine if Bloodborne or Skyrim ruined it's aesthetic like this. Wow this cave is called "Bandits think they aren't about to get killed Cave!" HAHAHAHAHA. The only reason this isn't brought up is because the large majority of jrpg fans are extremely trashy. Skip this Game

    Oh before I started writing this, when I was giving the game a final chance, the game crashed when I was saving, loosing loads of mindless-grindy progress. Just putting this here in case you were thinking this was too negative and wouldn't read all this. Skip this Game.

    You are from the normal Earth world and go to a fantasy style world. You meet a cute companion and bring her back to your world. How does she react???? SHE DOESN'T REACT AT ALL. Skip this Game.

    You have to collect milk from the milk fountains in town. You go to one only to find it isn't the one the game decided you should go to, the prompt just doesn't show up at all, you had to somehow predict that the developers wanted you to only collect milk from a certain fountain even though that isn't part of the story or quest at all. Skip this Game.

    How is the grind? If you have the Remastered or preordered the original, then you have Griffy and the grind is grindy. If not, then you have to constantly consume expensive health and mana potions all the time. Most of the Pokémon are completely weak and useless. [oh, and this is true on Easy difficulty] Skip this Game.

    Did a quest, it isn't completed because it's glitched. Skip this Game!

    You thought the art style was good? Wait until you see the most appallingly ugly talking tree design you have ever seen or imagined. Skip this Game!

    What a severe disappointment.    … Expand
  26. ale1967
    Jan 18, 2020
    9
    The story is wonderful.
    So much time I was not surprised by a game story
    The only point I didn’t like is the big number of bosses
  27. arh3399
    Nov 9, 2019
    7
    This game has good characters and a solid story, but I didn't find the story all that compelling. The game is very linear and doesn't offer much of a challenge anywhere. The battle system is interesting and worth giving a shot, but it doesn't work great for the big boss fights at the end. Also, I had issues with it crashing on switch. Probably crashed 6 or 7 times on me over the courseThis game has good characters and a solid story, but I didn't find the story all that compelling. The game is very linear and doesn't offer much of a challenge anywhere. The battle system is interesting and worth giving a shot, but it doesn't work great for the big boss fights at the end. Also, I had issues with it crashing on switch. Probably crashed 6 or 7 times on me over the course of my play through so save all the time.… Expand
  28. Rhokin
    Aug 10, 2022
    5
    This game is quite charming in many ways. The story is not bad, the characters are quite memorable and the game looks great on the switch. The part that really hurts the game for me is the combat and progression. The combat I found to be unintuitive although I can see what they tried to accomplish. I don’t feel they executed the combination of real time and turn based styles well. TheThis game is quite charming in many ways. The story is not bad, the characters are quite memorable and the game looks great on the switch. The part that really hurts the game for me is the combat and progression. The combat I found to be unintuitive although I can see what they tried to accomplish. I don’t feel they executed the combination of real time and turn based styles well. The progression system and abilities are very basic. Ultimately the combat and progression system, as the bulk of the game, really fell short for me, hence the rating.… Expand
  29. Lushen1212
    Oct 25, 2019
    9
    Excelemtisimo port de un juego sobresaliente. Super recomemdado. Jugarlo en modo portatil una gozada
  30. Da3_who_knows
    Apr 5, 2021
    9
    An amazing game, a great port. I wish they did something better with the camera in fights, its extremely annoying at times. And also the tame rates, i guess they are just unfair at times. However, those are just some minor thing, the game all in all is god damn amazing. No spoilers no nothing, if you are a fan of JRPG or just like the art style go play this game, its not extremelyAn amazing game, a great port. I wish they did something better with the camera in fights, its extremely annoying at times. And also the tame rates, i guess they are just unfair at times. However, those are just some minor thing, the game all in all is god damn amazing. No spoilers no nothing, if you are a fan of JRPG or just like the art style go play this game, its not extremely challenging, very beginner friendly.… Expand
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Awards & Rankings

34
#34 Best Switch Game of 2019
34
#34 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
84

Generally favorable reviews - based on 23 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 20 out of 23
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 23
  3. Negative: 0 out of 23
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Apr 29, 2020
    90
    Ni no Kuni took a while to come to a Nintendo system in the West. But it's been worth the wait! [Issue #43 – November/December 2019, p. 12SH]
  2. Gaming Age
    Nov 27, 2019
    100
    It’s rare to find a game that’s as visually appealing as this one, and if that means going through a bit (okay, a lot) of grinding to see all this game has to offer, it may just be a price worth paying.
    Read full review
  3. RPGamer
    Nov 18, 2019
    70
    Ni no Kuni: Wrath of the White Witch is a good JRPG held back by the poor design decisions made for the battle system. Straddling the line between the turn-based system of its DS forefather Ni no Kuni: Dominion of the Dark Djinn and the full action-based system of its PS4 sequel Ni no Kuni II: Revenant Kingdom does the game no favors, but for those that can successfully battle the familiars more than the system, there’s a great deal of fun to have with this game. With a solid story and an amazing, beautiful world to explore, the White Witch on Switch is a port that many JRPG fans will enjoy, especially those like me who are getting to play this for the first time.
    Read full review
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