On paper, Mandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree has elements of everything I love in gaming: Soulslike combat, robust buildcraft systems, Metroidvania level design, and a painterly art style that walks a fine line between grimdark and high fantasy. While it misses the mark as a Metroidvania, Mandragora’s action combat and beautiful setting have kindled a newfound appreciation for 2D ARPGs, a genre I usually struggle to click with.
Mandragora’s greatest strength is its presentation. Victorian-era architecture and undead monsters perfectly juxtapose the warm color palette of the game’s forests, snow-capped mountains, and dilapidated rooftops illuminated by the sun’s waning radiance. The world of Faelduum is fleeting, sickened by the hedonism of its human masters, but there is beauty to be found in its destruction. It’s the perfect backdrop for a story focused on skepticism, even if it only serves as a vehicle for combat.
Time Played
35 Hours
Classes Played
Spellbinder, Flameweaver
Difficulty
Normal (100% Scaling)
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PostsSouls For The Faint Of Heart
CloseBut what kept me engaged throughout my 35-hour playthrough was just how tight the combat felt. Soulslike games tend to be synonymous with brutal difficulty scaling or downright masochistic design, but that thankfully isn’t the case here. Enemies stick to slow, deliberate attacks that give you plenty of time to react. Checkpoints are well placed and accentuate the game’s strong level design. Rolling through enemies at the right moment feels satisfying, although it never hits the highs of chaining parries in Hollow Knight or Sekiro.
While many Soulslike titles have RPG systems that allow for some level of buildcraft, none open the gateway to radically different playstyles. Primal Games has opted to break this standard and lean heavily into action RPG design for its classes, giving players access to six unique talent trees and skill sets. A player opting to create a Vindicator is going to be a holy bulwark who fights in close range to smite their foes, while a Spellbinder might omit using a melee weapon entirely to fill their action bar with more spells.
CloseIt’s a novel idea for a genre that heavily encourages melee combat, but the balance isn’t quite tuned. Towards the second half of my playthrough, my Spellbinder mage became so powerful that I was killing most bosses in under eight seconds. Fodder enemies would disintegrate under the sheer power of my Chaos Beam and flurry of projectiles. The white-knuckle combat that greeted me at the start was replaced with the euphoric power fantasy you’d normally experience in a dungeon crawler. It’s a polarizing issue to have in a Soulslike, especially for a game that otherwise nails the genre’s core principles.
Mandragora has multiple combatant options and in-game resources to help adjust the combat difficulty. It doesn’t fully address the game’s poor late-game balance, but it can help. New Game Plus is also an option once you complete your playthrough.
Paradoxically, I think this is one of Mandragora’s greatest strengths. It’s rare to find a game in this genre that allows you to become this powerful. That progression from being a lowly soldier to an all-powerful demigod is a staple of many RPGs that Mandragora delivers on in spades, even if that wasn’t the intention. It’s a refreshing change of pace in a genre that tends to keep balance on a tight leash. That doesn’t excuse the awful tuning of the late game, but the myriad of buildcraft and difficulty options make Mandragora the most approachable Soulslike I’ve played to date.
Metroidvania, This Ain’t
According to Mandragora’s Kickstarter page, this game was built on three core tenets: Soulslike combat, RPG customization, and Metroidvania levels. Yet when you look at the game’s more recent marketing, Metroidvania isn’t mentioned anywhere. That’s deliberate, as most of the levels in Mandragora lack the sort of lock-and-key systems you’d expect from the genre.
During my whole playthrough, there wasn’t a single time when I felt motivated to explore older zones. Some dungeons tease you with a grappling anchor or an elevated platform that’s slightly too high to reach, but if you take the time to revisit these zones later, your patience and curiosity are seldom rewarded. No hidden zones or memorable boss fights await you, only crafting schematics and the occasional boss you’ve fought before.
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PostsFortunately, the individual dungeons you visit in Mandragora are well crafted. It’s clear that a lot of thought was put into looping shortcuts, minimal checkpoint placement, and environmental puzzles to break up the hacking and slashing. I’d frequently get lost in the underbelly of a massive castle, only to then find a lift that takes me to the same checkpoint I used at the start of the level. Dungeon quality remains stellar throughout, further elevated through Mandragora’s gorgeous dark fantasy art style.
Set pieces are also well constructed. Detailed character portraits and superb voice talent hold your attention during key story moments.
A Kitchen Sink Of Potential
Mandragora is a prime example of kitchen sink design. It’s filled with many mechanics and systems from games I love—satisfying combat from Dark Souls, the complex skill trees of Path of Exile, and the focus on exploration that most Metroidvanias encourage—yet there's little chemistry when you throw them all into the same room. A sprawling web of talent trees doesn’t matter when you only get enough XP to fully spec into one of them. Excellent boss design is eroded by ARPG game balance. Metroidvania design doesn’t work when the world map is so linear. By all accounts, Mandragora is anything but cohesive, but I can’t help but remain enamored by its visuals and untapped potential.
There is an incredible game under all this bloat. Its presentation is something I continue to be astounded by, especially considering Mandragora originated as a small Kickstarter project. The voice talent and art style are AAA quality and were enough to get me interested in 2D side scrollers, a genre I wrote off long ago as incompatible with my tastes. And as horribly balanced as this game is, the power gains you can achieve through buildcraft allow for satisfying moments of triumph through optimization rather than skill.
I eagerly await the day when Primal Game Studios announces a sequel or a spiritual successor. Built on the wisdom earned with this project, I could easily see Mandragora’s sequel becoming a must-play for action RPG fans. But I’m not reviewing potential. What’s currently here is an ARPG that nails its setting and core gameplay; everything else is underbaked. Fans of ARPGs will likely have a great time with Mandragora as I did, but those who are more interested in a nail-biting Soulslike or a clever Metroidvania won’t find it here.
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Like Follow FollowedMandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree
Reviewed on PC
Action RPG Soulslike Metroidvania Systems 3.5/5 OpenCritic Reviews Top Critic Avg: 77/100 Critics Rec: 68% Released March 27, 2025 ESRB Mature 17+ // Blood, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, Use of Alcohol, Violence Developer(s) Primal Game Studio Publisher(s) Knights Peak, MY.GAMESWHERE TO PLAY
DIGITALMandragora: Whispers of the Witch Tree is a dark fantasy action RPG featuring 40+ hours of gameplay, with more to explore in New Game Plus.
Create your Inquisitor from one of six unique Classes, and wield blades and magic to battle nightmarish creatures. Craft hundreds of weapons and items, and learn powerful Talents to define your combat style. Explore a vast, interconnected world and unearth its secrets across 60 quests that will push your skills to their limits.
Engine Unreal Engine 5 Expand Collapse Pros & Cons- Gorgeous Art Style
- Satisfying Soulslike Combat
- Great Level Design
- Srong Build Variety
- Poor Balance
- Linear World Design
- Metroidvania Elements Are Underbaked
A review code was provided by the publisher.
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