I was idly thumbing through my Bluesky feed last week when I saw someone mention a game they described as "Kiki's Delivery Service meets Wind Waker". I don't know if I've ever rushed to install a game faster.
Turns out the game, Mika And The Witch's Mountain, is fantastic. You play as a young witch seemingly going to a school situated at the top of a mountain, but nope, about two minutes into proceedings you're cast down to the town below, broom snapped in two. You're stuck there working as a courier until you're able to afford a fancy enough broom to get you back to the top.
The whole game is built around being a courier, flying your magic broom around delivering stuff for people, and so for the whole game you're doing little else but running errands.
Imagine some of the worst parts of Grand Theft Auto--take this thing here, only do it carefully, but also do it quickly--and that's Mika. But it's OK! Because here those delivery-based challenges are neither tedious nor stressful; the timers are generous, the damage limits manageable, and the packages are just an excuse to get you flying around a beautiful tropical island meeting everyone who lives there and learning all about their stories.
It's the meeting that's ultimately what's important. Everyone here has a story to tell, and they're all lovely little stories: some about spoiled kids with a struggling dad, others about the perils of licking the boots of a shit-heeled capitalist. What's more, helping everyone out all the time gives Mika such a wonderful energy to it; all you're ever doing is helping people, and that just makes you feel better every time you play it.
I've said it before but I'll say it again: I love a small sandbox more than almost anything else in video games. The island in Mika isn't very big, so it won't be long before you meet everyone and visit every location at least once. But that's great; it really helps the communal feel of the game that you grow to know every square inch of the place and everyone living on it.
Finally, I want to point out how charming the whole thing is. It has some wonderful animated cutscenes (including a lengthy, must-see outro), some crisp, airy visuals that are, yes, very Wind Waker, and a soundtrack that's the perfect accompaniment to an afternoon spent catching some sea breeze on a witch's broom.
Mika And The Witch's Mountain is out now on PC, Switch, PlayStation and Xbox.
