Mika and The Witch’s Mountain is the latest title from developer Chibig, who gave us an opportunity to try the demo before Steam Next Fest February 2023. Originally announced early last year and then delayed, we’re finally getting a closer look at the gameplay beyond the trailer.

Right away, it’s difficult not to make comparisons between indie hit A Hat in Time. We’ve got a cute protagonist with a stylish hat, cute and colorful aesthetics, and 3D platforming. Where Mika and The Witch’s Mountain sets itself apart is with its focus on exploration and flight.

In Mika and the Witch’s Mountain, players take on the role of the titular Mika. Mika’s an apprentice witch who has been shoved down the mountain by her teacher like a bird leaving the nest. To prove that she can become a real witch, her challenge is to return home herself.

It’s not just a matter of flying back up though, Mika broke her broom in the fall and she’ll have to get comfortable in the village until she can afford a new broom that can handle the steep cliffs.

The preview only goes as far as the tutorial, but we get a quick look at the core gameplay. Players will be tasked with deliveries that will reward them with money. This money can be used to upgrade your broom and eventually return home.

Some deliveries will have conditions like not getting them wet, while others will require a bit of a challenge like scooping fish. Through it all you’ll be piloting Mika around the island.

Although visible in the trailer, we don’t get to play much with any puzzles or other platforming; but we can talk about how the game handles.

Mika is relatively slow on the ground and worse, she loses some momentum when she jumps. But when she hops on her broom things finally pick up speed.

Mika’s broom glides through the air, slowly losing altitude. She can hop up after touching the ground for a burst of height and speed, and can also dive down. Her turning is floaty and inaccurate but therein lies the challenge of Mika and The Witch’s Mountain.

Although we didn’t get to play with it much, hopefully later sections of the game will provide more of a challenge than the tutorial.

Graphically, it’s hard not to compare it to A Hat in Time with its cel-shaded aesthetic and whimsical ambience. The game runs smoothly, but it’s not very graphically intensive in the first place.

If there was one problem with the graphics is that some assets are low resolution and pixellated. Mainly the stickers used to show how you performed on a delivery and similar textures.

The demo did crash once after finishing the tutorial wherein it tried to play the trailer in-game. Hopefully this won’t be an issue in the full release.

You can try the demo yourself here when it goes live as part of February’s Steam Next Fest.

Mika and the Witch’s Mountain is launching sometime in 2023 across Windows PC (via Steam), Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5.