King Games is hurting. Their IPO earlier this year has officially tanked, losing nearly 40% of its value since March. Candy Crush is declining steadily, and none of their other games seem to be doing as well to make up for the loss in popularity. Plus, there’s the whole matter of their predatory approach to copyright law, which has lost them a lot of fans. What’s a major game publisher to do?
What any other publisher would do, of course: make sequels.
King’s recently come out with their first follow-up game, titled Bubble Witch 2 Saga. Leaving the confusing title aside (who puts a non-punny number in the middle of a name?), it’s still a bizarre choice–Bubble Witch is the least popular game of King’s entire catalog. Not surprising, since the first version featured a trio of Furies creepily stirring a cauldron and staring at the player. Eerily breaking the 4th wall does not a mobile sensation make.
On the other hand, Bubble Witch 2 Saga features a spunky young red-headed witch named Stella, who is trying to save the world from a selfish witch with some help from her cats. (Side note: her cats look exactly like Luna and Artemis from Sailor Moon.) She has to do so by popping brightly-colored bubbles to dispel evil spirits, which…um…okay? The two things have nothing to do with one another, and there’s no in-game explanation for the bubbles or what Stella is doing.
The selfish witch’s motives are never explained either, but she’s pretty mean–she traps ghosts and tiny animals in bubbles and makes Stella get them out, which seems both cruel and unnecessary. Her name is Morgana, and she’s a tiny witch with a skull for a head who somehow still has hair (also red) and laughs at Stella when she can’t beat a level. This is the extent of her villainy, which doesn’t seem to hold that much danger for Witch Country, but whatever. I suppose this bubble-popping business keeps Stella and the cats out of trouble.
To King’s credit, Bubble Witch 2 Saga looks very sleek and has some challenging gameplay in the upper levels. Stella is a good witch, natch, but that doesn’t mean you have to be. If you’re playing and can’t seem to defeat Morgana, stick it to her with some tips from our friends at Bubble Witch Cheats.
