REENCHANT
- TheAwakening
- Feb 26
- 3 min read
Updated: Mar 11
Overview
You probably remember that in Kingdom, you must chop down the forest’s woods to expand your base. Reenchant inverts the whole deal as you become a guardian to protect the forest by gathering mana and recruiting workers and defenders to stop the woodcutters before they reach the heart of the forest. Upgrading your base is done by giving gifts to the wandering critters, unlocking new ways to grow the forest even more. Being a casual game, you may take your time in restoring what has been cut down without the fear of losing the game. Or play like a true strategist and stop them from ever reaching your base.
Gameplay
You start by watching the woodcutters cutting right in the core of the forest. A spirit comes forth from the trump, and your job begins. A walking puff can become a worker to help regrow the trees and bushes or a cloud to increase the amount of mana generated and to defend the forest. All these actions cost mana, which must be collected from trees or by helping the denizens wandering on both sides. A duckling must be returned to a small home, a frog to the closest spring, a deer can be gifted a dandelion, a spirit given to a fairy, and so forth. You may have to wander far away from the forest’s core, but that’s the idea if you ever want to expand. Sprinting increases your speed a little, but if you collect mana, it will gradually increase momentarily; this can be done when collecting mana from trees on either side.
By night you have free rein to explore, collect mana, and set up your defenses. At dawn the woodcutters will start working their way on one side; there is no current way of knowing which side they choose before the sun rises. Your clouds won’t defend a lot without spending more mana on them. Apple trees calm woodcutters, storms delay them, clouds can be set as walls in trees, and wind slows down and pushes them. There are also dense bushes sitting at the edge of the forest, which will act as efficient walls. You can do nothing for yourself in the defense, but woodcutters won't attack you.
To expand the forest, it can only be done in the full moon, should you ever reach the day. To upgrade the core sitting in the middle of the forest, it is required to help a certain critter several times, at which point mana can be spent. As you progress in the expanding, other upgrades can be bought, such as increasing the limit of the mana you can carry. More workers/clouds can be recruited by approaching the edge of the woodcutter’s base and giving them mana. This can be done every day. You will notice there are expansion posts sitting nearby; once the full moon arrives, you might expand by sacrificing your workers.
Do be mindful there are no words of text to give you an explanation of what does what. Instead, graphical displays can be watched as the tutorials in the pause menu. Your spirit also pops thinking clouds to indicate certain events, such as where the woodcutters are coming from. Lastly, to my knowledge, the game has an adaptable difficulty system; if you defend the forest properly, the woodcutters will increase in numbers according to your expansion up to a certain point. Should they ever reach the core and cut it down completely, the game won't punish you but will instead reset this difficulty so you can regrow again. You can always reset your progress to day one if you wish.
Bugs Found
When trying to upgrade something, if you release the upgrading button or move, you lose the mana invested; it doesn’t seem to return to you.
Sometimes the thinking bubble that points to where the woodcutters are coming from works incorrectly (needs confirmation).
Audio & Graphics
Pretty much like Kingdom, the graphics are beautiful without the pixel rendering you’d expect. The water reflections and details on both sides are supreme, truly capturing the essence the game transmits. There are no music tracks sadly, but the sound effects are all that you need here. Using a UI with no text is a nice touch that reflects the genre the game follows, seeking to explore its gameplay mechanics at your own interpretation.
Pros & Cons
Pros-
An inverse strategy management game, regrowth the forest instead of cutting it down.
Adaptable difficulty: play at your own pace without game overs.
Amazing and cute graphics that capture the setting.
Cons-
Can be a bit confusing for newcomers.
Rating: 7/10
I wish I could ride those deer, I miss my horse.
