Re;Lord – Herford no Majo to Nuigurumi is a visual novel developed by Escu:de and released in 2014, which I recently completed. I had been wanting to play another Escu:de title ever since enjoying Akatoki! (I’ll definitely talk about that in a future post), and I finally carved out the time to go through this one.

The story follows Wilfred Heisenburg, son of the governor of Groesen, as he attempts to reclaim his homeland from the invasion of the so-called “witches of disaster.” These witches have conquered the territory and transformed the entire population into adorable mascot creatures. 

Wilfred narrowly escapes their attack, reorganizes himself, and, together with Ria Carossa (a friend turned into a fairy) and other allies, begins studying magic in order to fight back against the witches and their overwhelming power.

The visual novel includes gameplay elements and is divided into two sections. The first is a strategy map where you place various “tetris-like” pieces to gradually retake territory from the witches’ forces. When your army clashes with theirs, or when a witch decides to attack directly, the game shifts into a second mode where you target enemies on screen using different types of magic.

This mode functions like a click-to-kill shooter. As far as I found while playing, the player has access to two magic types: wind and fire. Wind is faster and better for destroying clothing, while fire is slower but deals significantly more damage. 

You also gain access to special skills from your companions, which can heal you, increase mana regeneration, or simply deal extra damage. It is not meant to be deep or complex. The gameplay mainly serves to keep the experience active and entertaining while you unlock the next visual novel scenes.

There are two heroines in this entry.
Erika Anders is the primary witch of this chapter. She is powerful and confident, yet much more docile than her title of “witch of disaster” suggests. The events of the story strongly hint that she is being controlled by someone or something, although the full picture is still unclear.

The second heroine is Fine Classen, Erika’s loyal maid and an earnest, gentle girl. When captured, her only request is to return to Erika’s side because she is worried Erika will not eat properly without her. Since Erika is notoriously lazy about taking care of herself, Fine’s concern feels very genuine and endearing.

As expected of the first entry in a trilogy, the story ends with more questions than answers. Who is manipulating the witches? Why transform all the demons into mascots? The game stops just as the bigger picture begins to form, but since there are two sequels, I guess I’ll need to play those as well if I want to learn the truth!