I don’t get many opportunities to boast about being the first to do something. The last and only time that happened, it was when I discovered the super secret post-game dungeon in Octopath Traveler and I knew for a fact that I was the first one to figure out how to access it. Anyway, I’m at Tokyo Game Show 2026, and I happened to be the very first person in the world to check out the public demo for Witch the Showdown. It may not be the biggest game in the world, but I love having the honor anyway.
Okay so, Witch the Showdown is a high-difficulty parry action game that’s basically just a boss rush experience. There are no regular enemies in this game. Every battle is a one-on-one showdown with an opponent where you have to learn their attack patterns, then parry and dodge accordingly. For every successful parry or dodge, you gain mana, which you can then spend to activate cards to fight back. Oh yeah, this game has deck-building elements too.
Before starting a fight, you’ll want to dive into the deck editor and check out what cards you have at your disposal. From what I played, every card seems to fall into one of three elemental categories: ice, fire, and lightning. You earn points for each element by using their respective cards, and when you get up to 10 points for a specific element, a special ability gets triggered. For instance, fire lets you deal double damage and ice lets you auto-parry.
You also have the option of choosing between real-time and turn-based combat. Real-time is exactly what it says on the tin. Your enemy attacks as soon as they’re able, and you can also attack whenever you’re able. This makes battles feel way more fast-paced, and I wouldn’t recommend it to newcomers as you’ll definitely need some time to read your card abilities and figure out a strategy. Turn-based allows you to pause between each turn, and this is what I’d recommend you go with until you become more familiar with a fight.
Even on turn-based mode, I really struggled at the start. I had a lot of trouble figuring out when to dodge and which direction to dodge in, and I spent the first 15 minutes of my demo time just practicing against the same boss over and over again. I did eventually improve though, and once everything clicks, Witch the Showdown‘s parry mechanics become extremely satisfying to pull off. By the end of my demo, I was playing in real-time and even doing big counters that allowed me to end the opponent’s turn immediately and start fighting back.
Unlike every other game publisher that’s releasing their game in September to avoid GTA VI, Witch the Showdown‘s early access demo is dropping the same week instead. Honestly, I respect that and I don’t think it’s a terrible strategy actually. They’re such different games and I could definitely see Witch the Showdown being a sort of anime palette cleanser for whenever I get bored of base jumping and swamp dipping in Leonida.
