History VideoGame / BulletWitch

''Bullet Witch'' is a 2007 ThirdPersonShooter developed by Cavia and published by AQ Interactive (Japan), Creator/{{Atari}} (North America/Europe), Creator/{{Codemasters}} (Australia) for the Platform/Xbox360 and by Creator/XSEEDGames for PC.

The game was notable for allowing the player to summon various powerful spells, including [[InstantThunder lightning strikes]], [[BlowYouAway powerful tornado storms]] and [[ColonyDrop meteor showers]]. The player's weapon could also [[MorphWeapon transform into]] [[SwissArmyWeapon four different types of guns]]. Between each stage, players can spend Skill Points earned based on their performance to upgrade Alica's abilities and learn new spells. A PC port developed by Marvelous was released on April 25, 2018 through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and [[Creator/HumbleBundle Humble Store]] featuring support for higher resolutions, improved frame-rate, rebalanced gameplay, and includes all of the game's [=DLCs=] for free (the extra missions however must be unlocked first).

** Although it's possible to annihilate tanks and helicopters with the Lighting and Tornado spells respectively, the Cannon can be used to deal damage to heavily-armored vehicles. It will take long to destroy them this way, but ultimately save you a lot of MP if you don't have other near-by enemies to take down to build your MP back up.
** The Machine Gun form. It's Alicia's starting weapon, but can deal a decent amount of damage thanks to the high firing-rate, holds a good amount of ammo, can stagger some enemies fairly easily, useful in long-range combat with good accuracy, and doesn't consume as much MP to reload. It's shortcomings however is its inability to deal with heavily-armored enemies and it's ineffective when dealing with enemies from very far distances such as snipers.

** FireIsRed: The Machine Gun's Element Shot.
** WindIsGreen: The Shotgun's Element Shot.
** YellowLightningBlueLightning: The Gatling's Element Shot.

* SensualSpandex: Alicia's downloadable Pixie outfit.

* UpdatedRerelease: The Japan-only Platinum Collection reprints contained all of the game's [=DLCs=] on the disc. Unfortunately, it's also region-locked. The 2018 PC re-release however comes with all the [=DLCs=] bundled and is available internationally, along with support for higher resolutions, improved frame-rate and lighting, and rebalanced gameplay. This version also restores the dash function removed from the original Xbox 360 release.

''Bullet Witch'' is a 2007 ThirdPersonShooter developed by Cavia and published by AQ Interactive (Japan), Creator/{{Atari}} (North America/Europe), Creator/{{Codemasters}} (Australia) for the UsefulNotes/Xbox360 and by Creator/XSEEDGames for PC.

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The game takes place during the year 20'''13''', just as mankind was on the verge of extinction, and the game's first level starts on October 13th, where some geist soldiers were killing off some civilians.

* BadPowersGoodPeople: Alicia is a witch who can call forth powerful black magic such as calling lighting strikes, roses that can impale and burn living things, and carries a broom that transforms into guns, yet she uses her powers in the fight against the Geists and she can even use her own blood to heal injured people.

* BittersweetEnding: Heavy of the sweet. [[spoiler:In spite of Alicia's efforts, she's only liberated one (bombed-out) city and killed one major demon by the end of the game while demons still inhabit most of the rest of the world spreading pure misery. However, her presence has given hope to the remnants of humanity that the demons can be defeated and Alicia has sworn under a deal not to stop until all the demons are destroyed. The credits show Alicia's exploits around the world in various countries, amassing victories for the human resistance, helping mankind gain the upper hand by diminishing the demon population, and being instrumental in defeating the demon threat. A virus antibody had been discovered to make a vaccine for the plague afflicting humanity, its food supply was recovering, and a provisional government had been made to establish law and order.]]
* BleakLevel: Stage 5. This stage has Alicia and Maxwell's resistance group heading into dreary ravine that looks as dead as the human population on Earth, which then leads players into a empty village followed by a graveyard and a church. Exiting the backdoor of the church takes the player into a bleak forest swarming with monsters and Geists, and eventually [[spoiler:the pit where Alicia's dying father is found]].

* BlowYouAway: Alicia's Tornado spell, where she summons a powerful tornado to whisk away her enemies.

* EquivalentExchange: Implied, with how healing someone with Sacrifice CastFromHitPoints, in addition to some {{Mana}} to heal someone. And it's called Sacrifice.

* LadyOfWar: Alicia's personality has elements of this. [[spoiler:In the credits, she was questioned as being the reincarnation of Joan of Arc when she liberated France from demonic occupation.]]

* MetaMultiplayer: The Steam version of the game features online leaderboards where players can compete against others with high-scores on each mission.

* RankInflation: Each stage can be cleared with a grade, ranging from D (lowest) to SS (highest), however, SS rank can only be obtained if players can score very high in time, enemy kills, civilian survival.

* ThatManIsDead: [[spoiler:Alicia, after giving her beloved father a sorrowful speech of her struggles after being brought back to life from his sacrifice, lets her father know that she isn't the sweet and innocent girl he once knew, but a demon-slaying witch.]]

* BareYourMidriff: Alicia in her default outfit, Dynamite Beauty, Pixie, and Mummy costumes.

* ArrangeMode: The Concept Missions, a set of remixed levels that were available for free in the game's original Japanese Xbox 360 release, became paid DLC for the Western Xbox 360 release, and a built-in unlockable for the PC re-release, features changes the game's level objectives, enemy placements, or give players access to the Ultimate Spells from the start.

* BodyHorror: The Geist are chulk full of this as they have emaciated flesh and wear skin of their victims who appear to be living. There are also the Worm Men, horrifically mutated humans with swollen heads and exposed ribs that can attack the player by slashing them with their razor-sharp ribs or breathe fire from the gaping hole in their heads.

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Geists will continue to shoot Alicia after a game over, causing her body to jerk repeatedly.

* DownloadableContent: All of the extra costumes are absolutely free, however, in the Xbox 360 version, everyone outside of Japan has to pay for the extra Conception Missions (they cost about $0.25, roughly $4.25 in total). The PC re-release thankfully bundles all of the game's [=DLCs=] for free, but the Conception Missions must be unlocked by clearing the game once. Alicia's alternate costumes include:

** SexySecretary: The Secretary costume, consisting of a small open shirt, a mini-skirt, lacy lingerie, [[ZettaiRyouiki thigh-highs]], and high heels. Also sports a pair of glasses and a ponytail.

* OneHitKill: The result of flinging any physics-affected object into yourself. This is often caused by casting Meteor or Tornado, as it tends to fling things everywhere. The Walnut Heads are also fond of using their telekinetic powers to hurl heavy objects at you to kill you instantly. Getting shot by a Geist sniper, even if the bullet hits your body, is also instant death to Alicia. For some of the enemies, they can be killed off instantly by Alicia shoving heavy inanimate objects into them with a powered-up Willpower, a successful Rose Spear toss, or a well-placed headshot with the Cannon's light ammo.

* RankInflation: Each stage can be cleared with a grade, ranging from D (lowest) to SS (highest), however, SS rank can only be obtained if players can score very high in time, enemy kills, civilian surviving, and not dying in a stage.

* StandardFPSGuns / SwissArmyWeapon: Your broom can take form of a [[MoreDakka machine gun]], a {{shotgun|sAreJustBetter}}, an [[CoolGuns/{{Rifles}} anti-tank cannon]], and a [[GatlingGood Gatling gun]].

* AwesomeMcCoolName: The leader of the [[LaResistance human resistance]], Maxwell Cougar.

* DifficultyLevels: The game has five difficulty levels that affect the overall strength of the enemies. Players have access to Easy, Normal, and Hard modes from the beginning, but after beating the game on Hard mode, [[HarderThanHard Chaos]] mode is unlocked, and after beating Chaos mode, [[UpToEleven Hell]] mode is unlocked.

* SpiritualSuccessor: To the ''Anime/GhostInTheShellStandAloneComplex'' game for the UsefulNotes/PlayStation2, which was also developed by Cavia. Both games share similar third-person shooting elements, however, ''Bullet Witch'' focuses on run-and-gun gameplay and spell-casting whereas ''Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex'' had greater platforming elements with the ability to hack various things or enemies.

** SexySecretary: The Secretary costume, consisting of a small open shirt, a mini-skirt, lacy lingerie, [[ZettaiRyouiki thigh-highs]], and high heels. Also sports a pair of [[{{Meganekko}} glasses]] and a ponytail.

* PantyShot: When wearing the schoolgirl or secretary outfits, and while side-dodging.

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Some of the DLC costume changes Alicia's hair color. The Schoolgirl costume changes her hair to blue, Dynamite Beauty changes it to a lighter shade of green, and Pixie changes it to pink.

** SexySecretary: The Secretary costume, consisting of a small open shirt, [[DangerouslyShortSkirt a mini-skirt]], lacy lingerie, [[ZettaiRyouiki thigh-highs]], and high heels. Also sports a pair of [[{{Meganekko}} glasses]] and a ponytail.

* MercyKill: [[spoiler:After finding her dying father at the pit at the end of Stage 5, Alicia gives a sorrowful and heartfelt speech to her father, then finally opens fire and kills her father, putting him out of his misery.]]

The game was notable for allowing the player to summon various powerful spells, including [[InstantThunder lightning strikes]], [[BlowYouAway powerful tornado storms]] and [[ColonyDrop meteor showers]]. The player's weapon could also [[MorphWeapon transform into]] [[SwissArmyWeapon four different types of guns]]. Between each stage, players can spend Skill Points earned based on their performance to upgrade Alica's abilities and learn new spells. A PC version was released on April 25, 2018 through UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} and [[Creator/HumbleBundle Humble Store]] featuring support for higher resolutions, improved frame-rate, rebalanced gameplay, and includes all of the game's [=DLCs=] for free (the extra missions however must be unlocked first).

Not to be confused with ''VideoGame/{{Bayonetta}}'' or [[VideoGame/{{Touhou}} Marisa Kirisame]].

* ArrangeMode: The Conception Missions, a set of remixed levels that were available for free in the game's original Japanese Xbox 360 release, became paid DLC for the Western Xbox 360 release, and a built-in unlockable for the PC re-release, features changes the game's level objectives, enemy placements, or give players access to the Ultimate Spells from the start.

* BodyHorror: The Geist are chulk full of this as they have emaciated flesh and wear skin of their victims who appear to be living. There are also the Caterpillar Men, horrifically mutated humans with swollen heads and exposed ribs that can attack the player by slashing them with their razor-sharp ribs or breathe fire from the gaping hole in their heads.

* AwesomeButImpractical: Nearly all of the spells besides Lightning. Tornado has a massive attack animation but does little damage to enemies. The player is also more likely to kill themselves with the Meteor spell than other enemies.

* BackFromTheDead: [[spoiler:Alicia's father Johnathan sacrifices himself in the opening scene of the game, which brought forth a demonic apocalypse unintended, but also resurrected Alicia after she died from an accident that killed her.]]

* BodyHorror: The geist are chulk full of this as they have emaciated flesh and wear skin of their victims that appear to be living. There are also civilians found in the subway area of Stage 3 that have turned into horrific monsters with swollen heads, and can attack the player by slashing them with their razor-sharp ribs or breathe fire from their torso.

** The Machine Gun gunrod. It's Alicia's starting weapon, but can deal a decent amount of damage thanks to the high firing-rate, holds a good amount of ammo, can stagger some enemies fairly easily, useful in long-range combat with good accuracy, and doesn't consume as much MP to reload. It's shortcomings however is its inability to deal with heavily-armored enemies and it's ineffective when dealing with enemies from very far distances such as snipers.

* ColourCodedForYourConvenience: The crosshair changes between white if you're far away or not pointing at enemies, blue if you're within the weapon's effective range, and red if its shots hit the enemy.

* DoNotRunWithAGun: The Gatling Gun form is one of Alicia's strongest weapons, but because of its bulky size, her movement is slowed to a crawl when wielding it, making her an easy target for most enemies.

* DownloadableContent: All of the extra costumes are absolutely free, however, in the Xbox 360 version, everyone outside of Japan has to pay for the extra missions (they cost about $0.25, roughly $4.25 in total). The PC re-release thankfully bundles all of the game's [=DLCs=] for free, but the missions must be unlocked by clearing the game once. Alicia's costumes include:

** {{Mummy}}: The Mummy costume, which wraps Alicia's body and parts of her face in gauss, features a mini bomber jacket, torn denim short-shorts, and high-heeled leather boots.

** ShockAndAwe: Electricity for the gatling gun and her Lightning spell.

* GameplayGrading: After clearing a stage, players are graded based on how many enemies they've cleared out, how many civilians survived, and how long it took them to finished the stage, each with their letter grade that decided the player's overall grade for the stage. Playing on the higher difficulties can reward higher bonuses compared to the lower difficulties.

* ICannotSelfTerminate: [[spoiler:The human sacrifice from the introduction scene, who didn't die after he jumped in and has been trapped alone in a pit for years]].

* LukeIAmYourFather: [[spoiler:The guy who throws himself into the pit and summons the demons is Alicia's father]].

* MageMarksman: Alicia fits this troupe to a T as she has a magical gun that looks like a broomstick, which can morph into either a machine gun, anti-tank cannon, shotgun, or gatling gun, and their ammo is reloaded with magic. She also has a set of deadly mass-destruction spells when things get really hairy.

* NightOfTheLivingMooks: And day-time, too.
* OneHitKill: The result of flinging any physics-affected object into yourself. This is often caused by casting Meteor or Tornado, as it tends to fling things everywhere. The Walnut Heads are also fond of using their telekinetic powers to hurl heavy objects at you to kill you instantly. Getting shot by a geist sniper, even if the bullet hits your body, is also instant death to Alicia.
* PaletteSwap: The geist soldiers in later levels have alternate colors of their uniform, starting from green military camo with the lower tier grunts to red for the high-ranking soldiers with high-powered weapons.

* StandardFPSGuns / SwissArmyWeapon: Your broom can take form of a [[MoreDakka machine gun]], a {{shotgun|sAreJustBetter}}, an [[SniperRifle anti-tank cannon]], and a [[GatlingGood gatling gun]].
* SuperheroPackingHeat: Alicia with her witch powers and broomstick/set of guns.

* UpdatedRerelease: The Japanese Platinum Collection reprints contained all of the game's [=DLCs=] on the disc. Unfortunately, it's also region-locked. The 2018 PC re-release however comes with all the [=DLCs=] bundled and is available internationally, along with support for higher resolutions, improved frame-rate and lighting, and rebalanced gameplay. This version also restores the dash function removed from the original Xbox 360 release.
* VideoGameDashing: The developers gave Alicia a dashing ability that can be used by bringing up the magic circle and pressing Crouch while the circle is up, which allows her to boost her way at high speeds and clear great distances. This was meant to be a debugging feature of the game, however, and was not implemented into the final version of the Xbox 360 release as it could lead to some [[GameBreakingBug unintended side-effects]] when dashing, but this was ability was re-implemented into the PC re-release.

* FateWorseThanDeath: [[spoiler:Jumping into that pit didn't kill the guy from the introduction. He's been kept alive in the pit for months unable to die, and likely aware that he brought about the end of the world.]]

* ICannotSelfTerminate: [[spoiler:The human sacrifice from the introduction scene, who didn't die after he jumped in and has been trapped alone in a pit for months]].

* HealingHands: The Sacrifice spell, which heals people, which is CastFromHitPoints, and uses {{Mana}} as well.

* PaletteSwap: The geist soldiers in later levels have alternate colors of their uniform, starting from green military camo with the lower tier grunts to {{red|IsPowerful}} for the high-ranking soldiers with high-powered weapons.

* ShortRangeShotgun: The shotgun gunrod fits this to a T as it doesn't do much at mid-long distances, but can pack a punch in close-range situations. Unfortunately, in the English Xbox 360 release of the game, the shotgun could barely harm anything even at point-blank range thanks to Atari's meddling of the game's difficulty and weapon balance.

* ThirteenIsUnlucky: The game takes place during the year 20'''13''', just as mankind was on the verge of extinction, and the game's first level starts on October 13th, where some geist soldiers were killing off some civilians.

* WalkingTechbane: Alicia, specifically for aircraft -- any aircraft she's on ''will'' crash for one reason or another. [[spoiler:It's so universal that Darkness '''orders''' her not to board a helicopter during the ending.]]

* YouGottaHaveBlueHair: Some of the DLC costume changes Alicia's hair color. The Schoolgirl costume changes her hair to blue, Dynamite Beauty changes it to green, and Pixie changes it to pink.