A fantastic mystery/fantasy hybrid which takes inspirations from Dangan Ronpa but features enough unique aspects to stand on its own. Plot, characters, graphics and soundtrack are all superb.

The premise is simple: 13 girls are abducted and imprisoned on a remote solitary island because they pose a potential danger to the outside world - as witches. At the age of 15. girls who are compatible with the "witch factor" risk turning into witches - wicked, immortal creatures who purely act on murderous instinct and start killing everyone indiscriminately. Therefore, the 13 girls are confined in the witch's mansion and monitored by a mechanical owl called Gokuchou 24/7. However, once the girls fully awaken their witch powers, their minds become corrupted and overcome with uncontrollable murderous intent, inevitably resulting in them killing each other. Your only way to survive is to find the "witch" who committed the murder and execute her, as failing to do so will get EVERYONE executed... and so the nightmare begins.

The gameplay consists of investigating various places in and around the witch's mansion prior and after a murder and solving these murders during the trial. You can object/agree to arguments, but also inquire further information and even outright lie to corner and expose the culprit. Some cases are weaker than others but overall, they are well written and very fun to solve.

If ypu are a fan of puzzle/detective games (and can endure young girls experiencing extreme trauma and suffering), this game is highly recommended... provided you are proficient in Japanese or Chinese. Hopefully, an English localization is on the way - this game deserves to be enjoyed by a global audience.

Wow.

As a Danganronpa fan, this game hits all the right spots. Great story, great art, great music, and great characters.

This game has just over 20 hours of pure story content, with really well thought out mystery solving segments. It also does a fantastic job of getting you to like all the characters.

Story wise, it is well paced and has very exciting twists and turns, so it was worth every penny.

I was able to play through the entirety of the game on stream deck without running into any bugs, but the power consumption during trials was quite demanding.

All in all, I highly recommended this game, with the only caveat being the need to understand Japanese.

"Now, let us become accomplices."

Magical Girls' Witch Trial is a story about death, mistrust, despair, but maybe at the end of the tunnel... a little bit of hope?
Mahou Shoujo no Majo Saiban is nothing short of masterful execution (pun not intended) of several intriguing ideas. The bridges connecting these ideas may be clunky, why things happen as they do in the game can feel a bit off, but the overall experience one can get from this VN is nevertheless something powerful. Although some part of the writing can feel a bit cringey and chuunibyou-ish, every emotional beat this novel delivers hits the intended target. And that's by no means an easy feat.
The characters in this VN are all well-written. There isn’t a single unlikeable character by the end, even if at first one may not find them very approachable. You get to know all of them in a deep enough level to feel sympathy towards each and every single one of them. You’ll see their struggles throughout the game and by the end of it, you’ll find yourself rooting for them.

The excellent writing is not everything about this game. The fascinating art, beautifully composed music, and amazing cast of voice actresses are also helping in establishing this VN as a masterpiece. The CGs are masterfully crafted, the grandeur music pieces invoke every bit of intended mood and emotion they want you to feel, and the way the voice actresses give life to the characters is just *chef kiss*.

Yet, this VN is, in fact, not a craft of perfection. For how much it advertises itself as a "deduction game", the deduction part itself is not much more than a glorified multiple choices exam. Pains me to do this, but compared to some other games, let's just say, Danganronpa, the Trial part of this game is quite lacking. Although, it sometimes can invoke that feeling of satisfaction when you get the questions right still.

And this may be a bit nitpicky, but the amount of bad endings in this is actually egregious. They seemingly serve nothing more than padding and more padding. They're sudden, out of nowhere, and without sufficient established setting behind them. Although again, some of them are genuinely compelling, but these are just a few amongst dozens of inconsequential bad endings. I hope they were more polished or at least established, but alas.

All in all, Magical Girls' Witch Trial / Mahou Shoujo no Majo Saiban is an incredible experience every VN fan must have.

"You've done well."