Mashiro Witch (partially found defunct Japan-exclusive mobile role-playing game; 2017-2020)
App icon for Mashiro Witch.
Status: Partially Found
Mashiro Witch (ましろウィッチ) was a magical girl-inspired mobile game developed by Square Enix, and released for mobile devices in 2017. The game was exclusive to Japan, and its servers were shut down in 2020. In the game, players would take control of a customizable magical girl to partake in RPG-style battles, together with other players.
The game is notable for a crossover event in 2019 when the game had a crossover with a popular Japanese visual novel series franchise called "Umineko When They Cry" by 07th Expansion. During this collaboration, the characters from Mashiro Witch would appear with custom portraits in the original Umineko When They Cry artstyle, and players would be able to obtain costumes based on the characters in Umineko When They Cry. On top of this, players would be able to fight "Beatrice", the main antagonist of Umineko When They Cry, in a temporary boss battle.
Reception
The game was generally received rather poorly for its allegedly lackluster story and reliance on luck-based gacha-mechanics. However, some have also expressed their enjoyment of the game and lamented its shutdown. Alongside its shutdown, Square Enix offered refunds to players.
Availability
Currently, APK files for multiple versions of the game can be found online. Unfortunately, these APK files only install the launcher that would normally access the online servers and download the rest of the files. Naturally, these online servers have been shut down. Therefore, the game and its files currently seem to be lost.
In the event that an ex-player still holds on to the full game files, it's possible the game could be recovered in some shape or form.