I will admit that at first, I dismissed Magicraft, believing that it was some cheap roguelike with generic, stock assets and nothing new to pull me in. I was dismissive. Well, it is a lesson in forming opinions based on surface observations, on preconceptions. Magicraft is way richer, and more complex than I could’ve anticipated.
But first thing first. What is Magicraft? A perfect baseline roguelike with all the trappings you would expect. You move from biome to biome, in each through room to room, dealing with spawns of enemies, each chamber offering a particular reward. Which you know of thanks to each door showing you what you’ll be getting. Then, on top, get the classic set of shops, fountains, and the like, to make each run a little different, a little unpredictable. So, in short, there’s nothing new in the formula, the game doesn’t try to break any ground, to do anything fresh or unexpected. It’s… serviceable if unexciting.
So far it doesn't sound like a game I’d praise highly and recommend to anyone, but I haven’t told you yet about the biggest deal Magicraft. The, well… Magic Crafting. The whole essence of the game lies in how you interact with your “weapons” and abilities. You collect Wands, with their unique statistics and more twists in functionalities. And then slot into those Wands spell components - which differ into various categories, be it damage or modifiers. Here lies the beauty of the game, its draw and joy. The system is quite extensive, smart, and intuitive. It supports experimentation and is full of those little ‘aha!’ moments when you put together a few components and suddenly your wand hits hard and in spectacular fashion.
Guided electric snakes that split into toxic shards? Doable. Summoning creatures that slow down enemies and explode into many clones on death? Check. There are options upon options, and adding to the variety of wands and their strange effects, you get a variety that is staggering to behold. It’s Noita meeting Binding of Isaac.
But wait, there’s more. Like the vast majority of the titles in the genre, you also get a collection of relics, that offer different passive bonuses. And Magicraft does one thing exceedingly well, a bit that many other contemporaries fumble. Its ‘finale’ is where the game flourishes, instead of spurting out its last fumes. When you finally overcome the final boss for the first time you are rewarded with a new progression system, which opens the game up big time. You get a set of tangible goals - new spells, weirder and more powerful than before, to unlock via successful runs. It’s a great incentive, because every new spell is bigger than it seems, as it is another ingredient to add to the extensive mixtures possible to cook up. On top of that, you can also farm one of the rarer currencies to upgrade your starting “class” - in the form of outfits, offering different starting wands and relics.
It all comes together in an exciting fashion. You feel the potential, fish for proper components, and hope for a fitting wand. All that to unleash a spell of total carnage, a potent combination that will clean up rooms and obliterate bosses. And making those isn’t a matter of luck - the game makes it always feel like you’re close, oh so close to getting there. The desire to go a new run just after wrapping a previous one is strong - and that’s one of the best metrics I consider when thinking about roguelike quality.
If there’s anything I do not like about Magicraft - and which would explain my initial dismissal of it - is that the audiovisuals are boring and serviceable at best. The art style doesn’t appeal to me, the characters are a bit bland, and the music is forgettable if not downright annoying here and there. But even the simplistic style grew on me because the animations are fluid, the monster variety is respectable. The simple style serves well when it comes to the readability of the situation on screen, no matter the chaos unleashed by our insane spells.
I like Magicraft now. A lot. To an unhealthy degree, playing it every free moment I can scrounge up, trying to make new, powerful combinations. Aiming to clear level after level, run after run, needing the currencies to progress - to unlock more spells. More outfits. More power to push faster, harder. More, always more. I’ll craft the deadliest spells and nothing will stop in my way - and I invite you to join that struggle too.
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