Mages of Mystralia

Mages of Mystralia
74
Metacritic
85
Steam
80.615
xDR
Our rating is calculated based on the reviews and popularity of the game.
Price
$19.99
Release date
18 May 2017
Developers
Publishers
Steam reviews score
Total
85 (784 votes)

In a world of magic, your mind is your greatest weapon. Learn the ways of magic and design your own spells to fight enemies, navigate treacherous terrain, and right past wrongs in the kingdom of Mystralia.

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Mages of Mystralia system requirements

Minimum:

  • Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system
  • OS: Windows 7 64-bit
  • Processor: Intel Core i5 2300 or equivalent
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: GeForce GTX 560 Ti or equivalent
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 8 GB available space
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Domine
Domine

I played for an hour and got absolutely nothing out of it. It was slow, it was boring, and I got a refund.

Keslen [He/Him]
Keslen [He/Him]

This gets a solid "meh" from me.

Unfortunately, Steam does not (yet) allow that rating, so I had to struggle a bit about whether to round up or round down.  Obviously I rounded up.  Mostly because I want to see more of these types of games made in the future.

The spell crafting system is genius!  I love it so much!!  But there are a lot of aspects that seem to matter a lot and are never explained at all (most notably stuff along the lines of the difference between a duplicate --> size rune placement and a size --> duplicate rune placement).

There is a lot of stuff to do in this game that really requires a guide to do it.  Finding the ghosts, finding Anna or looking under that bridge just to name a few off the top of my head (there are many, many more).  I think I'm safe in saying that you can get through the main game on your own, but if you want to 100% it then you'll definitely need to refer to a guide (or put in hundreds of hours - maybe even thousands) to figure out some of the stuff.  That's a big point against for me.

And it would be really nice if the puzzle editor had some extra features.  Like being able to lock in a piece as "I'm sure this must go here" and making it visually obvious to ourselves that ... instead of rambling I'm just gonna say it: pencil marks in Sudoku.  There were two puzzles in the game where I had to retreat after copying down all the info into a different format and then come back with a solution because that formatting did so much more to let me get there.

I enjoyed this game a lot!!  The storyline is quite amazing for a lot of reasons (though a lot of plot holes are left open, hopefully obviously for an expansion pack).  I'm a really big fan of the idea of it not being about what you are using - that it's much more about why and how you are using it.  This game's plot dips a foot, probably even an ankle and a knee into that water (jumping in is one of those plot holes).

I focus more on the negatives because those are things that can (and should) be fixed.  But I had a lot of fun playing this game.  And I think you would, too.

But, to end on a general note to all games: please never again do the thing where you expect us to wait through a credits scroll after we finish the game.  That makes sense for a movie in a movie theatre, but definitely not for a game.  Put an option on the main menu to view the entire credits scroll at any time for any reason and leave it at that.  Please.

phrobias
phrobias

One of the worst games I have ever played. Terrible in every way.

Beefiest_Burrito
Beefiest_Burrito

Game play is very fun, the ability to create and customize spells is really well done

Alex0_0x
Alex0_0x

Super fun I love the magic system it's a puzzle with hundreds of solutions and while the story can seem simple that's not really a bad thing

Forevermuffins
Forevermuffins

A nice and refreshing adventure game, full of magic and exploration.

You can combine and create spells; mix and match, springing one spell off from another. You need that ability to craft new combat options, traversal methods, and solve uniquely designed puzzles.

By the end I had a spells that melted baddies with raining fire or just basically deleting the entire room with self replicating spells (and most of my mana bar) but I still was having fun and went for 100% completion.

Pipps
Pipps

Very fun and intriguing. The spell customization system is very maleable and rewards of creativity.

PinkRayne
PinkRayne

Great puzzle based arpg about a trainee mage that is learning how to use her spells whilst trying to save her village. This game is pretty unique; you collect runes in order to create your own elemental spells - there are lots of different combinations to try. Create these spells to take down enemies and solve puzzles, whilst working your way through the story and finding treasures along the way. Collect all the runes, wands and orbs, and have fun trying to make super powerful spells to wipe out your enemies. Mages of Mystralia feels really fresh, with a cute style to boot. A lovely game for a mixture of puzzles, action and unique gameplay.

Naught
Naught

Is the game bad? No. But can I recommend it? No, & that kind of surprises me. I had high hopes for what is basically a l-o-n-g D&D campaign on the N64. There was a lot of work put into Mages of Mystralia & it shows, but I'm falling asleep after 30 minutes each time I boot it up. The plot is just so bland, under/overpowered & contrived that it takes away your agency as a player or easter eggs the keys to advancement. Maybe I'm not the target 8-15 year old audience here & maybe I'll change my mind if I finish the game; but at the rate I'm gong that's going to be in 40 boot-ups & I'd rather not waste my time after I've wasted my money.

TLDR=Killing an "evil tree" (AKA: A human killing tree) "Because I'm a mage & that's what mages do" isn't a plot or call to adventure, it's a chore forced upon you. You can't get invested into a game/story if there nothing interesting to invest into other than your guilt for being born with mana. Sure, The Witcher pulled that off. But Zia isn't a cowboy/mercenary with an elf-like lifespan killing hell horrors, shes a preteen-ish girl with a rating of E for Everyone against All Hallows' Eve cartoons. Basically shaming her into redemption via a life or death fight with a tree is just wrong is so many ways. The fight itself is fine, but if I fail or succeed it doesn't really matter. That "bad tree" won't go anywhere if I don't kill it, It'll just defend the forest(? Isn't that a good thing?) & the plot says it will grow back in 30 years anyway. Whatever I'm fighting for, (A trade road for a town that hates me?) doesn't seem worth it. If I just had options like (Neutral) to NOT help the town or (Evil) burn the town down in revenge (finish what I started /Moo-hahaa) then we could start a real story about what kind of mage (druid, warlock, shaman...) I'd become.

"Crafting" spells is great, but the puzzles only have 1 answer, that means choice is not an option with this game. And if you don't realize that you can run on air with your [Dash] ability (since you don't use it or didn't think an EARTH ability lets you run on AIR), you're going to be stuck until you uninstall, then next month, you'll sneeze on your pop-tarts & realize the truth of why the game won't let you jump. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I felt like I was sold on "You can do anything" & got "You're overpowered, until you have a rock in your way." Mage of Misty Australia you played yourself so well, it was a critical hit. You crippled yourself.

Ninjarunner26
Ninjarunner26

It's good. Although I got stuck at this one place. I'm just re-installing it for the first time in a couple years and hopefully I can get past that place and finish the game

jastanto
jastanto

This is a nice short puzzle/action hybrid. The puzzles can be a bit confusing because there are a really large way of combining runes, and some don't work even when you think they should. Overall, though, a nice fun game. I finished most in about 13 hours, but there were at least 1-2 more hours of stuff I probably missed. If you like puzzle/action games, give this one a shot.

economeister
economeister

This is a great game. Good puzzles, easy to learn, and lots of customisability with spells. Really good level design too.

Mage-133
Mage-133

pro:
skill system
skill combination
con:
need more levels to learn skill system.

Cait Sith
Cait Sith

If you love spellcraft and play as a wizard, mage or sorcerer you will love this game! 10/10

Merf
Merf

Fun game, with a creative spell casting system.

Karulyte
Karulyte

Fluid, beautiful gameplay with hundreds of spells to learn.

Groza
Groza

Great game where your you could be creative on how you fight. I ended up making a spell that recasted itself and would eat up my mana bar to clear the screen

Azrage
Azrage

I enjoyed the game. The way you create spells is pretty fun, especially when you start getting some of the later runes. Make sure to experiment with them, because there are some interesting interactions between them.

Druanach
Druanach

Short but cute little game in which you can define your own spells. There's one trick that makes an absurdly OP spell, but otherwise spells are mostly balanced due to more powerful spells using more mana.

Doomcarver
Doomcarver

Great puzzles lovely customisation of spells although the playthrough takes less than 11 hours all told. And that is with being a completionist

Shadaran
Shadaran

How can someone let such type of game be released with such SHITTY, slowpoke and UNprecise control in 2020? Being forced to play with a controller on PC isn't enough already, it has to be that bad?
Really, with all the extra money they got from the kickstarter, I am disappointed... I was really looking forward to it, the magic system appealed me so much, I found the graphics cutely cheesy... then I tried to play... never even got to try the system and already don't want to continue that game... sad... at least I didn't pay full price...
I rarely post opinion on game, but here I feel the need... Sad having to make it so negative, I had hoped to send a better one

Zasabi
Zasabi

Lot of fun in a little package.

Broockle
Broockle

You could compare this game to Magicka.... but I feel like 80% of the fun in Magicka is preparing for the moment when one of your spells will inevitably backfire and manage to electricute, vaporize or drown all your friends.
Mystralia does none of that since it's single player. Instead it just has a really awesome solid magic crafting system with a lot of room for creativity and experimentation.
As you collect ruins your arsenal of mayhem only increases and the only way to collect ruins is to use existing ruins to solve puzzles. The puzzles are pretty great and it immerses you in the feeling that you're getting more powerful as you do smart things like a mage should ;D

The overworld is well crafted with lots of secrets to find that utilize your abilities. I can only say good things about this game. The graphics and story are charming, the music is great, the particle effects on the spells glitter as they repeatedly burn and freeze in place all the goblins on and off screen.

This was great. I hope they make a sequel.

mattboesen
mattboesen

Well, this is cute. I have no recollection at all of when I picked this up, but now that I've installed it, I'm actually looking forward to it.
You'll want a controller.
Let's see how long the cuteness stays with it, and how much development there is. I'm only fifteen minutes in, but there's nothing so far to make me run away!
More to come...

kingsdude
kingsdude

Enjoyable puzzle/ action game. The mechanics were pretty good. The end game had a steep learning curve and was more about the right spell than skill which I did not like (IE played same section for three hours until I changed spell and then beat section in like ten minutes.) This was also the first time I had to change spell usage mid-battle. Not done the rest of the game... I also wish there was a more in depth mini map that game way more information. End of the day though, it was not perfect, but I liked it.

bendystraw
bendystraw

This game is beautiful and fun to play. The magic system is creative. I only wish this game was longer. I full completed it in like 14 hours.

eivindkb
eivindkb

Very addictive gameplay and nostalgic graphics

Five-Headed Snake God
Five-Headed Sn…

I quit out of a boss fight I was losing so I could retry. I respawned with no health and my resurrection consumable used up. At that point I was effectively softlocked.

Yokilla
Yokilla

Would you recommend this game to other players? Yes -- No -- Maybe Later -- Stop Asking Me

BecauseHeLives
BecauseHeLives

Overall I would give this game a respectable 8/10. The whole thing took me 11 hours from start to finish on hard. I think I accidentally found an OP spell combination that basically put all my mana into one shot and I started one-hitting some of the bosses lol. I enjoyed the spell craft system and the story was reasonably enjoyable. I felt exactly 0 need to grind (which is a plus in my opinion). It did take a little bit to get rolling in the game, but overall I definitely think it's worth a play. I would say the ideal audience would be older children or younger teens, but the novel spellcrafting with the simple difficulty curve makes it a game worth running through.

Intercine
Intercine

Okay this game was an absolute gem. It was everything I wanted and more. The story was nothing astronomical but I found myself invested nonetheless. The magic system tho, blew me away, it is so good. I've been wanting a magic system like this for a long while and to see it done in such a smooth fashion felt amazing. Bonus the graphics are adorable.

odintge
odintge

I completed all the achievements in about 12 hours, so it's pretty short. I had a lot of fun though. It's cute, you get to make spells, goblins explode. It's a good time.

Sober Reasoning
Sober Reasoning

The artstyle and "voice acting" seem quite obviously inspired by Magicka, in case you like it. The story is serviceable, good mages vs bad mages in a fantasy setting, moving on. The spellcrafting system is pretty interesting and unique, allowing some fun combinations of effects; if you like to tinker with that kind of system you should feel pretty satisfied by the endgame.

For reference, I called one of my favourite combinations the "Puzzle Solver", because when you use it, only a couple of puzzle rooms in the game manage to not get solved in less than a second. I see this as a positive and a testament to the freedom this system allows by the endgame.

Another one I used a lot is just a continuous loop of offensive spells that created a multi-elemental nuke every time I cast it. You can loop spells into each other for big combos and even bigger damage, but that can potentially deplete your mana and leave you defenceless for a few seconds. High risk, high reward.

The slight tedium and difficulty the first enemies give you when you start the game and you're super weak only serve to enhance the absolute hubris you'll experience by the time you stomp the final boss. I'd recommend the game just for that.

You can 100% the game in about 13 hours. I used a guide to find a couple of unmarked quests, but it's more than doable without it with a bit of patience.

denthibaut
denthibaut

A very cute, sometimes interestingly challenging adventure game. Pretty oldschool and classic in its format.

Grze
Grze

Beautiful graphics, nice story for my doughter.

My Undead Girlfriend (eng, ger)
My Undead Girl…

Its a neat little Game (finished on hard after 14hrs). I d say its worth around 5 Euro. Its a pity that the devs havent expanded the magic concept into a bigger game. But still respectable work!

malor89
malor89

Fun game. Unique magic system that lets you build custom spells with different effects based on how you put them together. There are puzzles that require you to modify your spells to achieve the goal. There are different areas that have themed obstacle/puzzles to open further exploration. A little on the short side, but then it doesn't have a lot of fluff side missions.

Roms
Roms

Hands down one of the most interesting spell-crafting systems I have ever encountered. The story is short and simple but told well. Very atmospheric and reminiscent of old Zelda games.

Soliloqui
Soliloqui

Really fun, cute little game. Can get very clever and devious with spell combinations to solve puzzles.

Pawell
Pawell

Fireball with auto-aim. Check
Fireball which spawns fire behind it. Check
Fireball which explodes into water blast on contact which freezes enemies. Check
Fireball which bounces off enemies into more enemies. Check
3 Fireballs at once! Check
5 Fireballs at once! Check
Fireball of every single element (electric, fire, water, wind) at once. Check
Sliding on ice. Check.
Slide on ice while you spawn copy of yourself as distraction which fires fireballs with all abilities of above. Check.

Revolutionary magic system with "indie" graphics and relaxing music. Puzzles, lore, zelda like map exploration and combat with "stamina" bar. Don't miss on this game.

castavernas
castavernas

This game has a very creative and novel spell system that is a lot of fun, but the surrounding game play and combat just doesn't really cut it.

LungFish
LungFish

Fun little adventure where you can just kick back and enjoy.

Fraxius
Fraxius

I really don't know how they could mess this up.
Conceptually, this game seems great; I love the prospect of creating your own spells and making spells to solve puzzles. But holy hell, this game takes almost every opportunity to be inconvenient. Combat is a clusterfuck, with almost every encounter featuring enemies that throw projectiles - projectiles that stun, projectiles that freeze, projectiles that home infinitely. Many enemies have some kind of survivability quirk - some require a finishing blow, some split and regenerate, some burrow and become invulnerable. But the absolute worst thing about combat is how completely inept your protagonist is. Zia is slow in absolutely everything she does, it makes it damn near impossible to get ahead in combat; moving, shielding, and especially mana regeneration are all painfully slow. Take a protagonist who can scarcely dodge or block attacks, make her very fragile, let her do so little damage, and make her mana regenerate at a snails pace, and pit her against hordes of enemies that spam projectiles, have annoying gimicks, and move almost faster than you do, and you're in for a very bad time. To append to that, in addition to being all around weak, your spells are all jank. Your "melee" spell is close range with the option to either explode, or the ability to charge it, but not both; the charge is seemingly useless as I can't imagine ever pulling it off, but even the explosion is useless beyond puzzles, as it's often a terrible idea to approach enemies due to previously mentioned reasons. Your ranged spell can do things like home in on enemies (targets the wrong enemies, or circles around them), or fire multiple shots (enemies seemingly have i-frames, because multiple shots don't seem to do much more damage), or trigger your "melee" on hit (adds minor damage and effects at the cost of draining your mana even faster, resulting in more exciting waiting). Your "creating" spell is almost completely utilitarian with sparing use in combat. And then your fourth spell is where they decided to cram every other ability, including shielding, dashing, and creating copies, to name the first few, resulting in your constantly having to swap spells. Constantly check which of your four plus spells is equiped, lest you use the wrong one in combat and get stun locked to death.

In addition to all previously mentioned points, bosses are especially obnoxious. First, you can enter them with less than full health, as only collectable hearts refill your HP. Not even checkpoints heal you, despite healing completely when you die and respawn there. Second, there is absolutely no skipping in this game, neither cutscenes nor text. If you inspect something twice you just have to sit there and mash. And if you die to a boss, what with their high health, high damage, and annoying gimicks, you get to watch drawn out cutscenes every death. Third, in rare instances like the first boss, certain triggers and flags are poorly designed, where things like important collectables are saved, but progress like defeating a boss are not. At the first boss you can defeat the boss, collect the spell, and then die before touching another checkpoint as neither of these things count as one. When you respawn you will have the spell, but reentering the area will trigger the boss, cutscene and all; plus, when you beat the boss, the original entrance doesn't reopen, as you can't interact with the chest that was already spawned after the first instance. This is fortunately resolved by entering the adjacent area, but it is still impressive that this exists.

A few more gripes. Money is plentiful, as every destructible drops it, and as there is nothing to spend it on. Some rare instances, but the biggest money sinks are items that revive and items that restore mana. Yes, their alternative to waiting around for your mana to slowly recover mid-combat is consumable items which you need to travel all the way back to the hub-like area to purchase; you can only ever have five max, and you will run out of mana several times per encounter. The control scheme. The game recommends a controller, which I agree with for general gameplay, but several parts of the game, namely spell creation and rune puzzles which are built on a hex-based grid, are not very controller friendly. This is my most opinionated complaint, but if I am in just about any form of menu, anywhere "2D," I vastly prefer using the D-pad. There is implementation for the D-pad, you can use it in these contexts, it's just damn near impossible to actually use. There is actually a rune puzzle that is impossible to solve using solely the D-pad, as it cannot navigate to a specific location.

I could go on, but this review is already just me ranting to no real resolution. The game has potential, but it sorely lacks polish. I realize that making games is hard, and that that's probably insulting to the developers, but the game feels far too crude in all the aspects that are important to me. The game could be worse, but buyer beware.

Grimm Sage the Neko
Grimm Sage the Neko

I throughly enjoyed this game!!! I need a part 2!!!!

Dax
Dax

100%'d this game, it's worth it even though it's lacking in the length department.

If playing a Zelda-like game while crafting your own spells (nearly limitless combinations) sounds interesting to you, then try it out. It's great! Story is nothing you haven't seen before but the gameplay is where it's at.

I suggest setting the difficulty to maximum.

K!netic
K!netic

So, when do I get to play the fun parts?

Maybe it comes into its own after a few hours, other reviews around the 20hr mark make it sound like it does. But these days I value my time more than that. Get to the good stuff in under 30min, then make me sit through your story. Put the filler in the middle.

I know I've only got 90mins on, but i've covered half the (first?) in-world map, done about a dozen quests, and have precious few options to make spells (four augments). The game insists on doing cutscenes for every action, wastes your time with a boilerplate story that is too generic to care about (the dialogue could really use cutting down), and doesn't deliver on the promise of crafting creative spells.

The mechanics themselves are both too precise and too sloppy to be particularly fun. Every spell you cast is controlled both by your cursor location and your movement direction. This somehow always ends up being the exact opposite of what you want. Dashing doesn't respect your movement direction, it's your cursor direction (which might be fine in a click-to-move blink-build, you like you might find in POE, but this still uses WASD). Attacks look like they're going to go towards your cursor, but if you're holding the opposite movement direction, it sometimes ends the cast animation and shoots it in the wrong direction. Dashing is strangely slow and has no iframes and doesn't bypass collisions, etc. I'm sure there's a logic there, that if you learn the quirks it becomes less cumbersome; but i'm not interested in sitting around to do that when it doesn't give me anything interesting to do.

I'm also really not sure why mana is a mechanic, either. It regens in a few seconds after no casting, and the only outcome is that it makes you stop and run in a circle after you got your tempo going. Might not be so bad if enemies were squishier and you didn't need to stay in tempo so long, but right now it just emphasizes the tedium.

I want to like it. This is an idea I've wanted to see more fleshed out for almost a decade now, this system holds promise. But maybe i should have known what it was about when the first screen says "best played with a controller".

Lex Mortis
Lex Mortis

Played on Linux using Proton, runs incredible smooth and without any issues.

Finished the game with 100% achievements in 13 hours.

Cute story, characters, music and magic-mechanics. It's quite "Zelda-like" with an interesting mechanic for progression (not new weapons/items, but spell components).

It's relatively easy and short, but nonetheless very enjoyable and all fun. Highly recommended!

Tasme
Tasme

I tried to give this game a fair chance, but it wasn't clicking with me in the end.
If you like Zelda type games, this might work for you better than it did for me.

Overall, the big hinders for me (and might be for someone reading this) were slow magic casting times (even though I had the wand that allows you to cast "fast") and lack of nuanced direction (knew what I need to progress, wasn't able to locate for the longest time).

The game itself is not hard and some boss fights are enjoyable. The challenge is in how lucky or willing you are to spend time figuring out where to find things you need to progress.

I don't particularly recommend this game, but I know that there are people that might thoroughly enjoy it.

Vєntєd丂un
Vєntєd丂un

Absolutely amazing little game, really am surprised id never heard of it before, really scratches that magic itch that so many games cant.
Brilliant spell mechanics and a lot of interesting combos you can do once you understand how everything works, and the puzzles help learn new ways to combine different aspects. on top of that the story is well written and explains the world wonderfully.

Migwell
Migwell

An otherwise unremarkable action RPG with a standout magic system.

Setting and Worldbuilding - 7/10

The worldbuilding behind Mystralia isn't bad. The world itself is a fairly bland European fantasy world with mages and mythical creatures. On the other hand the writers have put in an above-average effort considering this. You get glimpses of the history of the place, including different eras of rule and the place that mages had under each. Your spellbook companion is even a character from the past, who gives little insights as to how the world has changed since his time, and why. For example, the profitable crystal mines have closed, and the quarry has flooded, each with an explanation and an impact on the world's people. I appreciate this! It's no Skyrim with libraries full of lore, but considering the medium which is an action RPG, I think this is more than sufficient.

Plot - 5/10

Despite the interesting setting, the plot of Mages is a bit of a letdown. Without spoiling anything, it basically boils down to a basic "hero's quest" where you have to assemble the items required to beat the bad guy. There are a few interesting twists that add some spice, but they're generally predictable. The whole story ends up feeling very shallow, and you don't even really have to think about it for 95% of the game.

Exploration and Collectibles- 8/10

This is a sure strength of the game. There are so many interesting things to find, including treasure chests with gold, soul beads for upgrading your stats, new glyphs to spice up your spells, new wands to vary up your gameplay, and various other collectibles for use in quests. Because you unlock new glyphs along the way, you end up having to backtrack to apply your new abilities to things you've passed. This allows for a nice amount of stuff to do even after you beat the game! Points also go to the devs for putting in: a) a completion percentage for each area, making it easy to see where you need to go next without making it too easy; b) a hint system for the tricky puzzles; and c) puzzles that tell you when you don't have the required items to complete a puzzle so you shouldn't even bother. Lots of quality of life features here!

Magic System - 9/10

The magic system is a fairly clever building-block system, where you start with one of the 4 "spells", choose an element for those spells (fire, ice etc), and then tweak its behaviour with glyphs, e.g. to make the fireball move, bounce between enemies, explode on hit, home in on enemies etc. This is by far the most interesting magic system I've encountered in any game so far, and it's very refreshing! The only downside of the system is that it occasionally gets a bit complex. It's not clear if the actual arrangements of glyphs in relation to each other matters, because in most cases it doesn't, but occasionally it does - for example the "move left" glyph certainly has different behaviours depending where it is, but others don't seem to do this.

Puzzles - 8/10

Mystralia several diverse types of puzzle, some of which involve crafting the right kind of spell for the scenario, some of which involve classic Zelda-like dungeon thinking, and some of them are straightforward (but hard) light beam puzzles. The diversity and also integration into the magic system makes these a winner.

Combat - 8/10

All combat in Mystralia is done using magic, and not surprisingly since the magic system is so good, the combat is also! You have access to shield spells, dodge spells, close combat spells, ranged spells, area of effect damage and crowd control, all with different spell types and elements. You keep finding new ways to make combat spells, and new enemies keep being introduced with their own strengths and weaknesses, making this always fresh! My only complaint is perhaps that getting knocked over takes an obnoxiously long time to get up, and that I feel like once I crafted a certain set of spells, all combat became super easy (Creo + Stone + Rain + Mastery obliterates whole swathes of enemies, and Actus + Stone + Bounce + Mastery makes self-replicating boulders that continually damage and knock down small groups of foes. Still, overall very good!

Graphics - 5/10

It's not that the graphics are poor quality, just that the chosen art style is very unappealing. In particular, I just can't stand the character designs, who all look like caricature portraits. There is no human character whose design I like. However, the environments are very nice and bright, if a bit uninspired (generic European fantasy world strikes again!). The spell effects are nice and make spellcasting quite fun as well!

Music - 6

I actually can't remember a lot about the music. I think I remember it being quite good? But not super memorable.

[Linux Support - 6/10]
Since this isn't natively released for Linux I can't give this a higher score, but it does run very well on Linux using Proton/SteamPlay, so I'm very appreciative for that!

BlindSniper
BlindSniper

Loved the magic system in this game very detailed and combustible. The setting the world were interesting and drew me in.

RedRightHand
RedRightHand

8/10 - Really fun little game! There is about 7 hours of content without 100% it (I would say 12 hours including all the extra puzzles and side quests), and every single bit of it is really fun and cheerful. The art style is nice, especially for some of the larger and more mystical settings, though some of the characters look pretty ridiculous. The main mechanic is really fun to play around with, and while it is super easy to pick up and do most puzzles, it takes a bit of messing around with it to really get understand the full range it has, and some of the puzzles require that complete understanding (I used a guide eventually). Music is lovely throughout, the plot is pretty okay and works well for this game, and the world building is done really nicely in a way that implies lots of history without shoving it down your throat. Not too difficult once you get used to combat (I recommend using hit and run tactics for the 1st half of the game), and admittedly difficulty drops off massively when you get a certain trigger rune (however this makes you feel like an all powerful mage and so combat is never truly boring).

Kamburo
Kamburo

How is this game not well knowed . One of the Best I've played in my life. And hands down most inovattive and fun and amazing magic system!

Root
Root

At first, I was excited about the game because of the spell crafting.

The long and mediocre exposition dialogues disappointed me a little.

But the fights really made me bored. Since there is no animation cancelling, you can't attack more that twice without running away or eating shit. There is no parry or evasion (at least in the basic spells) and the shield is so slow to pull up so it's better to just move away.

But I kept moving through tougher and tougher fights because I was really looking forward to the spell crafting. This all culminated on a okay boss fight. After the fight, I used my first very first rune to open up a mine in the boss area. I took a quick look but wasn't sure there was anything I could do there for now. So I walked out and went back through the boss area to leave. But, at the entrance, the boss respawned, the pre-fight cutscene played again and the door locked itself again.

So yeah, I gave up.
The game looks great, the puzzle seem good and I can definitely see the Rune system's potential but I was bored for most of my playtime. The gameplay, especially at the beginning of the game is really holding it back.

PeroxydHydrogen
PeroxydHydrogen

Bosses ruined the experience for me. They feel like they're made for another game, one with a dodge (the dash is not a good dodging option).

White & Llorona
White & Llorona

Not worth it unless at discount

H4D3Z01
H4D3Z01

Damn!!!!! dope ass Game, entertaining you get to be creative and make some krazy skills....

shialar
shialar

Fun RPG, with customizable spells to tinker with.

bingbongler
bingbongler

Very charming little game. A solid adventure so far, but the main draw is the spell crafting. Very intuitive and fun. I always get a big grin on my face when I piece together spell elements and make something cool. I very much recommend giving this a try. Hope they make a sequel at some point. The magic system is too good to not build upon.

Multarix
Multarix

Blocking is pointless
using fireball is pointless
Using ice is pointless
Using your stupid little electric wavy wand is the only thing that does any damage

The game forces you to do a boss, trapping you into an arena that you cannot leave, even if it's not feasibly possible for you to finish it
You're forced to watch a dumb cutscene every time you die to the boss
There is no dodge button
I saw nothing of the spell customisation, probably because the dev thought forcing people to do some stupid boss that they probably cannot complete is a good idea
The controls are clunky as fuck

There is no windows borderless option = Automatic shit game (Seriously, fucking add it, that's literally minimum requirement and by not adding it, you're a fucking moron)

rommel
rommel

Beautiful artwork and nice gameplay)

Val
Val

It's pretty, the story telling is good, the gameplay is fun, and the presentation is excellent. I don't doubt that it's a great game.

The only problem is that it's controls are designed to work with a joystick. It makes it difficult to control your character and in narrow sections forces you to zig-zag to avoid falling off the map. Fighting also becomes a real problem when the attack does not go in the direction of where you are clicking because it can't correctly identify where your mouse is.

Honestly this game shouldn't have been released on the PC.

section 8 housing
section 8 housing

Neat little mage game that I got on sale. Two things I didn't like is the constant beeping noise whenever I had low health( I know my health is low, I don't need some grating noise to remind me), and having to run around waiting for my mana to regen.

Shaiandra
Shaiandra

As someone who likes Legend of Zelda games and Path of Exile, I enjoyed Mind Over Matt-er, I mean Mages of Mystralia. I think ultimately my favourite parts were the spell-crafting system and bosses and other challenging combat encounters. You have a lot of freedom in how you tackle most fights once you've unlocked a good number of options.

The majority of required puzzles weren't bad either, though I didn't like many of the optional puzzles. Many of them required lighting torches from a specific spot at a specific angle, or at least that's how I solved them; create a spell that makes sense then sling fireballs over and over and hope something lands. I played using a controller, and I can imagine it being much rougher on keyboard.

Adventuring was okay; you can do a moderate amount of exploring, but all the major dungeons have to be done in a linear order.. And I feel there was too little content left after unlocking most major spell options: you could then come up with plenty of cool spell ideas but then have very little left to fight.

It may sound like I'm largely pointing out negatives, but all in all I did find it enjoyable and with some really neat mechanics.

zastaph
zastaph

TLDR:
Campaign takes about 20 hours to complete on medium difficulty. Game offers no replayability after completing.
The main and best feature is this very interesting and unique spell system. Worth buying this game just to have some fun with that.

Good things:
- Very unique spell system. You need to experience it and have fun with it. So satisfying when you find a new spell combination that works well.
- Constant difficulty throughout the game (I played medium difficulty - archmage). The difficulty was pretty much constant from start to end, the game never became too easy and boring.
- Interesting boss fights. You will die several times before figuring the fights.
- Good puzzles, offering mostly average or low challenge.
- Great variety of environments in different levels.
- No "local area" map. You need to remember layouts of levels.
- Campaign on archmage difficulty will take you about 20 hours to complete. Add 5-10 hours on top of that if you want to find all secrets.

Bad things:
- Camera angles and zooms are controlled by the game and are often very bad. This causes problems in combat especially against ranged enemies who can shoot at you from 2 screens away and you cannot react properly to incoming projectiles or target them. My solution was to run away and lure enemies to a place where camera is better.
- Spells behave very weird or don't work at all, especially on steep terrain, but fairly often on plain terrain as well.
- Many spell runes are only useful in few specific puzzles tailored for them. After solving the puzzle, you will not use them ever again, because they are useless in combat.

cLev_rly
cLev_rly

It's a good game, although I never truly felt I could wield truly amazing spells, even after finishing it.

DarkWingDuck603
DarkWingDuck603

Yes it is an amazing game where you can consruct your own spells with special effects. It does get laggy late game on laptops.

Shishkopath
Shishkopath

Very nice game and creative gameplay. Combining spells to solve puzzles and creating devastating attacks are really amazing. Exploration is a little linear but not that big of a deal. Getting new runes from the puzzles is a good motivator too. In the end game you can really create some broken spell combinations. Difficulty was well balanced for the normal mode, though I haven't experienced hard and easy difficulties. Enemy variety is also acceptable, different elemental resistances really push the player into strategising a gameplan before fights. It is a polished, short but entertaining experience and I recommend it.

ferrous pangolin
ferrous pangolin

This game...is bad. Just bad. Slow, and clunky. The spells are unimaginative and bland, the puzzles boring and obvious, the art is...okay, the music is repetitive and annoying, and the core difficulty, the ONLY difficulty, is swarm tactics. A total snore-fest on easy, a giant stuffing of dozens of boots kicking your neck on normal (archmage, hard, i dunno.)

Sunlis
Sunlis

Almost a good game.

Targeting can be frustratingly clunky for a game that throws so many enemies at you at once. The wind-down on animations makes combat especially frustrating, as you often have 4+ ranged enemies throwing projectiles at you, but attack animations are so long that you don't have time to dash/shield.

Spellcrafting system is interesting, but you just end up using the same 4 basic abilities most of the time and swapping out to a special spell every now and then for a puzzle.

Enemies that you've already killed coming back when you re-enter an area is just exhausting. Doubly so since the "difficulty" of the game comes from throwing huge groups at you rather than interesting challenges.

Morcedion
Morcedion

Great game with the best spellcrafting system I have ever seen

Theox
Theox

Great game, with fun mechanics and a good sense of progression !
The spells mechanics are actually quite fun and refreshing, allowing a lot of different possible combinations.
The graphics seemed simple at the beginning but grew on me :)

[BLK] Telu
[BLK] Telu

This game is amazing. It's a zeldalike game but with a mage. You combine different magic trick to create spell. A nice adventure with great ideas.

I find than some english line of the game are not really good. It will be great to improve that. (Precisely the beginning of the game, the line of characters seem awkward.)

MirrorSword
MirrorSword

So far it's pretty fun and the spellcasting system is interesting.

dkenhoney
dkenhoney

It's similar to zelda games: puzzles that have to be solved after the aquisition of some item (except in this case it's spell components), some combat, not much of a story. The isometric view can occasionally mess with you. The combination of spells that can be done makes the game quite enjoyable.

Definitely recommend.

Rusty Shackleford
Rusty Shackleford

Achievements: There are no missable achievements. All achievements can be obtained on any difficulty. There is one speed run achievement for a specific dungeon of the game, but it is not unreasonable and can be reattempted.

Mages of Mystralia is a spell crafting game with Zelda-like dungeons and puzzles. Spells each have different elements and are used for both combat and puzzles, so there's plenty of excuses to tweak them. There's also a ton of spell components that can hugely diversify the possible spells you can make. Spells can even be recursive-- recasting themselves infinitely until your mana is depleted. It's a fun system to mess around with.

Be aware that I played this game on normal-- the easiest of the three difficulties. I died once for an achievement, but otherwise never really struggled. It was a bit of a cakewalk, not unenjoyable though-- and it also made the achievements easier to obtain. The other difficulty selection (other than permadeath mode) had much harder combat that I was not patient enough to deal with. Unfortunately, that difficulty also had more challenging puzzles that I would've loved to experience. Not only is it disappointing to have essentially two difficulty settings ranging from easy to insane, it also sucks to have no separate settings for puzzles/combat and no way to change difficulty midway through.

Another issue I had was with the game's UI. The spell crafting menu felt really clunky. I played with a controller-- as the game recommends-- but the crafting screen felt unintuitive to navigate with a joystick. Also, there's a map, but it only really shows where areas connect. A smaller map for each area would've helped out a lot, since many areas were fairly non-linear with branching paths for secrets and optional challenges.

I had a lot of fun with Mages of Mystralia. It gave me that wonderfully nostalgic Zelda feeling with its dungeons, each introducing some unique power that was crucial for the dungeon's puzzles. While I was disappointed with the choices of difficulty as well as some UI clunkiness, my overall experience with the game was largely positive. It was satisfying to find better spell components after feeling so powerless as a fledgling mage. It's a little short, but I imagine it would've lasted longer if I was playing on a harder difficulty. If you're interested, I'd recommend it.

Wherewolf
Wherewolf

A delightful premise bogged down by mediocre gameplay and art, and the issue where your creativity basically just creates different versions of the same spell; not much payoff.

restlessfool
restlessfool

hate it, made me rage quit with the normal difficulty not being able to take out the large groups of enemies that have a huge health pools for each one, and i believe the 2nd boss is what made me rage the most as it locked me in a damage loop of getting pushed off the level 3 times and taking the hit before being pushed off again since it was still doing its animation. not only is the game unforgiving it is down right dirty with its mechanics.

puzzle ideas and item collectibles are good and the magic system behind the attacks building is interesting but the way they start you off is rough

may come back to it when im not salty with how the boss did me wrong

Lanth Sor
Lanth Sor

This is one of the games I have completed and thoroughly loved the experience. My full 27.8 hrs is the playtime I took to complete the achievement list. This game is one I always return to that others should play, for the experience.

Cueio
Cueio

Very interesting game. Nice possibilities of spells to craft.
Quick story, but with nice side-quests and challenges

Pat
Pat

Sadly enough, I can’t really recommend this game. Yes, like everybody said (or so), the spell mechanic is innovative and quite interesting, but at the same time, it is complex for no reason and some "spells" should just be basic skills, not spells (like dashing for instance). Graphics are OK, without being anything impressive, the sound is OK too.

The problem is, the story, the feeling and more importantly the gameplay… it’s pretty boring to be honest. I’ve done Hob in one go, and I would rather play it again or redo one of the Zelda games rather than play more of this one. The game is feeling correct at the start, but it's one of those games where after a while, you are like... why I should waste my life on this. The game just don't give you the trill or interest to keep going.

Nitr0b1az3r
Nitr0b1az3r

Fantastic game. super chill, fun puzzles, and the spell crafting system was incredibly fun

alice
alice

a very charming little game about a cute magic girl doing cute magic things. the lava boss was annoying but in all other aspect this was a fun magicy puzzle game hope thay make more

BrCadarn
BrCadarn

Great game. I 100% it in 12 hours, so that's what it can offer imo.

Plays like a mix of a Zelda game with Magicka. The spell system is very unique and creative, I've not seen another game allow for this type of mechanic and it was great to play around with!

Solid recommendation, it is very good!

danibooboo
danibooboo

Once you get used to what the game is expecting of you and how to align your spells as you go, it is definitely entertaining! I strongly recommend using a controller though (the game even recommends doing so). The controls on a controller are a lot easier to use rather than using the keyboard and mouse.

Update:
I didn't think I would finish the game so quickly >.> so I do wish there was more to the story or even a sequel. Overall though, it was still enjoyable.

ShadowTiger
ShadowTiger

I was looking for casual games for the during times and I came upon this little gem. I could see why people don't like it, but if you are looking for something to just chill with on a weekend this is perfect. I really like the way that spells are crafted and making new ones based on how you organize the aspects of them. And the general puzzle solving to progress the story. I also found the world fun to get around and the boss battles challenging but not frustrating. This game is not trying to break the mold or anything it's just a fun little game about being a girl with powers she doesn't quite understand.

Raziid
Raziid

This game is needlessly tedious.

Roche Limit
Roche Limit

The concept of spellcraft in this game is seemingly interesting, but it gets tedious soon as you realize that you are doing repetitive things over and over again. I was expecting the sort of magic combination like the Invoker in Dota2 or something like that, but I was wrong. The spellcraft in the game, to be precisely, doesn't create much new magic. You collect runes to ALTER the basic spells, to add some extra functions to them, etc. But the core function of the spell is fixed. For example, a ranged attack spell of fireball is still a fireball spell. It's not gonna become a firestorm spell or something totally different, it is a fireball and always it will be. And I'm not saying there's not any spell that adds something different, there are but very few so that I consider it to be none. So, precisely, it's about combining rather than creating. No need to mention that many runes are useless and they are not fun either. For example, there is a rune called right (your spell will be casted in the direction of right), and seriously, what's the meaning of it? Why would I need a spell like this? Looking for trouble? I could simply change my direction and cast a spell. But if you love geometry, just ignore what I said. Well, many runes are useless, or useful only in specific occasions, but most importantly, they are not fun at all. It seems like you've got the freedom to combine as you wish, but you have to get the runes first, and you get the runes only as the story line goes, and most of the time you use the runes to combine into new spells only to do specific things, cuz honestly, several spells would be enough for completing the whole game. So it feels like being controlled by the game, the game wants me to craft this spell, the game wants to craft that spell, and I have no idea what kind of spell I really want cuz THERE IS NONE.
But these are just my personal opinions. The game is not that bad, but not good either.
Not worth playing for the whole price. But can have a try on sale.

edboots
edboots

I would give this game a 6 out of 10. It was fun, decent story, cool spell system, but it just didn't have a lot of depth. I mostly felt like there was a lot of potential. One glaring problem was no health potions or way of healing yourself before fights other then go around and bang open jars, it was just easier to die and start with full life. Definitely only buy on sale as there just isn't a lot of depth to this game, maybe the part 2 will be better as it ended with the story not concluded.

Nat
Nat

ARPG with a bit of Metroidvania in it. Spellcraft system is nice. Expect to spend no more than 20-25 hours to get 100% completion and full achievements, so might not be worth buying at full price.

rosquesharkie
rosquesharkie

ATTN: PEOPLE THAT READ THE REVIEWS AND EXPECT THE GAME TO BE EASY

Do NOT play this game on the 'middle' difficulty option. It isn't balanced right, and you will NOT have a good experience. Play this game on STORY MODE to avoid having to restart halfway through.

ToastyBath
ToastyBath

This is a cute game with simple yet addicting design and gameplay. You are able to craft your own spells which is really unique and you are able to upgrade yourself up as you play. The different difficulties are nice, I'm playing on casual and it is quite easy so I can follow the story better. If you're looking for a fun, simple, addicting magic game, this is for you.

Balarin
Balarin

I absolutely love it! I do hope there will be sequel in the future!

IRWorm
IRWorm

Comic book style dialog that the whole family can enjoy when Daddy plays, the ability to make spells to solve puzzles and fight monsters, and an enjoyable fantasy setting!! 5/5 stars!

midnightdragoness
midnightdragoness

Review originally on Dragon Quill. Comments are enabled there.

This is a game where you play as an apprentice mage who must fight monsters to save the world from evil. The main selling point of the game is that you construct your own spells out of basic functions to fight enemies and solve puzzles. For example, the initial “fireball” spell is just a stationary mine, but by adding a “move” rune, you can make it a flying fireball. From there, you can add a “homing” rune to make it seek out enemies, and a “duplication” rune to fire a spread shot of three fireballs at once. You can even chain multiple spells together using conditionals, such as executing a powerful short-range spell when your ranged missile hits an object.

The game is also hard as nails. Even routine encounters will see you swarmed with monsters who all have immense durability. I don’t know if I’m just making bad spells, but even when I try to spec for AoE I frequently get overwhelmed. Checkpoints are pretty sparse, so it’s very easy to lose progress when an encounter suddenly goes south. I found it more frustrating than challenging, and I recommend playing on easy mode.

The spell-crafting mechanic is neat, but quite backloaded. The game gives you new runes only at a trickle, and many of them are locked behind difficult puzzles and optional challenges. Unfortunately, a lot of the runes had no real use outside of puzzles — it’s pretty easy to make some effective combat spells with the early runes, and later runes don’t provide much practical improvement. You can do fancy stuff like making your clones spit fireballs, but why would you when direct damage is so much more efficient? I would have liked to see the “puzzle” aspect extend more to enemies, with more variety in enemy behavior beyond just “resists a different element”. You can get through most of the game with a nested-function spell that cycles through all elements without really having to bother with anything else.

Plotwise, the game perpetuates the worst messages about oppression and authoritarianism. Mages used to rule the world, but one of them went mad with power, so the people rebelled, killed him, and outlawed mages. The problem is that magic is an innate trait, so we end up with a Dragon Age situation where people are illegal just for existing. The game opens with the protagonist getting chased from her village after accidentally burning down her cottage, at which point an old mage pops up out of nowhere, condescends to her a bunch, and declares that he’s training her now. Shockingly, he isn’t evil; the game apparently does not expect us to find anything suspicious about this. The protagonist is somehow capable of returning to her hometown without issue as long as she doesn’t use magic, at which point everyone microaggresses her about how terrible mages are but they guess that she’s one of the good ones. But this supposed intense hostility to mages never does more than inconvenience the protagonist, and she never stands up for herself. It’s a totally bizarre depiction of oppression completely removed from any real-world problems.

Oh, also you murder goblins by the hundreds, even after learning that they’re sapient and some talk to you. But the game makes a point of showing that you only knock out the human magefinders sent to hunt you down, because murder is wrong when you do it to humans.

Furthermore, the ending is a complete non-resolution sequel hook. Like, literally, it sets up what looks like the final boss and then it just ends. Stop selling incomplete products, gamedevs.

Viridium
Viridium

A tad bit more difficult than expected but an idie gem.
Gameplay is akin to 2D Zelda games like Link to the Past or Links Awakening but with magic as only combat option. The spell crafting system is unique and very enjoyable but only takes place a good hour into the story. Before that you need to play with the lackluster base spells. A few hours in the game the spell crafting becomes very intersing since you unlock new modifiers to "programm" your own spells.

Anachronity
Anachronity

Extremely linear progression, forgettable story is a chore. The spell design system is neat but it just isn't enough to redeem the rest of the game, particularly when you need to get more than an hour or so in to actually get enough runes to create novel spell combinations.

Until then, the game does nothing to respect your intelligence. It just sorta gives you a stationary torch spell. Eventually it gives you a 'forward' rune like "look, you can shoot fireballs now! Don't hurt yourself, better take it slow."

No one interested in the spellcrafting system of this game will enjoy the story progression of this game.

ShrunkenCrib
ShrunkenCrib

I first tried the game at the Montreal Comiccon, I don't remember the year though.
I was happy to play it again when it came out in 2017, the game may be short but it is fun, has great puzzles and mechanics.

Gonzo Sabbath
Gonzo Sabbath

Mages of mystralia is a charming and easy going game about becoming a magic user in a world nearly devoid of magic users due to previous events in the world's history. I'll admit I was interested in the spell crafting as that was one of the big selling points for the game and although it certainly was a bit slow to start, about less than halfway through the game I had a recursive casting barrage of fire that any arch-mage would be proud of. This game is full of fairly easy puzzles, zelda-like exploration, and a simple yet effective story to help you keep going. I'd confidently suggest this little gem of a game for those who are interested in such types of games and even for those who just want to mess around to see what kind of carnage they can create with the crafting system. Just to be clear although it's "crafting" spells it doesn't actually cost anything to play around with the components so it's more like spell shaping!