All posts tagged in Magic
Jan 24, 2024
If you aren’t familiar with Blue Oak Bridge, it’s a farming sim set in a fantasy world full of magic and unique creatures. You’re washed up on the shores of Eloria with no memory of what happened to you or even where you are. The townspeople are more than happy to welcome you into their charming little village and help you get on your feet. Not everything is quite as peaceful as it seems, though. Trouble is brewing and you find yourself smack in the middle of it all.
Story and Characters
The overall story and delivery of the story in Blue Oak Bridge feels a little less than cohesive. You wash up on the shores of a foreign land with no memory of what happened. You’re integrated into the town and find yourself in the middle of solving problems that none of the locals seem to want to solve. There’s no really compelling argument made for you to be doing all that work. You just… do. Games need a reason for you to be the one single handedly taking on the burden of restoring things for it to be engaging.
Otherwise, the characters are cool. They’re varied in appearance and personality, while still feeling like they belong to the same community. The character designs are pretty unique for both their portraits, map icons, and overworld sprites. It adds flavor to the game that you don’t always see. They also have fun dialogue when you talk to them. However, the NPCs do talk in a dialect akin to Simlish, and it’s fairly obnoxious to listen to. I would have preferred them to not be voice acted with the nonsense language.
Controls and Gameplay
Blue Oak Bridge is ultimately clunky in its controls. Movement is odd, and aiming your farm tools appropriately is borderline luck based. Trying to water a pad of crops is even worse. It’s like the sensitivity is turned up on the mouse and you’re trying to click at a very specific spot. The watering outline jumps around wildly until you find that exact sweet spot. The nice thing is there’s a strafe button to make using the hoe and planting easier.
The map is clunky. It’s difficult to see what a building is. The character icons show the area they’re in, but not where in the area. So, you can see if a character is in town, at the beach, in the woods, etc. However, you can’t see where in each of those areas they are. That’s fine outside of town, but in town, it can be a real hunt to find who you’re looking for.Their icons also don’t pop up with their name, so you better memorize what their icons look like, and they’re designed differently than their portraits or sprites! Map doesn’t even show your location, so you’re forced to learn every bend and curve of every area, especially the town, which isn’t laid out in a grid pattern. All of these elements just make using the map more of a headache than it needs to be.
Blue Oak Bridge also has some weird glitches that don’t break the game, but make it a little less enjoyable. Fish can glitch out and totally disappear as they’re coming for your hook. And if the body of water is situated at the bottom of the screen, your toolbar covers up a lot of the fish. Thankfully, the fishing minigame is easy and laid back and doesn’t make me want to pull my hair out (looking at your Stardew Valley).
Visuals
Overall, Blue Oak Bridge is pretty. Your farm plot is nice and big with gorgeous grass textures, several different kinds of trees, wild flowers, and a river. It’s a cozy, idyllic little piece of land perfect for starting a farm. The other areas of the fairly small map are nice, too. The mines have different “themes” every 10 levels, and some of them are borderline ethereal. I loved the lighting and overall feel of some of the mine levels. The beach areas are nicely done too, as is the swamp. All three areas feel appropriately beachy or swampy. The snowy mountain area is very small, and doesn’t contain much besides a house, pond, and snow. Plus, the animals are adorable, there’s some really nice decor, and the town looks great.
So, What is Good?
Outside of the character designs being unique, and the graphics being gorgeous, the story being cute, and fishing actually being relaxing, there’s some other stuff that Blue Oak Bridge got right. A lot of what this game got perfect is in the little things like chores. It seems to me the developers looked at all the farm sims out there and improved on certain aspects.
Naturally, you start out with different tools like the axe, pickaxe, watering can, and hoe so you can work on your farm. The watering can doesn’t need to be refilled. Just water away. Drown your crops if you want to, but you won’t be running to a well to refill! Of course, using tools costs stamina, much like every other game out there, too. And surely we’ve all been there when we’re mining rocks and just completely miss the rock we wanted to obliterate. Well, in this game, missing your mark doesn’t cost you stamina. It’s great to not be punished for your goof ups!
Blue Oak Bridge also doesn’t waste your stamina when you’re reached 0. Many farm sims will have you pass out and start the next day with less than full stamina, but not this one! Once your stamina reaches 0, that’s it. That’s where it stays. If you try to perform an action that costs stamina when you’re already at 0, the action just doesn’t happen. There’s no wasting stamina and no overdoing it! Both made the game that much more pleasant.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Blue Oak Bridge isn’t a bad game. It’s pretty and has some unique things to set it apart. It also appears the developer is still working to add to it, which is great. I just didn’t connect with the story or felt the desire to track down characters to get to know them because the map is so obnoxious. Poor controls make things difficult, too. I want to love this game, as it feels like it has potential, but falls short in my eyes.
I give this one
You can find Blue Oak Bridge on Steam.
- Nov 30, 2023
Fae Farm is a beautiful farming sim where you cultivate crops, craft items to decorate your home with or sell, and care for adorable farm animals. Befriend a varying cast of townspeople, and even romance some of them. Plus, you even get to venture into the faerie realm, where you’ll see faeries and fantastical creatures not seen in the human realm. Even delve deep into the mines to collect resources, fight enemies, and uncover mysteries!
What’s Great About the Game
The art in Fae Farm is absolutely gorgeous. It’s easy to fall in love with the game based on that alone. The scenery is varied. The NPCs all look different. Even your clothing options are lovely. Then, the furniture and decorating choices are great. You’re sure to find something that suits your style, whatever it may be. Adventuring into the fae realm is probably my favorite part. It’s so whimsical and magical. Even the dungeon is dreamy, though chock full of enemies. The art is absolutely what drew me to the game to begin with!
What I also really like about Fae Farm is that tools switch automatically for you. Walk up to a tree to chop, and you’ll immediately have your axe in hand. Then, go to a rock and poof! There’s your pickaxe! It’s a super handy mechanic that I would love to see in all farming sims. It saves time and lets me switch between activities much faster. Besides that, fast travel unlocks early game. There are several points across the map called Wayshrines that act as fast travel spots. You need to craft a seal from cave resources in order to activate the Wayshrine, but you can accomplish that easily early on. Having fast travel early in the game makes it genuinely useful and not just an afterthought. Plus, the mines have waypoints where you can place seals you’ve crafted in order to get to different levels without going through the whole mine. Think Stardew Valley’s mine elevator, but with more magic and teleporting!
What I Dislike
Unfortunately, Fae Farm has more aspects that I dislike than I like. In order to play multiplayer, or even just name your character, you need to create a Phoenix Labs account. Otherwise, your character’s name defaults to the account name that’s on the system you’re playing on. So, my character’s name is a string of random letters I used for my Steam name. It kind of ruins any romance when my husband calls me by name.
I once wasted a precious Fae Farm day sitting in the crafting menu or almanac menu thinking the game was paused. It certainly was not. The nice thing is that you aren’t negatively affected for passing out after bedtime, so all I truly lost was a day of play time. It didn’t decay friendship points with my critters, and it didn’t ruin any quests. Then there’s the sales tables. The limited sales table spots really get in the way of me mass selling a hoard of items I’ve held onto for too long. It doesn’t inhibit money-making, just clearing out that stack of 600 fibers I probably don’t need so many of.
The exuberant laughing at everything is obnoxious, though. When I accomplish something, I laugh. When talking to an NPC, they laugh instead of speak. None of it is funny! I’d prefer if they muttered some nonsense like Sims do. Unfortunately, the laughing just lends itself to the overall soul-less feel the game has. The NPCs have no deep backgrounds, and their dialogue is repetitive and shallow. There’s not even a point to befriending anyone unless you’re trying to marry them. And there’s only a handful of marriage candidates. Even the festivals feel lifeless. They’re not exciting and engaging. Everything feels very surface level.
Final Thoughts
Don’t get me wrong, Fae Farm is somewhat fun. I’ve put some hours into it, but I’d hoped for a lot more polish for that AAA price tag. A better story with more meaningful characters would have made this game an absolute gem. I’d also like for everyone to have a nose, please! Everything feels so shallow and surface level. I don’t need some deep, dark secrets to go into it, just a little more substance that makes me want to talk to people or do things. And when you add up several minor gripes, things feel lackluster, and that’s what we have here.
Overall, I’d give it:
You can find Fae Farm on Steam and Switch now!
Check out another of my reviews on a magical game: Witchy Life Story!
- Oct 4, 2023
Yaruul’s family inn has been stolen by the evil wizard landlord, Colin. You must reclaim the family’s legacy by managing the inn solo or with your friends. Brew potions, dispel curses, catch fish, cook food, and fight negative influences. Prove you’re a better innkeeper than the evil wizard by making the inn a success! Innchanted is a heartfelt and hectic adventure set in a fantasy universe inspired by Indigenous Australian tales.
The Levels
Pick from four different, adorable playable characters and cooperate with your team or even an AI companion to run this magic inn. Innchanted’s AI can be assigned to serve customers, refill potion stations, or defend against thieves. Serving customers includes cooking meat or dispensing potions, too. They’re quite useful for filling in when you’re playing solo or even with a second person. The AI is a little slow moving, as they can’t dash like player characters can, but that only adds a little bit of challenge without overwhelming you, I think.
Plus, the layout changes every day, so you never know what obstacles you’ll face! You’ll encounter different challenges across Innchanted’s 50+ unique levels while serving patrons. One level may be wide open and easy to navigate, while the next has counters that move every so often meaning the level layout changes while you play. And don’t forget about the thieving birds waiting in the tree outside for the opportunity to take off with a slab of meat. Don’t leave your items unattended for too long!
The Inn
Use your hard-earned shells to upgrade your inn. Make grills cook faster. Increase your team’s efficiency. Even unlock decorations to beautify your inn. From fun wall flags to pretty rugs, you’ll find over 60 decorative items in Innchanted to beautify your inn to give it that personal touch. And at night, take time to unwind, speak with other characters, make important choices that will affect your next day, and practice new mechanics you’ve learned.
Final Thoughts
Innchanted is a challenging, but fun adventure akin to Overcooked. It’s perfect for playing with friends! It doesn’t present the same frenetic, frantic player experience as Overcooked, though. It feels a little more chill and laid back, while still being silly and fun. It’s a cute little game that I’d recommend to anyone for some fun, though.
I give Innchanted a:
You can find this fun co-op game on Steam now!
- Sep 21, 2023
Fantastic Haven takes place in a world where magic has been gradually fading while technological advances take over. These advances threaten the balance, and your role as the Elders means it’s up to you to help rebalance the world. You need to save the magical creatures people like to hunt. Use diplomacy and teach people how to live in harmony with these fantastic creatures!
You’ll start by choosing the perfect starting spot. Pick from a number of different areas in Fantastic Haven, each coming with their own challenges, and begin building basic infrastructure. Unlock new research and buildings as you play to be able to welcome the magical creatures to this new haven you’re creating. Even send your mages out into the world to find new creatures, negotiate with hostile populations, and more. Every choice you make can impact how your future turns out, so choose wisely.
As you find the magical creatures of Fantastic Haven and bring them back to your refuge, you’ll place them in the quarantine facility. Then, you can place them in an existing biotope (enclosure) or create a new one. Either way, you’ll need to respect its needs, as well as its compatibility with other creatures to find it the perfect home. Your goal is to take great care of these creatures before returning them to the wilds, so meeting their demands is important for restoring magic into the world!
Coming Soon
You’ll find Fantastic Haven on Steam and GOG next year! There are plans for releases on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation, and Xbox sometime after that, too.
Planet Zoo is another great zoo game!
- Aug 24, 2023
The spirit of the forest has transferred you to the parallel dimension of Firefly Cove. You’re warmly welcomed by the citizens of this magical town where whispers of a legend come true. Some legends say there is one powerful enough to restore the balance of nature spirits, become a dragon kin, and uncover the secrets of the dragon ruins. Will that be you? Can you learn magic, become a great magician, and make this mysterious place your home?
Hotaru Village is where you find your new home in Firefly Cove. There, you can befriend the villagers and learn the stories. You can even go on adventures with them. Take part in seasonal village celebrations throughout the year like Dance of the fireflies, too. Develop different skills like farming, foraging, mining, magic and more. Even hone your magical abilities like water-bending, and show those skills off to the Dragon Temple.
Firefly Cove is even co-op! Team up in multiplayer mode to restore balance to nature spirits with your friends. Cross-play and split-screen are both available.
Coming Soon
Firefly Cove is coming soon. You can find it on Steam, where you can add it to your Wishlist!
Want more unique farming games? Check out Wish Upon a Llama, Moondrop, and Farm Folks.
- Mar 30, 2023
Cook Tasty Treats, Potions, Grow Ingredients, and Explore
In Magical Delicacy, you play as the young witch Flora. She travels to a distant town to fulfill her dream of becoming a full-fledged witch. Flora opens a cozy little shop in the harbor town of Grat, where adventurers settled to chart out adventures to an unexplored island full of mystery. Flora cooks up some tasty treats, as well as magical potions for her patrons, all while growing her own ingredients in her backyard or gathering them from nooks and crannies in town.
The game offers a unique mechanic, too. While platformer games aren’t unique in and of themselves, Magical Delicacy incorporates platforming into the town exploration. So, instead of a flat walking or running back and forth through the maps, you’ll jump around, climb old bell towers, and delve into dark caves. You can even upgrade your platforming skills to move faster or better. Discover new routes and hard-to-reach places, or even open up new shortcuts back to the shop with upgrades. And don’t forget to uncover the secrets and mysteries the town has to offer.
Meet a number of unique townsfolk and take their orders or make deliveries. Interact with the merchants of Magical Delicacy, where you can buy ingredients if you don’t want to gather them from around town. Learn magic from the two leaders of opposing covens, Cassia and Tauno. Upgrade your cooking tools, and unlock new rooms in your shop. Discover new cooking recipes. Decorate and organize things to fit your style, too.
Coming 2024
This charming little game will come out some time in 2024. You can Wishlist it on Steam now. It will also be available day one on Xbox Game Pass. It will be available for Xbox Series S and Series X.
Looking for more witchy games? Take a look at Wylde Flowers, Sun Haven, or Witchbrook!
- Jan 11, 2020
When J.K. Rowling published Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone back in 1997, she had no idea how popular the book would become. The book was so popular in fact, that Rowling went on to write another six books, all of which were turned into great films.
With J.K. Rowling being an undeniably great writer, in combination with the attractive magic (but still refreshingly relatable) premise of the franchise, it’s no wonder the series has a cult following. And so for all you Potterheads out there, here are six games picked especially for you. ?
Games already released
Harry Potter: Hogwarts Mystery
Set in Hogwarts and the Harry Potter universe, this game was bound to make the list. Developed and published by Jam City under license from Portkey Games, This RPG game was released for Android and iOS devices on the 25th April 2018.
The game is set between Harry Potter’s birth and his enrollment at Hogwarts. Upon beginning the game, players can create and customise their character, who is about to begin their studies at Hogwarts. Your player can attend various different magic classes, learn spells, duel rivals, and undertake quests.
The game is free to download, but there is the option to make in-app purchases for additional perks.
Magician’s Quest: Mysterious Times
Described as a cross between Harry Potter and Animal Crossing, Magicians Quest: Mysterious Times was published by Konami for Nintendo DS in Japan on the 12th November 2008. The game hit the shelves in the US on the 11th May 2009.
Magician’s Quest: Mysterious Times is a fantasy life simulation game for the Nintendo DS. After customising the appearance, name and gender of their character, players are able to attend classes at the game’s magic academy. During classes, players will learn spells and incantations, the mysteries of magic, and interact with fellow students.
Despite criticism for its striking resemblance to Animal Crossing games, Magician’s Quest offers plenty of unique features for players to enjoy. Examples include: monthly quests during ‘Mystery Time’, dates with other students, the ability to form a band, getting to prank others (and be pranked), plus many more amusing quirks.
The game is quite rare, and therefore rather pricey, but pre-owned copies of it often pop up on sites like eBay and Amazon.
Guildlings
Guildlings is a JRPG single player episodic adventure for mobile. The game is a fantasy adventure game ‘set in a world of wizards and Wi-Fi’.
Playing as a homeschooled teenager, you unfortunately manage to activate a cursed smartphone. Recruiting your friends as Guildlings, you must utilise their incredible powers to rid yourself of the curse, and more importantly, save the world.
Game developers Sirvo Studios released Guildlings for iOS on the 8th November 2019. It was also a featured release on the Apple Arcade.
You can read more about the game by clicking here. Additionally, you can obtain a free mobile wallpaper by visiting the game’s official website.
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time
Little Witch Academia: Chamber of Time is an action adventure RPG game. The game was initially released in Japan for PS4 on the 30th of November 2017. It was released worldwide on the 15th of May 2018. The game was developed by A+ Games and published by Bandai Namco Entertainment. It is currently playable on PlayStation 4 and Microsoft Windows.
For those unfamiliar with Little Witch Academia, it is an anime series that takes place at Luna Nova Academy, a school for witches in training, The protagonist of the series is a Japanese girl named Akko who is from a non-magical background.
In the game, you must uncover the mysteries at Luna Nova Academy with Akko and her friends. Players get to explore dungeons, cast spells, and use witchcraft, in order to discover the seven wonders, and solve the peculiar shift in time.
Upcoming games
Witchbrook
Witchbrook (which initially had the working title of Spellbound), is an up and coming RPG simulation game with turn-based strategy elements. Currently in development by Chucklefish, the pixel-art-stylised game is described as ‘Stardew Valley meets Harry Potter’.
The game is set in a magic school, where the player is enrolled as a student, Whilst completing their studies, players will go on a journey to discover who they really are. The game offers a variety of side activities that include social events, potion making, fishing, gardening, artefact hunting and more!
You can find out more about this highly anticipated game by clicking here.
Ikenfell
Ikenfell is a pixel-art-stylised turn-based RPG game that features a group of troublesome magic students. The game utilises timing-based battle mechanics to allow players to power spells and block attacks. Ikenfell is set in a vast and mysterious magic school. Inside the school, players will encounter numerous monsters and bosses to fight, discover hoards of hidden treasure, and uncover dark secrets never meant to be discovered.
Ikenfell is currently still in development by Happy Ray Games. It will be published by Humble Bundle. Upon its release, the game will initially be available for Windows and Mac. However, the Ikenfell website says that ‘other platforms and consoles will be announced as they are confirmed.’
- Aug 3, 2019
Hive Quest is a whimsical journey through lush, enchanted woodland filled with ancient magic, intriguing puzzles, and more! We thoroughly enjoyed playing the demo, which you can read about here, by sole developer Rod Tyson from Golden Heart Games. You can even try it out for yourself on Indie DB or Gamejolt, and Wishlist the game on Steam here. Below are the details of the current Kickstarter Campaign if you’d like to support Hive Quest, as well as a few more details about the game.
Kickstarter Campaign
You can help support this indie game through Kickstarter here from now until August 16th, 2019 with some awesome stretch goals to reach for and tons of goodies as rewards. Moreover, extra funding will also help the creator personally so he can continue developing this game as well as giving him the ability to obtain new 3D models for new levels and content, create more artwork, and add more voice acting and music! The Alpha is slated for December 2019, the Beta is April 2019, and Steam Early Access around the Summer of 2020.
Stretch Goals
- The four different tribes currently in the game will get a cool make over.
- A wider variety of plants, trees, mushrooms, insects, birds and animals.
- Puzzles, more mystery and more lore!
- Crazy encounters along with more spiffy voice acting.
- More creature pet choices, to keep the Shrublet company.
- A bigger world! More themed locations to explore.
Rewards
- Digital Wallpaper Pack
- Digital Art Book
- Special Edition Magic Portal Poster
- Beta Tester Access
- Alpha Tester Access
- Ancient Secret – Your name and a short message in a secret location
- Easter Egg – create something cool with the developer himself
- Special Kickstarter Hive Drone Skin
Hive Quest – Strange Adventures in the Wild Wood Updates
You play as drones that are part of a Hive Mind and establish yourself in your new home. Manage your resources, create new buildings, have creature pets find ingredients and guardians to protect your hive. There’s so much more to explore, magical characters and spells to discover, and puzzles to solve in this rich and enchanting world! We’re talking witches, fairies, woodland sprites and more!
Lore
The four insect tribes mentioned above even have their own pantheon of gods! Each of which will play a role in the game. There’s definitely ancient magic at work here.
- Mara : the goddess of peace and harmony. Her servant is Yuna the guide, who you will meet very early on in the demo.
- Angrith: the god of destruction, too be invoked in times of war.
- Nexir: the dark god of betrayal also exists, but his motives are shrouded in mystery.
Subterfuge and Warfare
You can create beacons from pebbles and other stuff lying around with the aid of a Beacon Spell. This will beguile the drones from an enemy hive. Furthermore, you can also use a Zealot as a spy to infiltrate an enemy hive and change its allegiance. When there are enemy hives that need squashing, you can grab a bunch of your drones and point them in their direction. You can also bring to life piles of old sticks to make a Stick Knight that will further defend your hive.
Finally, the developer has fixed many bad bugs since the last demo so you might want to return to the Old Orchard and have another go! You can grow your Hive into a powerful kingdom in Hive Quest although just relaxing and enjoying the beautiful view flying around is also a treat! Follow Rod Tyson on Twitter here to stay updated on Hive Quest’s progress.
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