Master of Magic — Spell of Return
Review
Master of Magic (MicroProse, 1994) was one of the first games I played on my father’s i486 PC in the mid 90s. I remember those days in detail, though it has been almost 30 years. It took many hours over the weekends to understand how it worked, which involved translating some words with a dictionary. I lost myself in it more than other games that were more demanding in motor skills or difficult puzzle mechanics.
Exploring the procedural worlds was something to be slowly cherished. I could take my time, plan and prepare for battles, clear each ruin and dungeon, conquer cities and nodes, and research spells. The enemy mages were there, but often fighting each other. It was also a bit buggy, slow, and frustrating depending on the difficulty level. After all, it was based on the same engine as the original Civilization and Colonization.
What made Master of Magic unique to me was that it played like an unlicensed adaptation of Magic: The Gathering with an almost identical colour-based magic system. There have been several licensed MTG adaptations over the years; and one of them, also known as Shandalar, was also developed and published by MicroProse in 1997. But there was never a licensed Master of Magic: The Gathering, perhaps for the best—they would probably push microtransactions on players.
Regardless of my feelings for the original, I will do my best to avoid the perspective of my nostalgia goggles in this review of the current version of the 2022 remake. I was unable to play it upon release last year, so I can only judge the current version.
Contemporary Classic
This remake feels comfortably contemporary, with the standard hex design for the world map and the battles. It preserves the fundamental structures of the procedural spaces while adjusting its values and variables. The classic 2D square design would still work, but hex is the standard set by Civilization. If it is good enough for the biggest 4X IP of all time, it is more than good enough for this remake.
MuHa Games and Eerie Forest Studio clearly put a lot of care in the design. When Slitherine first announced they had acquired the rights to Master of Magic from Atari years ago, the CEO Iain McNeil acknowledged the responsibility of developing sequels or successors to games with such a demanding cult following. Slitherine wanted to do justice to Master of Magic as a flagship classic IP.
The remasters Master of Magic Classic and Windows mod/port Caster of Magic already did enough to make the original fully playable on current hardware without fuss. Players who want to replay the original instead can do so on a variety of options and settings of choice. I know I did my time on DOSBox and I had fun with it, but I want the game to be not only playable but also looking sharp on a large monitor.
90s Aesthetic
Some art in the remake might look generic to audiences today, but the mage portraits and the new art assets for monsters and units fit well in the worldbuilding of Arcanus and Myrror. It taps into a certain fantasy style from the 90s, which was an interesting time in popular art forms. The variety of art styles in The Sandman is an example that comes to mind, among other Vertigo imprint books and one-shots.
The art in this remake feels like a return to this fantasy art style from the 90s, which now some might find extravagant or odd. All art tends to lose its lustre and become kitsch, folklore, retro as the generations go by. What your generation cherished, the next generations will probably despise. Things are not that different in the gaming world; an interest in retro games is fairly niche.
A faithful remake is usually not that beautiful; a beautiful remake is usually not that faithful. Master of Magic balances that sense of plain fidelity and high definition art with detail and flair. Some illustrations are almost a 1:1 replica of the original ones, but there are minor details that set it apart from the pixel art. It is in this blurry space that the artists managed to make the art style compelling in the remake.
No Troll Engineers
In Myrror, the dark underworld of the Arcanus surface world, live the trolls with their own cities and special units. However, they are not capable of producing engineers, which are useful to build roads between cities. I was playing as the new mage Corax in Myrror when I stopped to think about this. I mean, there must be some trolls who would like to be engineers? You never know.
The remake resists the temptation to modernize and avoid this kind of fantasy racism. It stays true to the original, even in something so specific and conflicting. I am sure someone somewhere has a problem with this kind of decision in game development. There are other examples of skills and units locked to certain races; these design choices are part of what made Master of Magic memorable.
Mage Tech
The UI has some scale issues, though you can customize it to make it more tolerable. It almost seems tailored for a mobile port. The battle sound effects are just as weird and unique as I remember, but I suggest keeping the sound effects’ volume on low; it gets repetitive. The final August update in 2023 improved the game substantially, and my experience overall was smooth, with only one crash in 30 hours.
I played a fairly long match on a medium map, mostly peaceful, and cast the Spell of Mastery just to wrap it up. Then I started a few random matches with other mages and explored the difficulty options, but not to completion. The AI has the same issues, and vulnerable to the same exploits. This is still the most painless way to experience Master of Magic for new players. As long as they understand that it is a faithful remake of a DOS game that ran on a CPU clock rate of 100 MHz and 16 MB of RAM at best.
One More Turn
The remake manages to retain both the gameplay intricacy and the unique world design, with perhaps a few kinks yet to be ironed out; the user experience can always improve. Fantasy can look generic on the surface, and some artwork might look a bit funny. When I first saw the dragon turtles walking on the map, I thought they looked like giant armadillos. “Aw they killed my cute dragon armadillos again. You bastards.”
However, I miss watching the pixelated cities grow as new buildings come up, with different buildings showing on the map as well. The city sprites in the remake map change and grow, but they are too tiny, it did not feel the same way as seeing the buildings showing up on the city menu, which should feel more cozy.
We can support a game for staying true to its flaws, but flaws can be subjective. Short of technical issues, which were there in the release version, these are grey areas. It was more than its formula of infinite replay value and deep customization that made Master of Magic a classic. It was like playing a game from another world.
Developers have struggled to recapture this magic for all these years: Lords of Magic, Age of Wonders, Warlock, Sorcerer King, Fallen Enchantress, Eador, Endless Legend, Planar Conquest, Worlds of Magic… these were some of the many attempts. It influenced Heroes of Might and Magic, which influenced others in turn. Its legacy would live on even if it had become abandonware, but now it is reconstructed for a new generation.
Slitherine will not give up on Master of Magic, and we will continue to see patches, QoL improvements, and new content. I will review the recently released expansion Rise of the Soultrapped separately. Perhaps at some point it would be great to see a full sequel that builds on the legacy of the original but also measures it against the modern standard in gameplay set since Civilization V.
For new players: play slowly, take the time to think and make use of all your options. Master of Magic is at once casual and intricate, easy to learn but very difficult to master.
Disclosure: Master of Magic was reviewed on PC with a Steam key provided by the publisher over the course of 32 hours of play time. All screenshots attached were captured during the review process.
Rating: 8.5 / Recommended.
The Good
Faithful to a fault;
Complexity is intact and enhanced;
Artwork with a 90s aesthetic;
Compelling gameplay loop;
Dragon armadillos.
The Bad
Faithful to a fault, warts and all;
AI still vulnerable to exploits;
User experience could use work.
Gallery
Master of Magic is available on Steam, GOG, and the official Slitherine store.