Magicka is a brilliant action game that gives you an absolutely ridiculous number of ways to kill your enemies, your friends, and yourself— and you’ll probably love every minute of it.
Created by Arrowhead Game Studios and published by Paradox Interactive, Magicka has already garnered a "Game of the Year" award from the Swedish Game Awards in 2008. It releases January 25th for the PC.
Arrowhead Game Studios CEO Johan Pilestedt and Deputy CEO Emil Englund took me on a tour and played some Magicka with me at the Paradox Interactive 2011 Convention.
Gauntlet with 4 wizards
At its core, Magicka is essentially a straight-up arcade-action game that in plays similar to the arcade-classic Gauntlet (or Diablo II (for those that may not know Gauntlet), although there are no characteristics, you don’t manage any inventory, and there is no skill tree or leveling system.
Instead, you take the role of a wizard who commands 8 different magical elements that you can combine on-the-fly to create powerful attacks, defenses, and roughly 5000 different effects, according to Pilestedt. Other powerful spells and recipes can also be acquired as you play through the game, in addition to item drops (power ups, not inventory items).
The basic game—the Adventure Mode—plays as a very linear, light-hearted action “role playing” game. The slaughtering of hapless minions is punctuated by large-scale boss fights and periodic, humorous story interludes involving a vampire in denial about his vampirism.
The magic of Magicka
But what makes Magicka truly special are its spell system and the fact that you can't disable friendly fire.
The spell system lets you combine and create all of your attack, defense, and other spell powers on-the-fly, drawing from 8 different magicks (Arcane, Life, Water, Fire, Earth, Lightning, Cold, and Shield) which can be combined in a nearly limitless fashion. To cast a spell, you create it by combining up to 5 of the 8 magicks (pressing the corresponding keyboard keys) before unleashing the final product (right-clicking). Because you’re doing this in the heat of battle, you need to be quick in your spell creation and casting.
According to Pilestedt, each of the magical elements combines and reacts with one another to create roughly 5000 different effects. More importantly, spells affect you, your team mates, and enemies equally. Friendly fire isn’t an option, it’s inevitable.
For example, if you combine Earth and Shield, you will create a wall of stone that erupts from the ground. If you combine Fire and Water, you’ll create a blast of steam. And if you combine water and lighting, you’ll electrocute yourself and probably die horribly.
And the list goes on. In my first game, I brilliantly managed to electrocute myself because I tried to cast lighting while my character was wet. Later, I inadvertently cast Life upon my sword, which created a devilishly clever weapon that healed the monsters struck with it.
Friendly fire…and lightning
Discovering new spell combinations, making mistakes, and killing friends and enemies is all part of the game’s glorious mayhem. At launch, the game will feature Adventure Mode and Challenge Mode (both of which can be played co-op), and (of course) a Versus Mode.
The Adventure mode is essentially the story-based game, whereas the Challenge mode includes levels in which your only goal is to survive as long as possible against countless waves of enemies.
Even in the game’s co-op modes you can’t disable friendly fire—and if you could it would disable a lot of fun. Reviving, protecting, and healing friends in co-op play is just as easy as inadvertently hurling them off a cliff or immolating them in a cone of fire. Expect to kill yourself and your friends regularly—and then enjoy a good laugh about it while you’re reviving and healing them.
Magicka is chaotic and hilarious mayhem at its best, not to mention a drinking game just waiting to happen. (Actually, I suspect the game may have been inspired by an excess of strong European beers and extended play sessions of Gauntlet. Johan and Emil merely smiled at my speculation.)
Pilestedt also hinted at very ambitious plans for future DLC, which may include new objective-based game modes, new maps, and possibly a campaign that lets you play as a Goblin Shaman wiping the floor with a bunch of elf-sissies (the game is big on skewering fantasy conventions). I even heard him drop the name “Magicka Vietnam” somewhere in the midst of that conversation.
Coming to PC… and (probably) console
Paradox will be releasing Magicka January 25th, 2011 for PC through digital distribution outlets for a meager $9.99.
In addition, loose-lipped marketing folks with high blood-alcohol levels (or possibly alcohol-blood levels) at Paradox Interactive’s 2011 Press Event ‘unofficially’ told me that the game will likely hit PlayStation 3 after the PC release, and (hopefully) the Xbox 360 sometime later. The Xbox 360 version has apparently “hit some hurdles” it must first overcome.
Hopefully Paradox’s publishing ambitions will succeed and Magicka will see PS3 and Xbox 360 releases in short order. Magicka is plenty of fun played on the PC game, but it’s a game that truly shines played on a big TV from a comfy couch surrounded by your buddies (with or without alcohol).
PC players (in the meantime) may want to consider plunking down for some extra game controllers!
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