The Magic Circle: Gold Edition Review

Last month The Magic Circle Gold Edition came to PS4 and Oh My, what a splendid story driven puzzle game it is!  In this dark humoured game that appears to have been in development for 20 years, you are the fabled game tester that has to save the day and ensure the endless cycle of deleted items is broken and the development is complete.

With great narrative and hilarious plot twists you’ll have a whirlwind adventure of creation, danger and the odd narcissistic dev.

“You die.  Yep, you’re dead.  No sword, no weapon, no dignity, DEAD… DEAD as a doornail”

Setting out on your adventure in a broken down hut in a classic noir style, making your way through a destroyed village you are faced with a character who hands you a sword.  Wielding this mighty sword in your hand, you have power at your finger tips and no man (or woman) can stop you!  That is until a giant eye and a godly voice comes from the sky and you are swiftly removed of the weapon.. How disappointing.  But that’s ok, because once you move forward you are faced with your first puzzle, which in turn is not quite as it seems.   Passing this puzzle and reaching what appears to be your first encounter… You die.  Yep, you’re dead.  No sword, no weapon, no dignity, DEAD… DEAD as a doornail.  What horror, what a miserable way to go!  But wait, there’s more.. You are now, what is known as “Ghosted” and seem to still be able to move.. Move towards a bright light.. The brightest of swirling lights.. Entering the light.. The game is over.  Yep, that’s it, folks – over! Back at the start screen and you have completed the game.. Well done, gold star and what an accomplishment.  I hope you’ve enjoyed this review because I have loved writing it and enjoyed the game even more.. Short, sweet and to the point.

Wouldn’t that be a sneaky, so sneaky as to have a game which lasts less than 10 minutes!  Lucky for you all, this in fact is not the case.   You do continue, continue on to explore the vast wilderness of a half finished game encountering someone who needs your help.  Help to overcome “the gods” of the game for leaving him trapped for 20 years.  Your life force can now be zapped from broken code within the game, giving you enough power to see deleted items and structures from past developers who have deemed them unfit to be a part of the world you are so eagerly exploring.  

Initially I was wondering why there was so much darkness and such little colour in the world I was exploring.  This unfolds and you are the bringer of life and colour and you slowly become the master of the code that was once cast away into the realms of the nether.  You are given the power to delve into the code of creatures and items you stumble upon, editing their complete attribute list and turning them into your ally and even turning creatures against one another.  Even the smallest of details can be changed at will and with this power I found myself calling everything “Buddy”, because why not, right?

Having the ability to teleport to specific places you have visited and also the magical and somewhat satisfying ability to summon all of your allies, I decided to make everything an ally.. And I mean everything.. Lifeless, limp, corpses we now my ally.  What more could you ask for?  And with great power comes great hilarity because when you summon your allies, you summon EVERYTHING – Mushrooms, corpses, ghosted items, rocks – They all just appear before your eyes.  I couldn’t stop laughing.

Delving through different sections of the map, the broken down game, finding space age tombs and magical castles don’t forget that you can become ghosted to explore and manipulate parts of the world that you might not see while alive.. Use death to your advantage!  Keep an ear out for the ghastly conversations between the gods (also known as the developers) because you will find yourself engrossed in the conversation and chuckling away on your adventures.

“The Gods biggest weakness is their past”

While poking fun at the numerous ways game development can go wrong, you’re involved in a battalion of arguments about what needs to be changed within the game.  With the voices of Ashly Burch (Borderlands 2), James Urbaniak (The Venture Brothers), Stephen Russell (Fallout 4) and Karen Dyer (Resident Evil 5) you are sure to have fun figuring out what items need to be brought back from deletion to achieve your goal of a finished masterpiece!