A Wizard's Lizard
- June 16, 2014
- Lost Decade Games
- 28h median play time
Don't expect anything overly special or substantial, but do expect a good time.
Get on Steam"A Wizard's Lizard" is a nostalgic, pixelated metroidvania-style game where you play as a lizard wizard's familiar. Navigate through diverse environments, defeat enemies, and solve puzzles to find your master and break the curse placed upon you. With its tight controls, challenging gameplay, and retro aesthetic, it offers a satisfying and engaging experience.
Mac OS
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Reviews
- The game features charming graphics and a delightful art style that enhances the overall experience.
- The gameplay is engaging and offers a good balance of challenge, making it fun for both casual and dedicated players.
- The progression system allows players to unlock new items and abilities, providing a sense of accomplishment and encouraging replayability.
- The game can feel repetitive due to a limited variety of items and room layouts, which may lead to a lack of long-term engagement.
- Some players have reported performance issues, particularly with frame drops when there are many enemies on screen.
- The difficulty curve can be steep, with some encounters feeling unfair due to unavoidable damage or overwhelming enemy numbers.
- gameplay62 mentions
- 18 % positive mentions
- 73 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The gameplay of "A Wizard's Lizard" is characterized by a mix of engaging mechanics, such as a unique death system that allows players to continue as a ghost, and a variety of items that can enhance play. However, many players find the gameplay repetitive and grindy, with issues like janky collisions and poorly explained mechanics detracting from the overall experience. While it offers a charming aesthetic and some interesting concepts, the lack of depth and polish leaves it feeling less rewarding compared to other titles in the genre, particularly "Binding of Isaac."
“I also like the death mechanic in this game; after you die, you enter the spirit world which has more enemies and you have a reduced amount of HP, but you also get more rewards.”
“The mechanics are easy to learn, and the items in the game are pretty nifty.”
“Its gameplay is simple to grasp yet difficult to master.”
“Collisions are kinda jank, enemy projectiles will fly behind objects so you can't see them coming, there's nothing new after the first few screens and nothing in the gameplay that keeps you wanting more.”
“Needless to say, this game is a horrible combination of difficult unlockables, uninviting end goals, and absolutely horrific RNG-based gameplay.”
“The game was interesting on the first run, but once I realized how little the items added to the gameplay and the repetitive nature of the levels, it got boring pretty quick.”
- graphics29 mentions
- 31 % positive mentions
- 59 % neutral mentions
- 10 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game are widely praised for their charming, cutesy art style, which many find delightful and fitting for the game's atmosphere. While some users appreciate the simplistic, cartoon-like visuals, others criticize certain elements as generic or overly simplistic. Overall, the graphics contribute positively to the game's appeal, although performance issues have been noted by some players.
“The graphics and characters are delightful, and the advancement is at a good pace.”
“I absolutely love the art style of this game.”
“The art style is fantastic, and you never know what you're going to find.”
“The graphics look nice, but the game ran very badly on my machine.”
“There is no reason for graphics this simple to be lagging an i5-3570k/gtx 660.”
“Sometimes (for no discernible reason) the game's visuals will freeze.”
- music12 mentions
- 42 % positive mentions
- 33 % neutral mentions
- 25 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with some players enjoying its fun and nostalgic qualities, while others find it repetitive and not well-suited to the game's environment. Although there are positive mentions of the soundtrack's charm and humor, many agree that it can become redundant over time. Overall, the music is considered decent but not exceptional, with a few players noting the ability to adjust the volume.
“Good music, good art, love the sense of humor as well.”
“I really enjoy the music; it's quite fun, if repetitive, but repetitive like Tetris or other beloved old games.”
“Right out of the gate, this game has a lot working in its favor - an adorable protagonist, a creative premise (which informs its dual-natured gameplay), a great degree of challenge, a decent soundtrack, and a style and humor all its own, with references to Final Fantasy, Zelda, and even The Wicker Man.”
“You are warned if you hate repetitive music.”
“The game tries to go for a Link to the Past vibe with its music, although it gets redundant after a while.”
“This is actually a good game, besides the fact that it doesn't let you change the graphics to low, medium, or high, and the resolution, also it freezes randomly even though the music is still playing.”
- story8 mentions
- 25 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
The game's story features a charming yet dark narrative centered around a lizard on a quest to save his wizard, who attempts to cheat death through a potion. While the lighthearted visual and sound design enhance the experience, some players feel the story lacks depth and fails to provide compelling goals, leading to a disconnection from the gameplay. Overall, the narrative is a mix of campy fantasy and darker themes, but it may not resonate with all players.
“And despite the cuter art style, the story—once you learn it—is actually pretty bloody dark!”
“This is a charming little twin-stick shooter/dungeon crawler/rogue-lite featuring a lizard on a quest to save his wizard.”
“This game is weird, its mechanics are bad, the story is even worse; there is nothing that keeps you addicted in this game.”
“There are no goals or story to make you move forward.”
“The story of this lovable reptile begins with the tale of your wizard attempting to cheat death with you by his side by making a potion that will make both of you live forever, but as we all know, death is not to be crossed and takes him, and so your bone-breaking, flesh-ripping adventure begins here.”
- replayability8 mentions
- 38 % positive mentions
- 25 % neutral mentions
- 38 % negative mentions
Overall, the game's replayability is mixed; while some players find it enjoyable and capable of satisfying the roguelike experience, others feel it lacks the depth and content necessary for long-term engagement compared to titles like "The Binding of Isaac." Although it offers a fun experience for a few sessions, many reviewers suggest that it doesn't quite match the replay value of its more established counterparts.
“It's got great replay value and definitely scratches the roguelike itch.”
“Replayability is good especially because of the style of game it is.”
“It's a fun game with lots of replayability.”
“A nice Binding of Isaac-inspired game, not too much content in comparison and lower replayability, but cute enough for at least a try.”
“Obvious comparison to Binding of Isaac, but doesn't quite deliver as hefty a punch as Isaac does in replay value.”
“Yeah, what happened to the hundreds of hours of replayability that a roguelike has?”
- optimization8 mentions
- 13 % positive mentions
- 13 % neutral mentions
- 75 % negative mentions
The optimization of the game has been widely criticized, with users reporting severe performance issues on various PCs, particularly in the later stages of gameplay. Many players find the performance unacceptable, describing it as some of the worst they've encountered, and the lack of widescreen support is attributed to the game's inability to handle increased pixel load. Overall, the game's optimization is seen as subpar, leading to frustration among players.
“Awl's optimization is quite subpar.”
“An incredibly fun and addictive game which sports what has to be the worst performance of any game I've ever purchased.”
“In the late part of the game, the performance is so bad it's literally impossible to play.”
- grinding7 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The reviews highlight that the game features significant grinding, particularly towards the end, which can make gameplay feel tedious and frustrating. While some players appreciate the fun item database and upgrade mechanics, many find the repetitive nature of revisiting areas to progress to be a major drawback, detracting from the overall enjoyment. Despite these issues, some still consider the game worth playing for its other qualities.
“Every room becomes a tedious nightmare, making the game difficult for all the wrong reasons.”
“This isn’t fun, it’s tedious.”
“It has a fun item database and interesting upgrade elements; however, I found the gameplay itself can become quite tedious, and bug issues, specifically around some monsters, cause you to die unnecessarily - very frustrating after progressing to a certain point.”
- stability5 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game's stability has been a significant concern for players, with reports of frequent bugs, random freezes, and a lack of graphical options contributing to frustration. While recent updates have improved the experience, many users feel the game should not have been released in its current state without an early access label, especially given its $15 price point. Overall, the stability issues detract from an otherwise enjoyable gameplay experience.
“Overall, while a nice game that would have done well as a free flash game, it quickly becomes very repetitive, and has enough buggy quality issues to make me sorely regret paying the full $15 price.”
“This is actually a good game, besides the fact that it doesn't let you change the graphics to low, medium, or high resolution, and it also freezes randomly even though the music is still playing.”
“Hopefully the devs will be able to get it patched fairly soon, but it's pretty frustrating that this is for sale on Steam as is without a 'beta' or 'early access' tag, considering how buggy it is.”
- humor3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The game's humor is well-received, characterized by its unique style and clever references to popular culture, including Final Fantasy and Zelda. While players find it funny, some express a desire for more humor throughout the experience. Overall, the humor complements the game's charming art and engaging gameplay.
“Good music, good art, love the sense of humor as well.”
“Right out of the gate, this game has a lot working in its favor - an adorable protagonist, a creative premise (which informs its dual-natured gameplay), a great degree of challenge, a decent soundtrack, and a style and humor all its own, with references to Final Fantasy, Zelda, and even The Wicker Man.”
- atmosphere1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere is characterized by polished gameplay and a charming graphic style that enhances the overall experience. Players appreciate the cozy interactions, such as sleeping on rugs and playful activities like kicking a ball around in town, which contribute to a delightful and immersive environment.
“The polished gameplay and cute graphic style fit the atmosphere perfectly, allowing you to sleep on a rug and kick a ball around (two if you get lucky and find an extra in a barrel) in the town.”
