Driftland: The Magic Revival

72%
Game Brain Score Based on 1,390 reviews
  • gameplay
  • story
  • graphics
Driftland: The Magic Revival Game Cover
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In "Driftland: The Magic Revival," players oversee a world shattered by magical warfare, maintained by a lingering spell. As new sources of magic emerge and new mages are born, players must guide the restoration of civilization amidst resurging conflicts. They will manage resources, develop floating landmasses, and engage in strategic combat to rebuild and defend their empire.

  • Mac OS
  • PC
  • Windows
Genres & TagsPlay Modes

Reviews

72%
Audience ScoreBased on 1,390 reviews
gameplay156 positive mentions
grinding38 negative mentions
  • Unique gameplay mechanics involving moving and connecting floating islands.
  • Beautiful graphics and a charming art style.
  • Engaging resource management that requires strategic planning.
  • Lack of direct control over units can be frustrating.
  • Campaign missions can feel repetitive and lack depth.
  • AI behavior is often poor, leading to unchallenging gameplay.
  • gameplay390 mentions

    The gameplay of Driftland: The Magic Revival is characterized by its unique mechanics involving floating islands and indirect unit control, reminiscent of games like Majesty and Netstorm. While many players appreciate the innovative concepts and strategic elements, the overall experience is often described as slow-paced, repetitive, and lacking depth, leading to a mixed reception regarding its engagement and challenge. Despite its potential and appealing visuals, the gameplay can feel tedious and unbalanced, with some players expressing a desire for more variety and refinement in mechanics.

    • “I damn I fell in love immediately, great gameplay, great mechanics and beautiful design.”
    • “The gameplay blends strategic city-building similar to the Anno series or similar, with RTS combat that includes RPG mechanics; your units grow stronger with experience, so the kind of cannon fodder tactics that typically plague the genre are significantly less effective.”
    • “This whole islands mechanic adds another layer to 'resource management' and they have done it so well.”
    • “The gameplay loop of upgrading your keep, to increase the range of your spells, to continue exploring is very unfun.”
    • “Honestly though this game is just not worth the price, 90% of the missions are laughably easy, and in general the gameplay is mostly repetitive, slow and not tactical at all (you play the same each game and win).”
    • “The gameplay is confusing and disordered, and the interesting mechanic of moving the floating islands around doesn't really add as much as it could due to them mostly being so close that there really isn't much choice on where and how to move them.”
  • story310 mentions

    The story in the game is generally considered underwhelming and poorly executed, with many players finding it repetitive and lacking depth. While some appreciate the lore and the attempt at a narrative across multiple campaigns, the delivery is often criticized for being text-heavy and unengaging, leading to a feeling that the story is an afterthought rather than a core component of the gameplay. Overall, the campaign is seen as a mix of generic plotlines and tedious missions, with little to compel players to invest in the narrative.

    • “The campaign was fun to play through since it offered a nice story, and some of the missions did vary on the basic concept a little.”
    • “Four sets of missions, one for each faction, present a single, interwoven narration, each providing its own perspective of a single scenario, instead of a bunch of what-ifs.”
    • “It's really nice how the gameplay is diversified for storytelling - there's even a mission where you're just moving your sole island, kinda like sailing around while the story unfolds.”
    • “The story is very loosely constructed and based solely in poorly written dialogue, so there's nothing compelling about finishing the campaign.”
    • “The story feels like it was a last second addition that no one proofread.”
    • “Campaign plot is a cliche upon cliche upon cliche.”
  • graphics166 mentions

    The graphics of the game receive a mixed but generally positive reception, with many users praising the beautiful visuals, charming art style, and smooth performance even on lower-end systems. However, some critiques highlight inconsistencies in the art style and issues with distinguishing between characters, suggesting that while the graphics are aesthetically pleasing, they may not always enhance gameplay clarity. Overall, the game is noted for its vibrant and enchanting fantasy aesthetic, making it visually appealing despite some minor flaws.

    • “Cool premise, great art style and visual presentation, and just an all-around enchanting fantasy aesthetic that is sorely lacking in games today.”
    • “The graphics look gorgeous, the idea is awesome... so much potential.”
    • “Driftland's graphics and mechanics are absolutely gorgeous.”
    • “Why do the graphics suck so bad?”
    • “The graphics look sloppy and lazily done; you can't even visually see the difference between a warrior and druid unless you click on them.”
    • “Has potential, but the graphics were not good compared to the RAM it took to play it, and there were a lot of lulls in the real-time play.”
  • music116 mentions

    The music in the game receives mixed reviews, with many players praising its beauty and ability to enhance the immersive experience, describing it as soothing and fitting for the game's atmosphere. However, some users noted issues such as abrupt endings, repetitive tracks, and a lack of variety, suggesting that the soundtrack could benefit from additional compositions and more dynamic audio cues. Overall, while the music is often highlighted as a strong point, it also faces criticism for not being memorable or engaging enough in certain contexts.

    • “The soundtrack is simply amazing, somewhat similar to Endless Legend in style and easily on par in terms of quality.”
    • “I love the subtle humor inserted all around, the soundtrack is amazing, the graphics and animations are charming, the tutorials and zoomed-out map are really useful, and best of all, this game doesn't kill my ol' mac's CPU.”
    • “Nothing rushes you, the music is peaceful, and it is mostly a comfortable economy game with a little combat.”
    • “Sometimes the music just ends abruptly.”
    • “The tutorial and music alone made me never want to touch this again.”
    • “There is no soul, you only hear music mostly, the ambient sounds or unit sounds are not a factor, no voice lines, this is just bland, rough unsuccessful majesty clone without passion, not to mention humor...”
  • grinding38 mentions

    Overall, players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and repetitive, often feeling like a chore rather than an engaging experience. Many missions revolve around resource collection and managing a complex economy, which can lead to a lack of variety and purpose, especially in larger maps. While some acknowledge that there are enjoyable elements, the overwhelming sentiment is that the grinding detracts significantly from the overall enjoyment of the game.

    • “The missions are tedious, especially the fifth as dwarves, where the map is so big.”
    • “It is sad, because the game would be great, atmosphere is great, everything is nice, but as other negative reviews mention, the whole game is an endless grinding of building houses - building farms - building houses - building units... and nothing to do besides that!”
    • “Building economy, as you'll read in many other reviews for this game, is a painfully tedious grind.”
  • replayability20 mentions

    Overall, the game's replayability is considered limited, with many players noting short campaigns and a lack of online activity. While some appreciate the unique playstyles of different races and the lore-driven campaigns, the absence of features like a random map generator and a need for more content updates hinder long-term engagement. Players suggest that improvements in gameplay mechanics and additional content could enhance replay value in the future.

    • “Several races with unique playstyles, a fully fledged campaign for each of the races, a lore-driven plot from a campaign perspective, and tons of replayability await the player.”
    • “There'd need to be new features (more in the tech tree, better upgrades, more building types) to fill in all the space that you get and generate more of a challenge in the end game for this to be a very replayable game, but it's been a great way to spend the day so far!”
    • “+ fast updates from developers which make the game more playable and friendly.”
    • “Additionally, there doesn't seem to be much for replayability, since the campaigns are short, only lengthened by how long it takes to beat each map. With an average of about 20 players online any given day, I have yet to see anyone playing online.”
    • “It may be worth buying it when it is on sale, but don't expect it to have lasting replay value at this current time.”
    • “Replayability is non-existent.”
  • optimization16 mentions

    Overall, the game's optimization is generally positive, with most players reporting smooth performance and no major complaints. However, some users experienced occasional crashes and specific issues that affected frame rates, indicating that further optimization and balancing are still needed. While it performs well compared to many early access titles, there are still areas for improvement.

    • “No complaints about the game’s performance.”
    • “Multiplayer runs smoothly, with save/load option.”
    • “It runs smoothly for me with no crashes.”
    • “Optimization needs a lot of work and balancing feels like it didn't even happen yet.”
    • “One performance thing to add, though, the game crashed a few times.”
    • “Unlike many early access games where it hasn't been optimized or looks terrible, this game plays well and looks great.”
  • stability14 mentions

    Overall, user reviews indicate a mixed experience regarding stability. While some players report a generally smooth experience with no crashes or major bugs, others encounter frequent freezes and bugs, particularly at the game's start. The game's performance seems to vary significantly based on individual hardware configurations.

    • “The game has some novel ideas and is generally bug-free.”
    • “Beautiful and bug-free :)”
    • “Freezes constantly for long periods on i5-8700k and GTX 980 with 16GB; it's not enough resources or a conflict.”
    • “A little buggy and rough at the start, but challenging and worthwhile.”
    • “Buggy.”
  • humor14 mentions

    The humor in the game is characterized by clever naming and amusing mechanics, such as the comical music slowing down when paused and the ability to manipulate islands in humorous ways. While it offers less humor than similar titles, it compensates with engaging gameplay that often leads to funny moments, like capturing enemy buildings and watching them turn against their owners. Overall, players find the game fun and entertaining, even in moments of frustration.

    • “The game has other cool dynamics such as dragging the islands around too, and the funny music slowing down to 0.25 speed upon pause.”
    • “Being able to fireball/tornado bridges, then use your magic to kidnap their island and fly them across to your archipelago, or just take them for a spin around the void, is pretty funny.”
    • “When it crashed I screamed 'noooo' but started laughing because the game was so much fun.”
  • monetization6 mentions

    The monetization strategy of the game has drawn mixed reactions, with some users criticizing the developers for using the news section as a platform for unwanted advertising, while others appreciate the absence of microtransactions and the overall value offered at a lower price compared to AAA titles.

    • “It offers unique gameplay, no useless microtransactions, no game-breaking bugs, cool animations, and all for half the price of a AAA strategy game.”
    • “The developers are abusing their customers by using this game's news section as an advertising platform to promote their new game, sending unwanted spam news updates with no shame at all.”
  • emotional6 mentions

    The emotional impact of the game is mixed; while some players find it visually stunning, others feel that the boring storyline detracts from their overall experience, leaving them disengaged rather than emotionally invested.

    • “Now this made me feel better”
  • character development2 mentions

    Character development in the game is generally perceived as weak, with reviewers noting a lack of animated scenes that could enhance storytelling. Overall, the narrative fails to engage players meaningfully.

    • “There are no animated scenes, and the story and character development seemed pretty weak.”
  • atmosphere2 mentions

    The game's atmosphere is praised for its quality and appeal, creating an engaging environment. However, this positive aspect is overshadowed by repetitive gameplay focused on endless building tasks, which detracts from the overall experience.

    • “The atmosphere is great, everything is nice.”
    • “The game has a fantastic atmosphere that draws you in.”
Positive mentions (%)Positive
Neutral mentions (%)Neutral
Negative mentions (%)Negative

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Play time

10hMedian play time
22hAverage play time
3-50hSpent by most gamers
*Based on 18 analyzed playthroughs

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