Magdalena

About

Magdalena is a single player action game. It was developed by MagdalenaTeam and was released on February 22, 2016. It received negative reviews from players.

"Magdalena" is a horror-adventure game where you play as George, uncovering bloody events through the guidance of light. Explore the game's world, gather memory fragments, and piece together the truth, inspired by Edgar Allan Poe's chilling stories. Search for clues within the house and surroundings to unravel the mysteries lurking behind a long-locked room.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player

Skip User Reviews

26%

Audience ScoreBased on 104 reviews

story4 positive mentions

optimization6 negative mentions

The game has a nice concept and an interesting story that could appeal to fans of narrative-driven experiences.
Some players found the graphics to be visually appealing, showcasing a decent level of detail.
It offers easy achievements and trading cards, making it a quick option for collectors.

The game is plagued by severe technical issues, including frequent crashes and poor optimization, making it nearly unplayable for many users.
Gameplay consists mainly of reading notes, which can be tedious and lacks engaging mechanics, leading to a boring experience.
The English translation is poorly executed, making the story difficult to follow and detracting from the overall immersion.

story
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
70%
13%
The story in "Magdalena" is primarily delivered through scattered notes, leading to a fragmented and predictable narrative that many reviewers found lacking in depth and coherence. While some appreciated the writing quality and the chilling ending, others criticized the reliance on clichés and the difficulty in following the plot without prior context. Overall, the story feels more like an interactive short story than a fully developed gameplay experience, leaving players wanting a more engaging and cohesive narrative.
- “The more you explore the house, the more backstory you get, and a sinister truth is revealed to you.”
- “The game is short, but the story is good enough, and the ending gave me the chills.”
- “The letters are very well written, and the story overall is good.”
- “Magdalena from magdalenateam, instead of full-fledged gameplay, offers the player to collect fragments of a long and predictable story, generously strewn with genre clichés.”
- “The story itself is not that interesting and a few notes pretty much give away the plot twist ending, which is incredibly predictable.”
- “It makes it difficult to understand the story when it seems like somebody just copied a note in Russian, pasted it into Google Translate, and used whatever came out without checking if it even made sense.”
graphics
15 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
47%
20%
The graphics of the game are generally praised for their attractiveness and high-resolution textures, with some users noting that the environments look gorgeous. However, many players report significant performance issues, including slow frame rates and bugs in the graphics settings, which detract from the overall experience. While the visuals have potential, the lack of optimization and polish leaves much to be desired.
- “For the price, the game is pretty decent: graphics are great, it's nice that you can interact with every object, and the storyline is fine (at least to the point I managed to get).”
- “But I must admit the graphics in the home are very good and textures look pretty high res, good work here.”
- “This is a pretty attractive little game if you look at the graphics, but it needs to be polished in some details.”
- “While the environment looks gorgeous, it runs extremely slow, and even turning down the graphics won't help much.”
- “The one time I was able to play, it stuttered like mad, even with no antialiasing, lowest graphics settings, etc., even though I have a GTX 960, a newer Intel Core i5, and 8 GB of RAM.”
- “Way too buggy with graphic settings, can't really play it.”
optimization
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
27%
18%
55%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many players experiencing severe performance issues such as crashes, stuttering, and graphical glitches, making it nearly unplayable for some. While a few users report stable performance, the overall consensus is that the game feels unfinished and poorly optimized, leading to a frustrating experience. Many believe that a more polished release could have significantly improved player satisfaction.
- “I'm really sad that this game got released so early. I bet if this game was released when it was actually finished, you know, when the game is playable performance-wise, when you've finished the options menu, it would've been so much better.”
- “There are still a lot of issues, and honestly, I only realize that now that I can play it with better performance.”
- “I'll recommend this once the performance is better.”
- “It seems that in the years after its release, with bad optimization and maybe a few bugs, the game has been drastically changed and become a gutted version of itself.”
- “The stuttering in this game is so bad, I couldn't even play it.”
- “Horrible, absolutely horrible performance.”
music
9 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
33%
34%
33%
The music in the game has received largely negative feedback, with many users noting a lack of engaging soundtrack and sound effects, often describing them as bland or non-existent during gameplay. While the title screen music is occasionally praised, players express disappointment over the absence of a more atmospheric and interactive audio experience throughout the game.
- “I relaxed for 5 minutes listening to this music, long enough to realize that I would be okay.”
- “Pretty title screen music.”
- “Tried to play today and sat listening to the opening song 4 times with nothing on the screen.”
- “Just crickets and doors opening sounds, no music at all, zero interaction with the environment and nothing going on.”
- “Other than that, the music and sound effects are really bland.”
- “The only music I heard was in the title screen.”
stability
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The stability of the game is highly inconsistent, with some users reporting no issues like crashing or freezing, while others experience significant problems such as freezing at startup and severe bugs that hinder gameplay. Many players have noted that the game is plagued by bugs, including issues with graphics settings and unchangeable mouse sensitivity, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, the game's stability appears to be a major concern for a significant portion of the player base.
- “Don't buy this crap, it freezes at startup and you end up rebooting your PC!”
- “First of all, the game is really buggy.”
- “This game is terrible as it is very buggy and not worth a single penny.”
gameplay
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
43%
43%
The gameplay has been criticized for being lackluster and predictable, relying heavily on genre clichés and offering little engagement beyond collecting story fragments. While some players may find moments of fear, the overall experience is described as boring and unfulfilling, with many elements of the story only accessible through scattered notes.
- “Alot of the reviews must be from an older version; even the gameplay I saw online is somewhat different.”
- “Magdalena from magdalenateam, instead of full-fledged gameplay, offers the player to collect fragments of a long and predictable story, generously strewn with genre clichés.”
- “The gameplay is a shame.”
- “The gameplay is sometimes boring, but you can be scared.”
atmosphere
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
100%
The atmosphere of the game is criticized for lacking depth, as it devolves into monotony and fails to effectively convey psychological horror. Reviewers suggest that the environment and soundtrack are underdeveloped, leading to a less engaging experience that could have been better suited for a visual novel format. Overall, the game is seen as an atmospheric walking simulator with significant shortcomings.
- “Such a story could be told much more effectively in the format of a visual novel or, at the very least, create an atmospheric adventure with a more elaborate environment and soundtrack.”
- “Atmospheric walking sim with broken achievements.”
- “The plot twists are predictable from the very first lines, and the atmosphere of 'psychological horror' quickly fades into the boredom of monotonous wandering through poorly designed environments.”
- “The game fails to create a truly immersive atmosphere, leaving players feeling detached and uninterested in the unfolding story.”
- “Despite its horror theme, the atmosphere lacks tension and suspense, making it difficult to engage with the game on any meaningful level.”
emotional
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the emotional aspect of the game to be deeply impactful, as they navigate the challenges of playing as a frail, aging vampire, evoking feelings of vulnerability and isolation. The character's physical limitations, such as blindness and slow movement, enhance the sense of struggle and poignancy in the gameplay experience.
humor
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in the game is often described as visually amusing, even if the underlying jokes or concepts may not be fully understood by all players.
- “I don’t understand it, but it’s still funny on a simple visual level.”