Magicka

About

Magicka is a satirical action-adventure game set in a fantasy world filled with parody and humorous nods to popular culture. Players assume the role of a robe-wearing, staff-wielding wizard with the ability to combine elements to cast spells. With a unique spell casting system, Magicka offers a challenging and entertaining experience as players battle enemies and bosses in a campaign that can be played solo or with friends.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Local Multi-Player Play with friends in the same physical space using split-screen or multiple screens
2-Players Play with one other player, either online or locally, in a cooperative or competitive game mode
Multi-Player Compete or cooperate with other players online
Co-Op Team up with friends to complete levels or missions together
Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo
Split Screen Play with multiple players on the same screen, often with divided or shared screen real estate

84%

Audience ScoreBased on 14,489 reviews

humor2.2k positive mentions

stability473 negative mentions

The innovative spellcasting mechanics allow for creative and unique combat experiences.
The humor and chaotic multiplayer interactions make for a fun and entertaining experience, especially with friends.
The game's whimsical art style and catchy music enhance the overall atmosphere and enjoyment.

Frequent crashes, bugs, and poor optimization significantly detract from the gameplay experience.
The aggressive monetization strategy, including numerous DLCs and microtransactions, has turned many players off.
The story is thin and often overshadowed by gameplay issues, leading to a lack of depth and engagement.

humor
2,187 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
99%
The humor in "Magicka" is widely praised for its cleverness and charm, often drawing comparisons to Monty Python with its quirky dialogue and pop culture references. Players enjoy the chaotic nature of the game, where friendly fire leads to hilarious accidental deaths, making it a particularly entertaining experience in multiplayer mode. While some find the humor to be juvenile or reliant on memes, the overall consensus is that the game's comedic elements significantly enhance its appeal, especially when played with friends.
- “The humor is spot on, and I found myself laughing at the quirky dialogue and hilarious moments throughout the game.”
- “Magicka is a hilarious mix of magic, teamwork, and trolling.”
- “The game's humor and self-awareness are evident throughout, with pop culture references and satirical elements sprinkled into the dialogue and gameplay.”
- “Suffice to say the story exists to be a vehicle for far, far too many unfunny jokes.”
- “My gripe is that they took this system and built an unfunny joke game around it.”
- “The warmed-over 'Swedish Chef' mock-language is painful and unfunny.”
gameplay
1,074 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
52%
45%
3%
The gameplay of Magicka is characterized by its innovative spellcasting mechanics, allowing players to combine various elements to create unique spells, which adds depth and creativity to combat. However, many users report frequent crashes, bugs, and clunky controls that detract from the overall experience, making it frustrating at times. Despite these issues, the game is praised for its humor and chaotic multiplayer interactions, making it a fun, albeit imperfect, experience when played with friends.
- “The cooperative gameplay makes every session a wild adventure, full of unexpected moments.”
- “I recommend this highly for the relatively unique gameplay and fun cooperative multiplayer.”
- “The game delivers a rare sense of mechanical satisfaction, making it an exceptional and rewarding adventure.”
- “Completely broken mechanics and everything being a glass cannon put this firmly into the comedy game genre.”
- “I've had 5 or 6 crashes over an hour of gameplay.”
- “Crashes during gameplay, during level transitions, during loading screens, soft locks that make you have to restart your computer; there's an impressive variety of ways the game can break while you try to play it.”
story
1,042 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
44%
53%
3%
The story of Magicka is characterized by its humorous and lighthearted tone, filled with pop culture references and absurdity, making it entertaining but not particularly deep or memorable. While some players appreciate the comedic elements and quirky narrative, others find the plot thin and the gameplay often overshadows the story itself. Overall, the game is best enjoyed in multiplayer, where the chaotic interactions and friendly fire add to the comedic experience, despite frequent crashes and bugs that can hinder progress.
- “Magicka's humor and lighthearted storytelling add to the overall enjoyment.”
- “The story is short but charming with some funny twists and turns.”
- “The only downside in my eyes of this game is the story, which is a lot like a Borderlands-style story where you're just waiting for the cringe to end so you can enjoy the unique gameplay this game offers.”
- “While the game does indeed possess named characters, calling them 'characters' feels overly generous; as does calling the story a 'story' at all.”
- “The story is filled with pop culture references and witty humor that will keep you laughing throughout the game.”
stability
482 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
2%
98%
The stability of the game is widely criticized, with numerous users reporting frequent crashes, freezes, and various bugs that significantly hinder gameplay. Many players describe it as a "buggy mess," making it nearly unplayable, especially in multiplayer modes. Despite its fun mechanics and humor, the persistent technical issues overshadow the overall experience, leading to frustration and disappointment among users.
- “At the time I played the main campaign, it was on Windows 7, so it didn't have any game-breaking bugs. Not to say the game was bug-free, but at least I didn't encounter any that would make the game unplayable.”
- “Now, the game is 99.99% bug-free.”
- “10/10 no glitches”
- “Actually keeps crashing, it's not only PC tuner kids complaining about their unstable PCs, this game actually just crashes and freezes all over the place.”
- “Usually this game is so buggy and crashes so often that you have to replay a level multiple times, it's incredibly annoying, even if you install a mod that fixes this, it still is a very unreliable game.”
- “The game is buggy as hell, gets stuck when you die or when you complete a level.”
graphics
365 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
41%
51%
8%
The graphics of the game are generally well-received, characterized by a colorful and whimsical art style that complements its humorous tone. While some players note that the visuals may not be cutting-edge, they still hold up well over time, especially for an indie title. However, there are frequent mentions of performance issues, particularly on systems with integrated graphics, which can detract from the overall experience.
- “The art style still holds up beautifully, and the game’s whimsical vibe really pulls you in.”
- “Visually, the game embraces a colorful and cartoonish art style that complements its whimsical nature.”
- “The graphics are rich and colorful, the spell combinations your character can do is crazy fun!”
- “The graphics kind of suck and it is not stable if you are running it on anything other than Windows XP or Vista.”
- “The game is poorly optimized - it depends on your graphic card, because apparently the game can run choppy even on newer computers.”
- “Frequent crashes, unskippable cutscenes, the game does a poor job of introducing new spells, oversaturation of audio that don't provide relevant sound cues for gameplay, graphics that don't clearly communicate necessary information, spell effects that make it harder to see the on-screen action, a weird pseudo-physics system, a game that relies on kiting but has tiny maps cluttered map are just a few issues I had with this game.”
music
105 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
48%
48%
5%
The music in the game is widely praised for its catchy and immersive qualities, enhancing the overall atmosphere and gameplay experience. While some players find the soundtrack occasionally repetitive or unremarkable, many highlight its ability to complement the humorous and whimsical elements of the game. Overall, the sound design, including voice acting and sound effects, is considered a strong point, contributing to the game's charm and enjoyment.
- “The music is some of my favorite in gaming.”
- “The accompanying sound design, including humorous voice lines and whimsical music, complements the gameplay perfectly.”
- “The music is absolutely beautiful, and there are loads of pop culture references, and the humor is just right enough to keep you smiling the whole way through.”
- “Sound effects get the job done and the soundtrack, while not memorable and sometimes a little grating, gets the job done generically enough as well.”
- “The music was fitting, but nothing too memorable.”
- “Music bores you sometimes, but actually my main problem with it was that it does not change with the situation.”
replayability
94 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
48%
7%
The game's replayability is generally praised, with many players highlighting the fun and chaotic multiplayer experience, diverse character options, and numerous secrets to discover. While some reviews note a lack of replay value for solo players or completionists, the overall consensus is that the game offers significant replayability, especially in cooperative play, making it enjoyable for those who appreciate varied gameplay and humor.
- “The main campaign isn't very long (around 10 hours), but the game has a great replay value as there are plenty of secrets to find.”
- “Very creative game with lots of fun and replayability.”
- “This game is packed to the brim with replayability, from the many insane and wacky robes to don to the online co-op with friends; all it takes is one badly aimed rock to start an all-out war amongst yourselves.”
- “The main problem with the series is that there's no replayability.”
- “Personally for me, there isn't a lot of replay value in the game.”
- “A good game for multiplayer but overall short, so no replay value.”
optimization
80 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
39%
44%
The game's optimization is widely criticized, with many users reporting frequent crashes, stuttering, and visual bugs, even on high-end systems. Players note that it struggles to run smoothly, often pushing hardware to its limits, and is particularly problematic for those using older or less powerful machines. Despite its fun gameplay, the poor optimization significantly detracts from the overall experience, leading to frustration and disappointment.
- “The game has a super simple premise, but there's a very high level of optimization and ways to play.”
- “This game is amazing, full of humor and fun, albeit some minor performance issues.”
- “Despite the glitches and performance drops, the main game mechanic, where you concoct spells in real-time alchemy style, is absolutely genius.”
- “It just seems like it's extremely poorly optimized.”
- “The game is poorly optimized - it depends on your graphic card, because apparently the game can run choppy even on newer computers.”
- “Unfortunately it suffers from pretty poor optimization and even if you're running a halfway decent machine, it can be sluggish and slow.”
grinding
36 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
8%
3%
89%
The reviews highlight a significant divide in player experiences regarding grinding in the game. Many players find the grinding tedious and repetitive, often leading to frustration, especially in single-player mode, where the lack of intuitive controls and frequent interruptions from dialogue exacerbate the issue. Conversely, some players appreciate the absence of traditional grinding mechanics, noting that the game focuses more on skill-based gameplay rather than mindless leveling or item farming, particularly in multiplayer settings.
- “Hilarious single (or multiplayer) storyline with lots of twists and flips while making monsters explode is still great. The game gets harder and is not too grindy while still being challenging and entertaining so far.”
- “Every single enemy encounter is a puzzle on its own; there is no grinding for levels or items and you can only count on tactics to defeat your foes.”
- “+no grinding”
- “Just going and grinding and dying and grinding and dying; there is nothing else in this game.”
- “Having to restart and reinvest your time into these monotonous areas of grinding to get to the part where the game broke just to find out it breaks again?”
- “This game felt more tedious than fun, and the controls didn't feel intuitive to me.”
atmosphere
30 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
53%
37%
10%
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its whimsical, lighthearted tone, enhanced by a charming hand-drawn aesthetic and humorous dialogue. Players appreciate the immersive environment, unique character designs, and engaging music that collectively create a fun and quirky experience. However, some critiques note that while the atmosphere is enjoyable, it may not compensate for shortcomings in story and gameplay depth.
- “The hand-drawn aesthetic adds character and fits well with the game's overall atmosphere.”
- “The atmosphere of the game is just fantastic and immersive.”
- “This lighthearted atmosphere synergizes well with the unique gameplay to create an experience that is incontestably fun.”
- “The story and atmosphere seem lighthearted enough, but it's not enough to save what really just amounts to a game you can play with some friends if you are getting drunk or something.”
- “Everything about this game is mediocre and bland; the level design, the graphics, the sounds, the atmosphere.”
- “The game, its story, its world, and its atmosphere have no intention - and likely never will have any real intention - of trying to enthrall the player with serious tones and deep plots.”
emotional
27 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
96%
4%
The emotional aspect of the game is characterized by a blend of wholesome fun and nostalgic feelings, evoking a sense of empowerment and camaraderie among players. While some users appreciate the innovative mechanics and heartwarming moments, others express frustration with bugs and a lack of a compelling narrative, leading to mixed emotional responses. Overall, the game is seen as a unique experience that can inspire joy and nostalgia, despite its flaws.
- “Magicka is probably the only game that I've ever played that has made me feel like a true and rightly powerful wizard, which really is everything you could ever want in a game, right?”
- “Equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring.”
- “Still, I will say that this game is one of the most unique and heartwarming experiences I've ever had in my gaming life.”
monetization
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
13%
35%
52%
The monetization strategy of the game has drawn significant criticism, with players highlighting an overwhelming number of DLCs and intrusive microtransactions that detract from the overall experience. Many feel that recent updates have turned the game into a "cash grab," introducing ads and bugs that render it nearly unplayable, particularly in multiplayer modes. Overall, the aggressive push for monetization has left a once-beloved game in a frustrating and broken state.
- “There's a gajillion DLC and in-game purchases.”
- “There are lots of mini-DLC/microtransactions that add robes and additional game modes.”
- “Let me clarify, this used to be a great game, but the decision of Paradox to take hold of the game and introduce microtransactions plus 'updates' that apparently completely destroyed the game itself was horrible.”
- “Many years after the game was released, they changed it so that everyone in the lobby needs the campaign DLC to play together (obvious cash grab).”
- “Paradox Interactive has made it clear that they want to turn this game into a DLC cash grab while somehow breaking the game by doing so.”
- “The game used to be very good, but it's now a buggy mess left in a halfway-state of Paradox trying out a new monetization strategy for the game and updating some mechanics of it, neither of which were ever finished and the game is now prone to even more crashes, bugs, and multiplayer issues than ever before.”
character development
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
14%
43%
Character development in the game is minimal, with no dedicated system for character growth beyond learning new spells. While the character designs are praised and the humor adds charm, players should not expect a plot-driven narrative or significant character evolution. Instead, development is largely tied to the player's mastery of the spell mechanics.
- “Great character design along with a rather humorous story.”
- “It has decent mechanics, top-tier character designs, and some stupid humor.”
- “The majority of character development is your own knowledge of using the spell system.”
- “You should not expect a plot-driven story or character development.”
- “No character development system, just staff and weapon for your customizable powerful wizard.”
- “No true character development outside of learning new spells.”