Mago

About

Mago is a platformer game with a fantasy theme. It was developed by Dream Potion Games and was released on June 21, 2022. It received positive reviews from players.

Mago is a 2D platformer that puts us in the boots of a sorcerer who will have to run, jump and use his trustworthy magic wand across a vast kingdom where everything can, and will, happen. Will the Wizard be able to rescue his beloved damsel from the claws of the evil Gourmet?

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83%

Audience ScoreBased on 147 reviews

music31 positive mentions

grinding7 negative mentions

The game features beautiful pixel art and a charming, nostalgic SNES-inspired visual style.
The soundtrack is widely praised with catchy and memorable music that complements the gameplay.
Gameplay offers a variety of levels and unique mechanics including minigames, transformation stages, and collectibles that add depth and challenge.

Controls feel floaty and imprecise to many players, making platforming and enemy interactions frustrating at times.
Checkpoints are either excessively far apart or cost in-game currency to activate, resulting in punishing and tedious retry segments.
The game lacks sufficient explanations and tutorials, making it hard to understand collectibles, enemy behaviors, and mechanics, which can lead to confusion and frustration.

music
61 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
51%
44%
5%
The game's music is widely praised for its catchy, nostalgic chip-tune soundtrack that perfectly captures the SNES era vibe, enhancing the charming pixel art and gameplay. Players often highlight the memorable tracks, especially during boss fights and different biomes, describing the soundtrack as a standout feature that adds to the overall fun and atmosphere. A few noted minor issues with volume balance and occasional bugs do not detract significantly from the generally excellent and enjoyable music experience.
- “The soundtracks were top notch in each biome, especially the boss fights. I enjoyed every single one of them.”
- “Music is near perfect and it captures the SNES feel perfectly.”
- “It perfectly captures all the things that made original SNES games classics: the art, the music, the way the game feels... it's clear these folks did their research.”
- “I couldn't stand the music, and the controls felt more like a Mario browser fangame.”
- “Problem is, the music is so loud you can barely hear it.”
- “If you do that, you run into a bug that's present at this time: lowering the music volume also lowers the volume of these secret cues.”
gameplay
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
59%
12%
The gameplay is praised for its charming, polished platforming with simple controls and varied mechanics that evolve across unique, creatively themed worlds, keeping the experience fresh and engaging. However, some find certain mechanics and level design unfair or frustrating, with occasional lack of clear instructions leading to difficulty in grasping the game's systems. Overall, it offers a solid, challenging, and fun platformer experience enriched by tight controls, interesting gimmicks, and a nice difficulty curve.
- “Every world is its own special thing, with new gameplay mechanics, enemies, and unique challenges to confound the player. The platformer genre is old and easy to fall into the same old patterns, but this game switches gears and throws wacky themes all the way to the finish.”
- “This game is just unironically great. Despite having few commands and inputs, the complexity, difficulty, and fun keep increasing up to the end. The level design has changing and scaling mechanics that make it feel fun and never repetitive.”
- “It has very simple controls reminiscent of Super Mario World, with occasional gimmicks in the levels that keep gameplay fresh. Many are mini-levels that reduce stress and provide relief from the main platforming challenges.”
- “The most difficult segments are often behind 4 minutes of gameplay without a checkpoint.”
- “The knockback mechanics in this game are pretty bad and are often just annoying.”
- “Unfair mechanics and bad level design made it hard to enjoy this game.”
graphics
24 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
20%
13%
The game's graphics are widely praised for their charming, nostalgic pixel art style that effectively captures the feel of classic SNES-era platformers. The visuals are bright, colorful, and creative, complemented by smooth animations that enhance the engaging and varied level design. Overall, the art style is considered a standout feature, contributing significantly to the game's enjoyable and memorable experience.
- “Graphically the game is outstanding, the music is a great companion to the game overall.”
- “Mago is an interesting retro platformer that has an interesting vibe somewhere between SNES era Mario & Kirby games - with really nice graphics and music to boot.”
- “While the graphics are more retro, they capture exactly what the game was going for: an old school SNES platformer.”
- “Everything in the game is bright and colorful, and personally I love the retro graphics a lot.”
- “The smooth pixel graphic animations are decent, the soundtrack is chip tuney, and the gameplay though simple varies quite a bit.”
story
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
21%
58%
21%
The story in the game is very basic and straightforward, resembling a classic "save the princess" trope with minimal complexity or depth. It serves primarily as a simple backdrop to the gameplay, focusing more on level design and mechanics than narrative development. Overall, the story is minimal and largely functional rather than a central element.
- “The game is about a sorcerer whose princess was kidnapped by the overlord and you venture on a mission to save her.”
- “The story is pretty simple; you take control of Mago, the sorcerer, and try to rescue the princess who is captured by the notorious evil gourmet overlord.”
- “The story is simple but quaint, you’re trying to save your girlfriend/princess from an alien who wants to use her as the main ingredient in a burger.”
- “Not very good honestly, it's a piece of nostalgia chicken wrapped in a bland tortilla of bad controls and barely any sort of story writing.”
- “But if you're looking for a story, you might want to look elsewhere.”
- “Its safe to say that there isn't a very complex story.”
grinding
7 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Grinding in the game is notably tedious, especially with the capytower timed challenges that must be completed multiple times to collect all rewards. While the difficulty of some challenges is intentional and rewarding, the repeated tasks and necessary money grinding can feel frustrating and drawn-out.
- “The Capytowers, timed challenges available for each world, are the most tedious part of completing the game since you have to complete each one 6 times to obtain all the rewards.”
- “They're tedious (you have to beat them at least 4 times, but you'll end up having to do them 6 times anyways).”
- “Grinding for money was unfortunately required, but I eventually found the fastest method of grinding money.”
humor
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's humor starts off light and amusing but gradually shifts to a more humbling and atmospheric tone, especially in specific areas like the undead domain. This blend of comedy and mood changes adds depth to the overall experience.
- “You'll be laughing at it at first, but then you'll be humbled lol.”
- “I love how the entire game's funny atmosphere changes when you enter the undead's domain atop Musicalia, and he's just lying there waiting for you to hand over the books you found by defeating your own doppelganger that appears in the world map once you defeated its boss.”
atmosphere
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game's atmosphere is noted for its dynamic and humorous shifts, especially in unique areas like the undead's domain, enhancing immersion. However, some users find the overall atmosphere less appealing, though it doesn't significantly impact their purchasing decision.
- “I love how the entire game's funny atmosphere changes when you enter the undead's domain on top of Musicalia and he's just laying there waiting for you to hand over the books you found by defeating your own doppelganger that appears in the world map once you defeated its boss.”
stability
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
50%
The game runs smoothly with excellent stability, experiencing only a few minor glitches. It performs well on platforms like the Steam Deck, providing a fun and polished experience. Overall, stability does not detract from the gameplay.
- “Runs great on my Steam Deck.”
replayability
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game offers high replayability, with each level providing engaging content that encourages multiple playthroughs.
- “Each level has high replay value.”
optimization
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game’s optimization is somewhat lacking, with occasional frame rate drops that require toggling fullscreen mode to restore smooth performance, especially after switching between the game and other windows.