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"Magical x Spiral" is a platforming ARPG released back in Comiket 91 by the Doujin Circle "Broken Desk", which was later picked up and translated by Sekai Project and released on Steam. In the game, players control Medianne Phirtia (an aspiring magic user from Midgard who wants to reach the fabled land of Celestria) and Sobel Dreifluesse (a naturally talented magic user who wants answers on his father's death) as they have their own reasons for entering the Phantasm Tower, the link between Midgard and Celestria. This tower tests the mettle of all who enter, but holds more secrets than would appear at a glance. This game borrows some assets from their first game, "Last Harvest" (some enemies, effects, etc.) and reworks some of its mechanics as well.

On the surface, this is a completely competent indie game, but once you actually get going and get to the meat of the game, two really regrettable things become apparent: the game is outrageously easy and incredibly short (like, you can clear it in under two hours short). For the record, there is nothing wrong with easy games or short games...IF there are other factors of its design that warrant it. The game is broken up into three main arcs (one for Medi, one for Sorbel, and a final arc) with different plots and slightly different objectives (such as finding notes in Sorbel's arc). Characters advance through different stages of the tower, encountering a boss after every few and then an intermission between those where you can revisit previous stages to farm money or complete achievements and a shop to buy a few items, spells, or improve your stats.

Mp regenerates on its own, but you can use items to fill it up as well, and you can equip two spells per element slot, and switching between them is simple. There are quite a few spells you can obtain between the various elementals who will befriend you as you climb the tower, but you won't ever need to use most of them: each element's ultimate spell can be purchased quickly (due to overly generous chests you can find on stages), wipe out everything on screen and make short work of bosses, regardless of element. You don't even need to improve any of your stats because most spells are strong enough by default (though boosting HP/MP helps) and most stats only make a marginal difference on your output. Even if you don't boost any stats or buy any spells, the game is not particularly difficult as you can defend yourself with the spells each elemental starts with (A.I. isn't great), exploit gaps, and spam cheap spells and synchronization spells. When you keep using spells, you build sync, and once it reaches 100%, you can summon your elemental to attack.

I prefer games to have progressive difficulty spikes... I don't mind creating additional challenge runs, but the game should initially increase in difficulty on its own, but the challenge disappears completely 20 minutes after starting the game. Its a shame because I like the artwork, the music is okay, the concept is sound and could easily benefit from more stages (or at least sub-stages) and the plot is simple and just a means to give the journey purpose. At $15, the game is hard to recommend, but I think this dev. has some good ideas and, difficulty aside, came through pretty well on the execution. I like the lightning stage where you can use the earth shield to bounce the boss around and they have little weaknesses you can exploit... the small sparks of creativity and inspiration are appreciated, even if they've been done before. If you're a Doujin fan, I'd pick it up on sale. Their next project just needs to be more balanced and longer. This is a video of the game in action. You can get it at:

https://store.steampowered.com/app/521510/MAGICALSPIRAL/

Enjoy.

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