But when I found out I was right, I was pretty happy.

When I played I recognized each one, but wasn’t sure if it was really them. Somehow this indie game has an amazing star studded cast of voice actors. Okay so I don’t usually talk about voice acting in reviews, but I think this is something we should cover for this one. It made me, someone who doesn’t even cry when my favorite character dies, feeling feelings! Its been so long since I’ve played a game so deep and well done that when its suspenseful my heart speeds up, when something’s revealed my pulse jumps, and I’m left excited to discover more around every corner. (Not that plenty of those don’t already exist mind you, but this is one of them!) So well woven together that its not just a fun experience, but one you might never forget. You know those arguments about plot versus game play? Well imagine a game who has both interesting plot and fun game play. Once again, I’m going to keep this semi-spoiler free. But as a gamer and writer myself who has many years of both things under my belt, the deeper meanings meant a lot to me. Like time travel.īut I could kiss the writers of this game, the plot and deeper meanings are just so ingenuous! When you get far enough into the game you’ll see what I mean. Yeah, its one of those things that’s cool but if you think too deeply about it you get a headache. You are literally playing a game while playing a game, being the hero while being the player whose the hero. The plot in The Magic Circle takes an interesting turn. Can you out-think the game gods? Can you ship The Magic Circle from inside it? Trap the designers’ creations, steal their behaviors, and re-mix them to explore and master this world-in-progress. Rather than traditional puzzles with a single solution, the incomplete state of each environment is a question that you answer in your own way. With the help of a mysterious disembodied voice (Stephen Russell) you must seize the tools of game development from these unworthy ‘gods’, uncovering more of the darkly comedic story as you go. The designers (played by James Urbaniak, Ashly Burch, and Karen Dyer) are god-like, but so indecisive that they’ve given you no powers whatsoever. You are the protagonist of an unfinished 1st person fantasy game, trapped in development hell.

Stephen russell the magic circle