Indie Spotlight: Magicite Is Multiplayer RPG Magic
Welcome to Indie Spotlight!
Today we take a look at a great contender for my favorite title of 2014 — Magicite!
Released in June 2014 via Steam Greenlight, Magicite is a Roguelike RPG platformer with a retro/pixelated graphical style that sends you deep underground in hopes of stopping what is known as “The Scourge” from destroying what’s left of humanity. Anywhere from one to four players can group up to take on the challenge.
Starting up a game involves selecting a race, equipping a variant (like bunny ears or a wizard’s beard) and bringing along a companion. All categories have their own special bonuses, abilities and starting items that let you decide what kind of hero suits your tastes. Stats and traits are randomly rolled (as many times as you want) to get that extra edge. You can cater yourself to warrior, archer and mage types, though there is no limit on how you want to combine any or all of those.
By Roguelike, I mean you only get to die once — once it’s game over, that hero is never seen again. It also means new equipment, characters and abilities are unlocked the more you play. You wielded a fire wand for the first time? You might get a mage class. You shot a bunch of arrows? Here’s an archer’s hat!
The game itself is setup as a side-scrolling platformer with randomly generated levels. Traditional ‘WSAD’ controls allow you to move, jump and dash, while the mouse is used to move the camera, aim and interact with menus.
As far as items go, anyone familiar with Mojang’s Minecraft will feel right at home. A simple system of mixing two items together lets players craft whatever they need to withstand the journey. Start slow by collecting wood and stone, make stronger tools, chat with a blacksmith to melt your iron, make armor — all with ingredients from the world and monsters around you. There’s even a hunger system in place, where death looms closer if you don’t cook some of that delicious monster meat! (Sorry, vegetarians.)
At the end of each level, three doors are offered to let explorers decide what kind of challenge to tackle next. Various biomes comprise the underground — you can find yourself in a wild forest, winter wonderland or spider-filled cavern, to name a few. Each biome has its own threats and treasures to explore — and if you survive for long enough, evil’s lair awaits you…
After the great surprise that was Rogue Legacy last year, Magicite has been a very enjoyable addition to the Roguelike library. Random stages and unrestricted customization has already led to dozens of hours protecting mankind. Although multiplayer games can expierence some latency issues (the game uses old-school IP/port connections instead of any centralized server), more friends makes for a much more exciting campaign.
Magicite is available on Steam for $10 (or grab a Four Pack for $30 and get your friends in on it, too). Developer and publisher Sean Young of SmashGames continues to enhance the experience with hotfixes and bonus content – all while sharing his progress with fans on his Twitter feed.
(Editor’s Note: Chris Ruiz is the latest addition to Nerd Caliber and will be regularly writing Indie Spotlight. He is a life-long gamer, self-taught drummer and long-time cosplayer, known as Gallant-Z Cosplay. He spends his work hours as a software engineer and indulges in art, writing, music and games off the clock.)
