The Magic Circle
Top Critic Average
Critics Recommend
Critic Reviews for The Magic Circle
The Magic Circle is a marvelously creative, puzzling adventure that's very mad at you.
Visually drab and a bit too taken with its own story, but otherwise a clever and fun exercise in creative problem-solving.
Highly imaginative and bitingly witty, The Magic Circle takes all aspects of the video game industry to task as you try to save a long-awaited game from development hell.
This is a game written for people who have worked in a particular kind of game development. It's hard to applaud the jokes when it's unclear where the lines between reality and exaggeration lie - and this is a story whose shoots grow from lived experience. Far easier to applaud the game's core gameplay invention, which enlivens The Magic Circle at its heart, and a piece of design that, unlike Ishmael Gilder, will surely find a life beyond its game.
The message is a little muddled, with so many accusing fingers thrust in so many directions that I'm sure different people will come to radically different conclusions of what it all means. But it's a message worth hearing, and a world worth exploring, if you care about video games and the people that make them.
The Magic Circle is an unfinished game where you have to bring it to life and ship it to audiences with a pretty bow
A memorable trip into game design and development hell, The Magic Circle's only sin is that there isn't more of it to play around in. What is here is storytelling and gameplay intermingled with expert care, bringing the player on an intellectual thrill ride that should be seen by all.
