Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy Reviews
Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy offers a soft and whimsical take on the dungeon crawler genre, but fails to deliver meaningful depth or challenge. Its charming art anc cozy atmosphere are overshadowed by overly simple combat, shallow progression, and repetitive dungeon. A nice distraction at best, but hardly memorable
Review in Italian | Read full review
There’s an undertone of frustration within Mado Monogatori: Fia and the Wondrous Academy. It is a colourful, magical world, with a charismatic cast of characters who have some of the best comedic situations in an RPG. Unfortunately, combat is just so basic and quick that it feels better to avoid it to just experience more of the world. Luckily, this group of colourful comedians’ antics are funny and charming enough that there’s still a fun adventure to be had.
I enjoyed Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy in spite of itself, as I’m a sucker for any Mystery Dungeon style roguelike.
MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy delivers a dynamic mystery dungeon experience filled with comedy. Moving around while fighting and launching magical attacks immerses you in the action. There’s a learning curve with a long tutorial that holds back some of the concepts. Give the game time to show its potential and you will have a memorable adventure.
Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy is an RPG that tries to make a curious mix in its combat, but it ends up being only frustrating and lackluster. With an uninteresting base, the experience doesn't appeal and is a bad way to bring back Compile's classic franchise to a new generation.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
A very limited budget and poorly implemented ideas made MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy a wasted return to a franchise that deserved to be cult and prosperous, not to live in the shadow of a puzzle game. It lacks narrative depth, lacks interesting mechanics, and isn't as suffocatingly challenging as expected of the genre, yet it still manages to make Sorcery Saga: Curse of the Great Curry God a more contemporary game than the latter in terms of gameplay and visual/graphic beauty.
Review in Portuguese | Read full review
Fia and her band of lovable disasters in Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy might not cast the deepest spells, but they’ve got just enough magic to keep things moving. The dungeon crawling is light, the combat mildly engaging, and the school life fluff adds just enough variety to break up the loop. Thankfully, it’s all wrapped in a silly, self-aware package that leans into its anime logic and wears it proudly. There’s not much depth to uncover, but you might end up smiling more than you’d expect.
There are maybe two kinds of people whom I can recommend Mado Monogatari: Fia and the Wondrous Academy to. The first is the type of Compile Heart fan who will play just about any cute, low-stress, and/or marginally charming moe JRPG on the market. The second is anyone battling chronic insomnia looking for a powerful soporific to help them get a good night’s sleep, because this game is a snoozefest. It functions, it’s cute, it has a couple of funny moments. Beyond that, it’s much too dull of an experience to recommend anyone spend the 25ish hours it takes to beat.