Master of Magic

It's been decades since I played the original. I don't know whether my tastes have changed or if this remake's gameplay is worse. All I know is that the AI cheats it's butt off on higher difficulties and it's obnoxious. It forces you to play passively until you have an overwhelming army regardless of playstyle. Basically, don't provoke any enemies until you can take their capital which will have a full stack of troops and heroes by turn 50 roughly. Even if reduced to only their last city, it still never runs out of gold or mana no matter how many troops or summons it creates. Exacerbating the problem is the fact that some races are TERRIBLE late game, so you're basically just nerfing yourself if you take them. Higher difficulties have fewer neutral camps and lairs, so fewer targets other than the cheating NPCs that you can't rush. If you can clear out one of the tougher lairs, you could be taking a capital instead, so there's no point. My issue with it isn't that it's hard. It's BORING. Game balance is non-existent and design choices come into constant conflict with each other. Very few strategies are viable at a difficulty level that will actually challenge you.

I had the original Master of Magic back in 1994 and liked it very much. That is exactly why I wanted to like this remake. Unfortunately, this feels like a game that rides on the reputation of the original without really understanding what made it good. The graphics are more modern, sure, but there are effects everywhere and they often get in the way instead of helping. The old game was much clearer to play. What I do not understand is why some mechanics feel worse than in a game released over 30 years ago. MoM94 already had enough content and a solid gameplay loop. Instead of taking that foundation and updating it to modern standards, the developers changed things that did not need changing. The whole game gives me a feeling that it was released before it was truly finished. There is potential here, but many parts feel half-done. The UI is probably my biggest complaint. I would say 90% of my frustration comes from the interface alone. Settings are also almost non-existent. There are very few options to customize the experience, and visual effects cannot be disabled in any meaningful way. It feels like the game was designed mainly for console users or people who do not spend much time tweaking strategy games on PC. Credit where credit is due: I am glad someone finally tried to remake Master of Magic. For years I thought a remake should be made. Sadly, after 51 hours, I find myself wanting to go back to the 1994 version instead. Not recommended. In the end, I kept thinking: why am I playing this instead of the original? And that is probably the biggest problem with this remake.

Highly recommended. Never played the original, but this game captures the feel of games from that era. A bit like CivI, a bit like HOMM3, but really, its own thing. Plus, a modern graphical update. I've tried all the races and schools of magic, and each feels unique and interesting. Some combination is sure to suit you. Lots of replayability.

If you liked the original game (which is also available on Steam now), you will like this remake. It's very true to the original game, and expands on it with additional wizards, races, units and spells. The graphics are obviously much better and so is UI. I loved the original game back in a day. Do I love the remake? Can's say I do, but that's not all the fault of the game. When I said that the remake is true to the original, unfortunately, that means all the bad things from the original as well, which I cant tolerate as much as I used to. It's still very addictive, making you want to do one more turn, but, unlike years ago, there are similar games that do things much better now. The start is very slow and you and you are at the highest risk of losing the game at that point. You will have to retreat from many "lairs" (the term I use to include all different caves, dungeons, keeps, holy places, etc.) and nodes because the defending forces will be just too strong for your units available to you. You will have to rely on the summons, or stacks of very bad units, accepting that you will keep losing them. The latter would hurt your economy, since it takes multiple turns to recruit the units at that stage, and stops you from constructing buildings and improving your cities (which leads to better units, more gold and mana, faster research, etc). The middle is the most interesting part to me. You will be likely at war with at least one wizard at this stage (even if you don't initiate it), so you will have to make some tactical decisions, how to expand, which cities to conquer, where to send your best units and heroes and so on. You'll be able to clear significant number of lairs and nods, which will boost your magic power. Unfortunately, AI is not very challenging, so you'll be able to win your wars, unless you make some bad mistakes. Than the late game is a slog. You should have a combination of heroes, units and spells that can defeat the remaining wizards with ease, it's just the matter of moving across the map to get to them. Which can take long time on big maps. You will be able to clear any lair or node. The most interesting part for me in the late game is doing exactly that, in hope to find unique heroes and artefacts. I only fight other wizards when I decide I had enough of the game and want to win it. Did I enjoy playing the game? Yes, that's why I'm recommending it. Will I play it as much as I did the original? No, but for many reasons. I don't have as much time for gaming as I used to, and when I do, there are other games I like to play as well.

As an oldskool Master Of Magic player who poured thousands of hours into the original I was ecstatic to find out there was going to be a remake. Much to my disappointment however the final product, like many empire building strategy games today, ended up mostly just being a reskinned modern day Civ and all the baggage that comes with that moniker. The hex grid, the handholding, right click to move, etc, all that stuff tempers your expectations and bogs down your overall enjoyment. The original Master Of Magic had squares which let you move in all 4 directions plus diagonally for a grand total of 8 possible routes of attack. A hexagon grid, as the name might suggest, only lets you move in 6 directions. You just lose something on a tactical level by using hex grids. Then we get to the handholding. Like many of these Civ clones the game absolutely refuses to let you end your turn unless you moved all your units, set all your city productions, and started all your research. And as a veteran gamer nothing annoys me more than being patronizingly told how to play. Is it a bad game? No. It's a faithful enough recreation (plus there's steam workshop / mod support). I just wish they didn't use modern day Civ as the gold standard template. Much like with a lot of these modern remakes, like X-Com, it's a passably decent game. But if you played the original the downgrade is noticeable. It's reviews like these that make me wish Steam had a neutral option. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2991659736

I finally got around to playing this. I see it has had multiple patches. I'm exploring the map (about 115 minutes it reports) - the game crashed on me. Was it the game, my video driver, something else? IDK. I just know I have played the game Valheim for over 800 hours and never had a single crash. Sigh - had hopes for the game, but life is too short for games that crash.

I never played original MoM. However I played the hell out of its spiritual successors which are Age Of Wonders 1 and 2. That basically is the same game but better: more spells, more units, more races, more tactical combats, even the UI is the same. What change is in AoW you do not have to build 10000 towns across the map, nor to capture 10000 towns when fighting an opponent. This version is basically the original game with modern graphics. It is pretty, no doubt, but the gameplay is from another time. Do yourself a favor and grab Age of Wonders 2, it is cheaper and wayyyyy better... and not ugly at all even by today standards

Bought out of nostalgia. The programmers were clearly lazy, and banking on gen x buying in. The programmers did not give this game the updating attention it deserved. Save your money. Buy something else.