Professor of Magical Studies

This is a meaty game with a ton of content and really great writing. Just finished my first playthrough (~6 hours) and am ready to go again :-D Definitely worth the money!

Lots of great character writing in this one and the final act ended up being much more exciting than I anticipated. The storytelling is consistently interesting and felt extremely coherent for this type of game, it came very close to the story I experienced feeling like it was a singular vision planned from beginning to end exactly how I played it. It's very hard for interactive fiction to maintain that level of immersion, but Professor of Magical Studies pulls it off from aplomb and kept me sucked in from beginning to end. Balancing my responsibilities as a professor also felt extremely rewarding even while making inefficient choices that felt more in-character, which is something I appreciate a lot as someone who really dislikes getting punished for roleplaying (which a lot of COG games do to my great distaste). This was an absolute great time and I might even give it another run sometime, and I haven't even covered all of its good qualities (like its capability to surprise me as a reader with really interesting turns that don't feel unearned, or the amazing little moments of humanity in both your protagonist and the other characters). Definitely one of if not my favorite COG game to date, highly recommended!

No spoilers: This game is cheap and will keep you engaged as it gets going. I recommend it for the price. The only part I dislike is that the ending narrative does not seem to reflect the events of my story. ------------------------------------ Spoilers here: ----ok so I saved the entire world but no one seems to really care, no reward, no tenure, go kick rocks.

Reviewing (mostly) every game (or DLC) in my library, part 587: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️☆☆☆☆☆ (5/10) Ngl, I kinda feel bad about giving [i]Professor of Magical Studies[/i] a thumbs down. Like, it's not a [i]bad[/i] work by any means. It has its flaws, sure, but it's generally well-liked and well-written. But the author has a clear vision in mind, and sadly, I did not vibe with it. At all. You see, I was hoping for a "light academia" aesthetic, where I play as a professor, romance a coworker, and tutor the young, bright minds of tomorrow. I got that—somewhat. However, Stephen Granade veers more into the dark academia aesthetic. To be quite frank, [i]Professor of Magical Studies[/i] filled me with annoyance and frustration. The game is less focused on teaching and more focussed with juggling all the different stressors of a junior faculty member—one with magic. You will have to study pattern magic (very cool!), groom your apprenticeship, find love, deal with gentrification, focus on research, participate in service, spend funds, sabotage (or help) your coworker/rival, jostle for tenure, and save the universe. As you might imagine, that is A Lot™️ I found juggling three areas, max, difficult enough, and it did pain me when I failed in other areas. I felt like taffy getting pulled in every direction. Your stress will also be increased due to your conniving and/or inept coworkers who insist on being nuisances. All in all, [i]Professor of Magical Studies[/i] is a rather grim, dark work that wasn't exactly fun for me. YMMV. Still, I am forever grateful to the staff for giving me a free copy. [b][h2]Pros:[/h2][/b] ✅[b] Magic system.[/b] The magic system Granade created is incredibly fascinating and unique. It's all about patterns. You can have your own method of pattern magic: are you a more logical person, requiring patterns to be a diagram on flashcards? Or do you use memorized poems to help you focus? These patterns can do anything, even shape the world. To be honest, I didn't [i]quite[/i] understand all of it, but I know it was cool and a welcome departure from [i]Harry Potter[/i] spells. ✅[b] Good use of flashbacks.[/b] Flashbacks are always hard to pull off, but Granade has done them quite well. They're a good way to establish lore and characters without awkward time skips. They worked well because I, as a player, still had choice that affected the present. Plus, they showed off his worldbuilding too! ✅[b] Clear choices.[/b] I don't know why I noticed this, but Granade has some of the most clear, signposted choices. He uses the keywords from stats in each choice, so there's no confusion. Much appreciated. His prose is readable, as well, with lots of details. ✅[b] [spoiler]The Lodger is f*cking hilarious[/spoiler][/b]. Did I think it was fanservice (especially the poly romance)? Yes. Did I roll with it? Also yes. [b][h2]Cons:[/h2][/b] 🟥[b] Tone.[/b] I truly don't know how to make this constructive: everyone is annoying. Is this on purpose, to give conflict and stakes? Absolutely. Did it go overboard imo? Sorta, yes. There is a group of characters that will make your life miserable. They will belittle, taunt, and even attack you, and you cannot do much except verbally snap back. The payoff comes at the ending, but it's too far and few for me. I hate you [spoiler]Wilcox, Blankenship, and Darcy.[/spoiler] Truly, I'm the biggest hater, I hate the way that you walk, the way that you talk, I hate the way that you dress, I hate the way that you sneak diss etc. etc. 🟥[b] Ending.[/b] Again, this is such a personal quibble, but I wasn't a fan of the Vastness subplot. I tend to roll my eyes at world-ending threats—not because the stakes are low, but because they’re too high to feel personal. When everything is on the line, the danger becomes abstract, and the outcome feels foregone. Billions will die? Damn, that sucks. The big bad is scary? Nothing I've heard before. In general, I already know the world won’t end; the franchise exists, the sequel is loading, the save file is safe. So for me, the last couple of characters dragged on, as I was not interested in the Vastness. 🟥[b] ROs.[/b] For some reason, I was not interested in the ROs. I'm a pretty simple reader: give me a pretty face and honeyed words, and I'm a sucker. However, I was irritated or "meh" about the ROs. I think for at least three of them, their introduction or impression was rooted in conflict. Darcy is ... well, Darcy. (More on them below.) I wasn't a fan of how [spoiler]Manisha[/spoiler] was reintroduced into the narrative. They are missing, possibly dead, and the reunion is rather stilted and oddly confrontational. For example, when they found out the MC was a professor, I think I recall them becoming withdrawn, due to their belief that the college was harmful to the town. I do remember at least two scenes talking about magical gentrification, which ... I get? But to me, it seemed rather heavy-handed and oddly modern. Similarly, Hayley's only personality trait was being a blue-collar worker who also did not like us uppity college elites. What happened to hello? How are you? My name is? 🟥[b] Darcy.[/b] I'm sorry, my only notes for this character is "♥♥♥♥ YOU DARCY." I think the author was trying to go for an enemies-to-lovers route, but it was more like they treat you like garbage, and you take it. I'm serious when they have little to no redeeming qualities. At every moment in the book, they make life worse for you with the sneak disses, rudeness, and unapologetic manner. I'm still not over how they [spoiler]betrayed you[/spoiler]. For me, they also [spoiler]refused to help with the end of the world stuff.[/spoiler] Which, whatever. I'm not even going to waste my time. 🟥[b] The art.[/b] I was also not a fan of the character portraits. It looked like Artbreeder generated it, though you can turn it off! [hr] If you enjoyed this review, please check out my curator page to find more: [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/45814768-Verdict-Play-or-Pass/]Verdict: Play or Pass. [/url] Also, please leave a like and visit [url=https://steamcommunity.com/groups/Indie_Gems]IndieGems[/url] and our [url=https://www.youtube.com/@IndieGems2]YouTube channel[/url] for more reviews like this one. [/hr]

Visual novels are definitely not my thing. I suppose if someone is super bored and preferably woke this might be good. At any rate, it is cheap, so, no matter what you won't waste much money. It was interesting at times. Don't expect any updates as it has none listed in it's years since release December, 2022.

I am writing this as I am about to start my fourth or fifth playthrough. This one is a hidden gem in the CoG collection. It's a pretty mild urban fantasy where there's a few hints as to why magic is secret in the modern world and there are only a few universities and university departments that teach it, but the key is just to accept it and move on without questioning it too much. The author is NOT a transphobic maniac, which helps. The depiction of academia is BLEAK. The author posted on the official CoG forums that he was explicitly going for that, to sort of address the question of what kinds of people and what kinds of institutions would teach such an incredibly dangerous thing as magic to a bunch of (university) kids with very few guard rails. In the same vein, I recommend Naomi Novik's take on that with the Scholomance series, but I digress. In short, it's good. You're a new tenure-track professor who teaches magic. There's a bit of prologue from grad school that sets up a couple of the relationships and your specialties, but mostly you're diving right into being a professor. And your colleagues; well, the department is a wretched hive of scum and villainy. They ring true to anyone who has ever worked in academia, but cranked up to 11. There's one really neat quirk in this story that I hesitate to even hint at. It has a [spoiler]unique and remarkable romance option, unlike any I've seen in any fiction, be it a game or not. And it's incredibly sweet. That specific romance option[/spoiler] is what has me coming back to this title over and over. Anyway, this one is a gem.

This game is fun. I speed read the thing and it was great! I found it difficult to understand the jargon and was almost kicked out of the college and had a lot of fun but it was good. Story, writing, characterization, is all good. As always, the game engine is great! Another excellent choose your own adventure story from Choice of Games. This is actually one of my favorites but I like them all more or less.

Long story, very good story too, with a lot of meaningful choices, a lot of interactions, pleasant and diverse characters. Everything is coherent, the plot is interesting and unexpected, and I can't really say more without spoiling it. One of the best interactive story I've done so far.

academia劝退宣传片

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