[i]I should warn you beforehand that even though the Steam mark is positive, my personal one is neutral. I had some serious doubts after the first playthrough (and almost decided to go for the negative review), but later the situation has improved.[/i]
[h1]My story with this game[/h1]
To start with, I am a long-time fan of Lucid’s Games titles – I have played all of them right after the release, on my mobile device at first and then in Steam. I absolutely loved The Lost Heir Trilogy, Life of a Mobster and Life of a Wizard (Paradox Factor is more on the neutral part, though). However, I had a very rocky start with The Last Wizard. When it was just released, I immediately went for the demo version and boy was I disappointed! I did not like the story and its pacing, and the characters were not any better. Everything was developing too fast and just the overall feeling was as if I was playing a simplified version of The Lost Heir – it is set in the same world but in a different time period, as far as I understood; but the writing itself is far less engaging.
So, to cut a long story short, I decided against buying the full game at first. About a year later, I once again came across The Last Wizard while it was in the sale. I thought about the whole thing for several days and then eventually bought it just to see how bad it could be. And maybe because I was really missing one of my favorite fantasy book worlds, too.
I was honesty hoping that my opinion would change by the end of the game. In some ways yes, it did, but many issues were still there.
[h1]My thoughts about the game[/h1]
Text-based games have three very important parts: story, characters, and the quality of writing.
[b]Let me start with the story.[/b] The premise is quite interesting: you are kidnapped into another world where magic still exists, but in a very limited way. Only you, the last wizard, can perform any kind of spells. As the luck would have it, you find yourself in the middle of a major war conflict between two kingdoms. Your task is to save the small kingdom of Duroth from the Burkk invasion. On the way to complete this mighty quest you can also master various magic schools and even – gasp! – find love. Sounds pretty cool, right?
Unfortunately, as it turns out, a good base is not enough for a great story. I am quite used to Lucid’s games relying a lot on the stats, and I honestly do not mind this that much. What I do mind, however, is the pacing – if the previous games were a bit dry, The Last Wizard turns out to be outright boring or ridiculous at times. My main complaint? Everything is happening too fast. There is not much depth in most events – they are just there to move the story forward, not to make it more interesting. Oh, and another major point, for me at least: you do something, even particularly small or irrelevant, and all people start clapping, cheering, and just being generally happy. Honestly, it felt like a story from r/ThatHappened, geez! Not to mention that there were too many of these scenes.
Is there anything good I can say about the story? Yes, there is. Despite the issues mentioned above, some chapters were interesting, and I definitely liked the lore. This is the fantasy world I love, the four gods, the magic. This is what I was looking for from the very beginning.
[b]Second, the characters.[/b] Most of them are outright bland at the beginning of the story, and I cannot say that all of them get enough development by the end. The author focuses too much on their appearance (and your character does the same) while neglecting the personality. Most characters are very attractive, which was also not nice – too unrealistic and cringey at times. However, this very part of the game has its redeeming qualities, which made me give the game a neutral review. While some people and romances got me bored, others were great. For example, I absolutely loved the younger prince/princess – their romance was the best and I felt a lot of sympathy towards them.
[b]Last but not least, the quality of writing.[/b] I did not notice any mistakes and there was just one issue related to coding. Some moments were too repetitive, like the issue with clapping and cheering I have mentioned above, but overall, replaying the game was not that bad. I definitely liked the variety of endings, the amount of available romantic partners (despite some being boring), and various small features like choosing your background in the common world. And the spells were interesting to master.
[h1]Would I recommend this game?[/h1]
I am not sure. On the one hand, it is definitely not the best work by this author. The Lost Heir Trilogy is way more interesting, and even Life of a Wizard, which was strictly stat-based and did not have many descriptions to make the world more vivid, was more engaging. I do not think that you should begin your exploration of the Hosted Games with this title.
On the other hand, if you are a fan of Lucid’s Games works, I am pretty sure you will like reading another story in the familiar setting. There is nothing outright bad about the game, mind you; it is just mediocre in many aspects. Personally, I was hoping for more, but still enjoyed discovering various endings and story parts.
So sum up, I did not get what I was looking for, but it does not mean you will not like The Last Wizard. To each his own, as they say. I do hope that the next work by this author will be better and more engaging, so that I could write a positive review without any *buts*.
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