Review: Mages of Mystralia

Last month was somehow surprisingly rich in adventure RPGs from independent developers who do not let me calmly finish Prey , as well as NieR Automata . First Willy-Nilly Knight , then Regalia: Of Men And Monarchs, now here's Mages of Mystralia. Although called the last play of the language does not turn unknown developers: the story written by bestselling author Ed Greenwood (Ed Greenwood), creator of the world of Forgotten Realms Dungeons and Dragons, and the soundtrack is full Video Game Orchestra.

The plot and music are really good - as well as a colorful and very stylish picture, worthy of a full-length animation film. This is a story about a young girl Zia, who managed to acquire magical talents in the kingdom of Mistralia, where the magic is forbidden, and the villagers, seeing a man with a fiery staff, flee in fear. Therefore, in cities and villages, she hides a staff and a spellbook under the mantle, but beyond them is drawn to the full, cramming enemies with "fireballs" and not only ...

And all this is not fun for the sake of, but exclusively in the interests of the local population: Zia and her colleagues, forced to hide in the forests of Mistralia, where they have their own base, are trying to prevent the great evil that these lands are promised a strange solar eclipse. And for this you have to look for important artifacts, repair telescopes, solve puzzles and visit ancient tombs. And all the rough work is actually forced to do Zia - other local magicians know and fear, but the glory of our heroine has not yet spread like that. At the same time Ziya always communicates the spirit from the book of spells, which clearly dislikes her teachers and in general, it seems, is hiding something. In general, everything is in order with the intrigues in the plot.
Game mechanics in the Mages of Mystralia is even better - you can describe it as a mixture of The Legend of Zelda , games in the style of "metroidovaniya" and Magicka . 

First of all, this is a unique magical constructor. Zia has basic spells, but during her adventures, she continually finds the runes, with which you can in every way modify them, add new effects and even create different versions of the same "spell", between which you need to switch depending on the current tasks: for example , in one situation it will be a magic shield, and in another - acceleration.
The designer is really interesting and stimulating creativity. I will give one example. Initially, your "fireball" allows you to place balls of fire on the ground, then you add the rune to it, and they start flying into enemies, then hang the rune of attachment to the objects, and you get homing missiles. 

And you can attach the rune to the right (yes, that's it), and the projectile will wrap, you'll be surprised, to the right. This is useful when, for example, you need to burn a bowl on a pedestal, which is located behind a walled wall, to solve a puzzle - well, or you will have to use another spell, conjure ice and run along it to the bowl. In general, the scope for magical experiments is great.
Otherwise, everything is familiar. Zia runs around in different locations, fights, solves puzzles, overcomes traps with the help of her spells, performs quests, periodically defeats the big "bosses". And to fill up the latter can often be in many ways - beat magic or, for example, stand by the water, and then abruptly run away to the monster fell into it. 

In the process, Zia finds chests with runes and potions that increase mana or health reserves (they still need to be reached by solving a riddle), collects special crystals for which you can buy a new staff, potion, or activate a portal that allows you to navigate between locations. And he is looking for special spheres to again permanently "pump" the two main characteristics - they are used in special fountains based on hermit mages.

There you can at any time go to the arena and try to hold out longer against the waves of various enemies, having received special awards like a new robe. Finally, Zia is sometimes asked for help by the locals. Having found the lost forks for the farmer, returning the stolen goods to the merchant, saving the fisherman from the annoying goblins, she will receive as reward the same crystals or a new magic staff.
As it is supposed in such cases, it will not be possible to get to some places and areas at once - you will first have to learn new spells, allowing, say, to blow up stones and closed doors. Then you go back there, collect, find everything that has not been collected and found, and note with pleasure that this area is completely cleaned.

Rate:8/10