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Growing up in the early 2010’s, I was spoiled by an era of truly amazing mobile games. What made that era of mobile gaming so special was the amount of games that could best be described as “simple enough to pick up and play for a couple minutes, replayable enough to steal an hour or two from you before you noticed”. It’s not every game that can strike this balance, some require too much commitment for them to be enjoyable for short snippets of time, while others wear thin with longer sessions, MAGLA however, feels just a few improvements away from nailing that sweet spot of casual and addictive.
MAGLA however, feels just a few improvements away from nailing that sweet spot of casual and addictive.
Published and developed by Mighty Bear, MAGLA is an action roguelike where you fight off against waves of enemies with each round increasing in difficulty. Combat in MAGLA is centered around your elemental powers which can be combined in a variety of different ways into a wide arrange of different spells and attacks. At the time of writing this, the MAGLA beta has 3 different elements, (Fire, Ice & Earth) which can be combined in 9 different skills (not all 9 skills are available however as some are still being balanced). These elements and skills can be upgraded and enhanced in two key ways:
Item Cards, which appear each time you level up and allow you to choose one of three stat-boosting items
The Shop, which appears after each wave and offers three random upgrades for purchase
Each element lends itself to different playstyles. For example, a run centered around the Fire element is great for dealing high-damage over time, while one focused on the Earth element allows you to do good AoE damage, the fun however comes in combining the two, which allows you to reap the benefits of both.
MAGLA shines in a few key areas, and here’s what stood out to me right away:
Each element feels distinct in presentation. Ice is sharp and precise. Its giant icicle swords circle around you, carving out a deadly pocket where monsters are quickly slashed. Earth, with its tornadoes and storms, feels raw and chaotic, overwhelming the arena with destructive force. Fire, on the other hand, delivers a sense of focused power, burning through foes with high-impact damage over time. The game’s visual style and soundtrack are equally charming. While the monster designs feel a bit generic, they’re varied enough in appearance and attack patterns to keep them unique.
That being said, MAGLA is by no means perfect, there were a few things that I’d like to see tidied up before the release of the game. The biggest issue I ran into was the balancing of the game, having access to all elements right away, as strong as they are, makes the first waves a breeze to get through. Additionally, some elemental combinations feel way more powerful than the others. The arena also feels quite small and limited, and while there are pressure plates that trigger traps or weapons, they come across more like an afterthought than a core mechanic. I’d also love to see more combinations of elements, new arenas to play in that lend themselves to other elements, and maybe even eventually more elementals to keep things fresh and exciting.
If you, like me, are trying to find the hidden gems of Steam’s Next Fest, MAGLA is strong enough as is to warrant a download. My introduction to developer and publisher Mighty Bear has me excited for what’s to come from this addictive bullet heaven title that has enough potential to become my next favorite time killer.
You can check out and download the beta for MAGLA here: https://store.steampowered.com/app/3607510/MAGLA/
All images used in this post are sourced from MAGLA’s Steam page.
