Today, Paradox Interactive gave me the opportunity to get hands on with Magicka 2. As a fan of the original title, I had a fair idea of what I was getting into, and Magicka 2 doesn’t disappoint. It looks like Paradox is taking a pretty safe approach to this sequel and the gameplay I experienced was very similar to the first game. They’re keeping all the elements, all the spell mixing, all the forms of casting. Paradox is clearly looking to appeal to the same demographic as before, only this time there are a number of minor tweaks intended to enhance the experience.
First, it’s important to note that Magicka 2 is done with a new engine: BitSquid. As a result, the game should run more smoothly and look a lot better. Other changes that stood out to me were the inclusion of “familiars” that will follow players and help them and “artifacts” that will allow the players to customize their experiences. Familiars are pretty straight forward, but the artifacts were kinda unique and cool. For players that want challenge, they can increase enemy health and damage. For players that want goofiness, a laugh track can be added to the game. Seriously, that was a thing I was told.
Since Magicka 2 is going to be just as heavily geared towards multiplayer as the first game, it’s nice to hear that enemies now scale with number of players. Another cool addition is the inclusion of challenge modes and weapon and robe unlockables. There will also be various ways for friends to play together and ways to represent their progress.
I remembered what I liked about the first Magicka and if I have the time, I will probably be grabbing this one when it drops.
