30 years of magical mastery

In 30 years, Master of Magic has migrated from early PCs to modern smartphones

Back in 1994, when the grass was greener, girls were more accommodating, and mana was more accessible, the game Master of Magic was released. For many decades, the game became an obsession for many fans of computer strategies, who witnessed the formation of the 4X genre in those distant years.

Three decades after its release, I continue to admire Master of Magic, and I think I still haven’t seen everything it has to offer. Of course, I can’t say that I’ve been playing it non-stop since its release, but the game itself is always installed on any PC I own, and for the last ten years, on all my smartphones (thank you, DosBox).

The reason is that, despite its modest size by modern standards, no other fantasy 4X project has yet been able to surpass it in terms of quality of development. Steve Barcia, who created the game Master of Orion a year earlier, was able to once again apply his talent and skill to the maximum.

It may not be respectful enough, but labeling Master of Magic as “Civilization with dragons” might be a good first step. But doing so is like saying “Chess is a game where two people move 18 pieces around until they win,” and “War and Peace is a book about Natasha, who lives, loves, and suffers during wars and peace.” It doesn't work.

Wasn't it this wizard who later modeled Saruman on the porch of his famous tower in the film adaptation of Tolkien's trilogy?

In a very simplified way, the gameplay can be described as follows: you create a wizard, fill a bookshelf with spell books from different spheres, such as nature magic, death magic, or, say, chaos magic. These books dictate the direction of your magical research, determine the creatures you can summon, and the magic you will use.

What followed after such preparation? You began to explore the world (otherwise it would not be a 4X genre). And it is literally overflowing VARIOUSThe world is filled with ruins, monster-infested caves, even portals to another dimension that can be explored and even inhabited if you are strong enough to stand against the strange and powerful creatures that already live there.

Soon you're clearing a nearby cave of flying creatures, capturing a magical source on the edge of town, returning home with gold, mana, and if you're lucky, magical items. New heroes come to your doorstep to offer their services and test your new spells. Expansion begins.

After capturing several neighboring cities and summoning many magical creatures to your ranks, you will notice that your armies have become very, very tolerant (in contrast to HoMM, where the locals are terribly xenophobic). Thus, elven archers are surrounded by lizard shamans, a great colossus stands behind them, and a steam cannon is ready to open fire at any moment.

Master of Magic is completely lacking in any sense of proportion – the game contains hundreds of spells and hundreds of units, it completely allows you to combine and recombine them as easily as if it were a Lego set. This led to the creation of absolutely incredible armies, turning even basic troops into devastating forces in certain situations. The same Phantom Warriors were a simple unit, but they could completely ignore the armor of their opponents. It was difficult to foresee what to prepare for, and even the most powerful heroes could be vulnerable to a certain spell or unit.

Unfortunately, the game's problem was that the artificial intelligence was non-existent. The computer wizards were slow, weak, and passive, and often little more than a nuisance to a strong human player.

But the real mystery of Master of Magic is not the ability to play as all the wizards, or explore the entire world, or get all the artifacts. The real mystery is why SimTex never managed to release a sequel to the game. Alas, after Simtex announced that they were working on a sequel (using the Civ2 engine), they were shut down. While the Civilization and Master of Orion series continued, Master of Magic became a strange evolutionary dead end. Other fantasy strategy games, such as Age of Wonders and Heroes of Might and Magic, never dared to be so random or so reckless.

By the way, in 1997 the game was even ported to Playstation under the name “Civizard: Majutsu no Keifu”. I'll say this – I once played the first Red Alert on PS1 and let me tell you, it was a real nerd. How to play a game of the caliber of Master of Magic on PS is completely incomprehensible to me. But the fact remains a fact.

Strategy map in the PS1 port of MoM in Civizard: Majutsu no Keifu

Someone might object, referring to Age of Wonders, Elemental: War of Magic, Warlock from Paradox Interactive: Master of the Arcane or Worlds of Magic, which are mentioned in all reviews, but in my opinion, it’s like comparing Soviet ice cream with a modern one from Pyaterochka. Not the same.

However, there are more significant events in the game world that have happened in the last couple of years. In December 2022, a remake of the game was released with modern graphics, an up-to-date hexagonal world (an homage to the new generation of Civilizations) and even a new race. But the game's rating of 3.5 on gog speaks for itself.

Master of Magic 2022 - as they say, there's no accounting for taste — Master of Magic 2022 – as they say, there's no accounting for taste

Another event inspired me more – the guys from the Old-Games.Ru portal translated the game from 1993 and released it in January. I recommend it to all fans of the series, heartfelt.

Overall, it's sad to realize that the time of games created with such significant potential has gone so irrevocably and suddenly. Now everything starts with monetization. And once it started with an idea. That time can't be returned, and so I'll go and play through Master of Magic from the distant year of 1994 again.