$12.99The Magus Circle Your pen is the spellbook
Sketch arcane sigils to blast back the hordes, then unwind between runs in a manor full of mages, cooking and secrets.
Is The Magus Circle worth it?
The Magus Circle is worth it if…
- you want casting to feel like casting, not like pressing a button
- you like survivors-style runs but wish the action asked more of your hands
- you enjoy a warm, funny story between runs, with a cast worth chatting up
- you play with a drawing tablet or touch screen and want a game that uses them
- you want a game that is kind to shaky hands, with time-slowing options built in
Screenshots
Your Hand Is the Wand
Spells here are not buttons, they are drawings. When trouble closes in, you sketch a sigil on screen and it comes alive: a lightning bolt, a storm, whatever the glyph calls. The game is forgiving about shaky lines, so a frantic scribble still counts as magic, and a clean one feels earned. A horde breathing down your neck while you half-finish a star is exactly the kind of pressure this game runs on. If drawing under fire sounds like too much, accessibility settings can slow or even freeze time while you draw, or swap drawing for a button press. Mouse, drawing tablet and touch screen all work.
Twenty Spells, Six Hundred Ways to Break Them
There are 20 spells to draw, and around 600 upgrades to stack onto them, so runs drift in very different directions. One run you spam cheap blasts to carve out of a crowd; the next you jot a single thunderbolt every half minute and let it do the heavy lifting. Spells interact with each other and even with the sigil itself: some care where you place it, and upgrades can make the drawn lines apply their own effects. Level-ups come as tarot-style cards, and you can reverse a card for different permanent effects. Six playable mages, each with their own skill tree and abilities, keep the builds coming.
Between Runs, There Is a Manor
This is a roguelite with a story attached, and the story has a house. Between runs you explore the manor, talk with the six mages of the Circle and poke at the secrets they are keeping. The cast is charming and fully voice acted, and the characters are named after drinks, with designs and personalities built around them. Outside of chatting, there is actual stuff to do: concoct potions, grow a garden, unlock familiars and wager your winnings. It makes a proper breather between runs, and gives you a reason to care about the cosmos you are saving.
Is this game for you?
Can you play it with a controller?
Yes, controllers are supported, but the game itself recommends a mouse, drawing tablet or touch screen for the best experience. On controller, an accessibility mode lets you cast with a button press instead of drawing, or slows and freezes time while you draw. One player even got it running well on a handheld by moving with the stick and casting on the touch screen.
How long is a run?
Short. Runs play out in minutes, survivors-style, with hordes swelling in waves until your build either snowballs or you get overwhelmed. That pace, plus the unlocks that keep arriving (spells, familiars, new mages), is what makes it easy to line up one more go. Longer sessions are possible too, but be aware the game can slow down late in a long, effect-heavy run.
What do you do between runs?
Plenty. You explore the mages' manor, talk to the cast and uncover the Circle's secrets, and there is a whole side of the game beyond chatting: brewing potions, growing a garden, unlocking familiars and wagering your winnings. Progress carries across runs, so the quiet parts and the horde-fighting parts feed each other.
