Master of Magic remake from Thea developers and Slitherine

[LESS T_T]

https://www.slitherine.com/game/master-of-magic




https://af.gog.com/game/master_of_magic?as=1649904300

Spoiler

Developed by MuHa Games and Eerie Forest Studio, the studios behind Thea series.

Master of Magic is a combination of an RPG and a strategy game, a remake of a classic from the 90s.

In Master of Magic you take up the role of one of 14 unique and diverse great wizards who compete with each other to dominate the worlds of Arcanus and Myrror.
Choose from different schools of magic and fantasy races to command, then lead your minions and expand your influence and power across the land.

Recruit and command mighty armies of elves, dragons, dwarves, orcs and many more. Support them with powerful spells. Fight tactical turn-based battles and affect the outcome with your magic.

Research new spells, engage in alchemy, perform rituals and use your arcane powers to change the world around you.
Always beware of the machinations of your rival wizards, who seek to reach your same goals. But in the end, remember: there can be only one Master of Magic.

Features:

• 14 unique playable powerful wizards
• 5 schools of magic and 18 traits to customize your wizard
• Over 60 special abilities
• Over 200 spells to research
• 14 fantasy races to command, including elves, dwarves, trolls, draconians, orcs, klackons, gnolls and many more
• 196 unique unit types
• Over 250 unique magical items, as well as custom crafting
• Two parallel dimensional planes, Arcanus and Myrror

 

[Hobo Elf]

This was just announced on the Slitherine stream.

 

[Scroo]

I haven't played the original but this sounds pretty awesome.

 

[Axioms]

What I am hoping is that they don't hew too closely to the original design. It was cool and impressive *at the time* but it is backwards and limited now. Graphical updates or adding a couple new spells isn't worth buying a new game, especially at Slitherine prices.

 

[Infinitron]

 

[<3sRichardSimmons]

I’m skeptical that anyone will respectfully remake the original, but these guys seem to have a good track record in their community. What’s the Codex consensus on Thea?


Also anyone who hasn’t played the original should go do so. It’s UI is a little clunky, but the game is a masterpiece.

 

[Higher Game]

I’m skeptical that anyone will respectfully remake the original, but these guys seem to have a good track record in their community. What’s the Codex consensus on Thea?

Thea is good, Thea 2 is on average about as good as the first one except it has more very good and very bad ideas, so it's an acquired taste.

Master of Magic is an unbalanced mess by modern standards but was good in its time. I think this remake will be good.

 

[Space Satan]

Seriously, Slitherine is famous for their shovelware stream of mediocre streategy games.

 

[Fedora Master]

Looks worse than the pixelart of the original.

There is also no reason for this because the GOG/Steam versions of MoM are perfectly playable in DOSBox.

 

[Galdred]

What I am hoping is that they don't hew too closely to the original design. It was cool and impressive *at the time* but it is backwards and limited now. Graphical updates or adding a couple new spells isn't worth buying a new game, especially at Slitherine prices.

How so? The original still holds up against all the recent fantasy 4X, including Endless Legends and Age of Wonders. Its main issues were AI and UI, but these can be improved by a remake.

 

[PrettyDeadman]

Fantasy General 2 wasn't too bad.
Also, please explain why are you excited for this one if you haven't played Deity Empire?

 

[AgentFransis]

Someone needs to take these guys aside and gently explain to them that a remake is expected to look better than the original.

 

[Silentstorm]

I guess these days, the idea that 3D automatically means it looks better still exists, or that something being more modern in look means the same.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

MoM is a really good choice for a remake/remaster, but this looks predictably

 

[Joggerino]

But why is it turn based

 

[Narushima]

I guess these days, the idea that 3D automatically means it looks better still exists, or that something being more modern in look means the same.

I imagine it's mostly due to the fact that it's probably easier to recruit 3D artists than 2D ones for a video game.

 

[AgentFransis]

I guess these days, the idea that 3D automatically means it looks better still exists, or that something being more modern in look means the same.

I imagine it's mostly due to the fact that it's probably easier to recruit 3D artists than 2D ones for a video game.

Not doubt. I imagine it's even harder to find an artist with actual skill and understanding of such arcane concepts as visual clarity.

 

[Galdred]

Seriously, Slitherine is famous for their shovelware stream of mediocre streategy games.

That is a bit excessive. Most of their titles are "serviceable", but it is true that it feels like they sometimes just aim for "good enough"(but they published Field of Glory 2, and nuHarpoon, so it is not always true).

 

[Blake00]

haha I see the good old remake debates on "they're not changing enough" vs "they're changing too much" are kicking off again.

Well I said over in the classic Master of Magic thread here at the codex recently that it was a good time for Master of Magics fans thanks to Implode's Multiplayer HD MoM project, Seravy's Caster of Magic for Windows, and the hints that Slitherine were working alone or with someone else on a MoM remake/sequel.. and sure enough the day has come confirming they've been working with Thea creators HuHa on a MoM remake!

I run the Master of Magic fan Facebook and Discord communities and everyone is already going bananas in them lol! I hope Slitherine shared with MuHa the super MoM sequel/remake wishlist thread I and the communities put together on the Slitherine MoM classic forum. Cause if those guys are doing this without listening to the MoM fans I think we know from history how things will go lol.

I missed the live stream but I've seen the 2 videos, all the pictures, and the info on the new MoM Remake steam page. Looks and sounds pretty good! The lack of multiplayer will probably piss people off but doesn't bother me.

.

 

[Morblot]

haha lol

 

[Lacrymas]

I don't want it to be 3D. MoM still holds up after a few fan-made patches, so they have to try really hard to make this work. Are they going to balance this or going full death magic and summoning wraiths immediately will still break the game? I wouldn't say no to a few hand-crafted campaigns too.

 

[rezaf]

"You have come to late. Work on the remake has already begun."
"If that is the truth, ..."

Why oh why does every strategy game these games have to go to the Civ5 visual style?
The old MM had more much more visual clarity and "atmosphere" than these screenshots depict.
Also ... that manga-style intro makes me cringe a little.

I think a good MoM remake should aim to recreate the original beat for beat, like OpenXCom, or at least reasonably faithful, like in Remnants of the Precursors did with MoO.
And then expand on that with higher resolutions, modernized graphics as close to the original atmosphere as possible, and maybe new features that ideally can be toggled on and off by players to their liking.
I had high hopes for Implodes remake for a while, but this was years ago, he obviously just lacks SupSupers "drive" / energy / passion / time, whatever it may be, but ... things are moving SLOWLY, with complete standstills in between.

As for Slitherines attempt ... I fear it'll fall in the traditional re-imageing trap of having grandiose ideas on how to make the game more appealing to modern audiences.
We'll see.

FG2 seems to have been decent, but far removed from the original FG. I loved Panzer Corps, which was a reasonably faithful Panzer General remake, but haven't warmed up to the more modern Panzer Corps 2.
I also have heard many good things about Shadow Empire - I even picked it up, but didn't really have the time to spend time with it myself, yet.
So, unsurprisingly, it seems to be up to the developer.
My Steam library says I own Thea, and I HAVE played it, but it hasn't left enough of a distinct impression in my memory to remember off-hand why I didn't like it.

I wish I wasn't so jaded.

 

[thesheeep]

I think 3D can work just fine - but I agree with the "why does it have to look like all other 4X 3D games?".
Somehow, stylization seems to get lost as soon as 3D is involved for many projects.

But, hey, at least it's not mobile graphics.

 

[Zboj Lamignat]

It's not really nu-civ style per se, it just looks like Thea mod because it's obviously a cheap cashgrab. I don't get it, if you have a title like MoM then put some effort in it to make it a thing. There were some recent strategy game remasters/remakes that had actual effort behind them and were successful. I guess the only good part of it is that it will probably be a faithful recreation gameplay-wise. Still, the route they're taking leads to nowhere 200 concurrent players on steam.

 

[vonAchdorf]

I guess these days, the idea that 3D automatically means it looks better still exists, or that something being more modern in look means the same.

I imagine it's mostly due to the fact that it's probably easier to recruit 3D artists than 2D ones for a video game.

Not doubt. I imagine it's even harder to find an artist with actual skill and understanding of such arcane concepts as visual clarity.

Amateur hour UI is on-brand for Slitherine.