Right, The Magic Circle is probably one of the more difficult games to write about when (a) not having played it and (b) very tired – but here goes.
It’s a slightly bizarre and meta-sounding game in which you (Mr or Ms Player Person) are trapped inside an unfinished fantasy RPG. “Aha!” I hear all you comedy geniuses cry, “that sounds perfect for Early Access, what with it being unfinished and all.” Indeed.
And yet in a strange twist of fate, The Magic Circle actually has a very coherent and structured plan for leaving Early Access. You can read it on the game’s page, or wait for me to summarise it which I’m going to do … now.
Basically, they say they’ll be in Early Access for around six weeks, during which time the development team (which includes former Irrational-ites Jordan Thomas and Stephen Alexander, plus Kain Shin from Dishonored) will be focusing on localisation and taking note of hardware compatibility.
Right now, The Magic Circle is said to be “Feature complete, story complete,” but only has English subtitles available at present. Still, that’s further than most Early Access titles seem to get, and this is only their first day.
So yes, with the help of Stephen Russell (gaming’s famous Garrett, starring here as “Disembodied Voice,”) you will apparently be trying to … mend the unfinished fantasy game from the inside, I think? “Rather than traditional puzzles with a single solution, the incomplete state of each environment is a question that you answer in your own way,” it says here.
Pseudy stuff, but also pretty intriguing. The Magic Circle is $18.00 USD for the time being (close to full price, but then again it’s also close to finished.) If you buy it during the Early Access phase, you get the soundtrack as a bonus.
