Mage's Initiation: Reign of the Elements
D'arc is sixteen years old. He has trained extensively in the Elemental arts for the past decade, under the discerning eyes of the Mage Masters of Iginor. Confined to an existence of academics and magical mastery in their tower, the inquisitive Initiate often wonders what it would be like to explore the secluded outside world. D'arc's moment of reckoning arrives and his Masters put him to the test. The young Initiate is tasked with retrieving three items, which will test his magical and mental strength to full capacity: A lock of hair from a powerful Enchantress. The unspoiled shell of Griffon's egg. The three-pronged horn of the legendary Trinicorn. Join D'arc on a perilous journey across the medieval-styled land of Iginor. Brave the perilous Bloodbark forest where the Redcap goblins stalk. Trek across a barren desert wasteland rife with lawless Bandits and fierce Burrowers. Navigate over a vast lake where evil masquerades as beauty.
Game Discussion
Steam User 1
Nice art, awkward writing. Still fun.
Really impressed at all the background art and details put into this game. Unfortunately that sometimes breaks the immersion and make puzzles awkward. Like, why I can't I take (useful thing that's right there)? Instead I have to take just that one specific thing, with lots of pixel hunting, because (convoluted adventure game logic).
They did a nice job having both the tower and town feel alive, with tons of different people. Unfortunately that means it's often difficult to distinguish or care about different characters. EG, none of the main mage masters show up as normal people you can talk to. It's hard to care about the "main" plotline because we never get the chance to talk to most of those characters until the very end.
Combat was kind of a pain. Luckily they give the option to turn it off. I wish the devs let us use combat spells in puzzles. Instead almost all puzzles were solved with just 1 spell (whatever the starting spell for your class is). It's neat they give us that replayability though.
The ending was... bizarre. The whole game builds up the local lord as this selfish, idiotic jerk. Suddenly we're supposed to help him? The people attacking him are townspeople that we've been talking to the entire game, and they have legitimate complaints. I think it's supposed to be nuanced, but it really just feels like the main character and all the mages are jerks, allying with the nobles to oppress the commoners for no reason.
Some puzzles were clever. Some just felt annoyingly obtuse. If you feel stuck on something, just look it up, that's the way to have fun in this game I think.
Overall flawed, but I still had fun. Especially with the art and the general premise. I wish they'd make a sequel, or even just a revised version of this same game. I wish there had been more content inside of the mage tower, and less wandering around random dungeons.
Steam User 1
I actually enjoyed it. Use your brain for a bit but I have to say it's a combination of Kings Quest and Quest for Glory. I hope number 2 comes out very soon.
Steam User 0
Mages Initiation is a point-and-click adventure game. with a good smattering of RPG elements, and in the vein of classic point-and-click adventure games such as the King's Quest series. There's a lot to like here. There's a good balance between puzzling, exploring, talking and all the game's elements in general. There's also a great balance between it being a grounded and serious adventure whilst incorporating some slightly wacky, humorous moments too. And the presentation is spot on too, with some absolutely fantastic backdrops.
In fact, I'd go as far to say that... after about three hours playing... I thought this was gonna be a pretty perfect adventure game. But then... it just got really boring. None of the puzzles felt particularly satisfying or inventive. There was just a lot of mundane stuff to do, and the majority of it was straight forward. Get an apple from a tree, build a raft with vine and planks, kill some goblins etc. - It's such basic level 1 stuff that it really put a crimp In my enjoyment of the game.
But I picked this game up really cheap and I would say that if this style of game this still may be something you enjoy. So I'm still gonna recommend it, because I think more people are gonna like it than not like it IMO, Simply because it offers the core Elements of the genre done to a good standard. It's just for me personally, I've seen it all before and I've done it in far more interesting ways. So, be warned, some veterans of the genre might feel the same too.
Steam User 0
A worthy successor of Quest for Glory, but with a bit of different approach. I really enjoyed it.
And what I really liked was, that it exported my character to use in future games. Can`t wait for another one!
Only negative was the combat. It was so useless, I turned it off.
Steam User 0
I love the backgrounds in this game. What other games has this artist worked on?