Okay, so about The Magister . . .
It is rather special, rather unique, and therefore not so simple to describe. Recap that it is a murder mystery and you are a Magister with 15 days to solve a murder.
It has point and click adventure elements, perhaps most similar to games like Secret of Monkey Island, Sam & Max, Kings Quest etc. This is the way by which you move around the world, talk to characters, and try and develop clues and knowledge.
Characters you talk to have a simple 3 star relationship to you and typically you need to reach 3 stars to get the most from them, such as a clue or key information. You get to 3 in various ways, missions with combat, finding an item they want, selling or buying stuff from them.
As you go about tasks and missions, there are two forms of combat, mental and physical. The mental combat - Tactical Diplomacy - is thematically similar to that in Griftlands whilst having some mechanics similar to those in Star Realms… You are trying to reduce ‘rage’ via empathy. You do so by playing a card game where you make choices about which additional cards to buy from an ever-refreshing set of 3, with these cards costing empathy, which is the same resource you use to reduce rage, and all within a time-limit. So you have this challenging trade off between growing your economy and actually exploiting what you have to try and reach the goal line. It seems to work well.
The physical combat is played out turn-based, but with the space between turns determined by how many seconds of action your turn takes up. It is something comparable to the combat seen in the Banner Saga. Each turn you get 4 cards, with potential for extra draw, and you can play all or none. You can also play cards for their direct effect or discard them for other effects. It seems to add up to a highly variable, significantly engaging and thoughtful combat. Definitely not Trials of Fire clever, but highly credible. Whilst you control just your own character most or all fights are conducted with allies. In contrast to games where allies are just a pain in the ass to try and save or workaround, it really seems to work here particularly because there is nothing critical tied to the outcome for those allies, and both allies and enemies rout and run once they reach low health.
Then there are the RPG elements. You gain XP, you level up, and doing so enables you to choose a new skill from three groups of 9 themed around brawn, intellect and guile. This after you start out by choosing an archetype combining some significant bonuses together with a significant weakness, such as alcoholic and insomniac.
The murder mystery is procedural, and it does look like several replays may be worth enjoying. I am loving it. It seems to be from the same team or developer that made Monster Slayers, the pre-Slay the Spire Slay the Spire-like, and I would rate it as equal in appeal and quality.
So there ya go @Hereafter and also, @Mysterio is playing this, so what does he think? :-)
