You came to the world of Arcanus as a fledgling wizard. Sparsely equipped with but a spell or two, you begin as the ruler of a tiny hamlet and its people. With these raw materials, you must build a thriving city, explore the two worlds of Arcanus and Myrror, expand your empire and learn new spells. In time, you will meet other wizards, each rising from equally humble beginnings, each having the same goal as you, namely conquering the worlds. How well you allocate resources, make use of your races’ potentials, seize opportunities and negotiate with other wizards determines your eventual success. In the end, though, there can be only one Master of Magic!
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Master of Magic is extremely difficult, dated, and yet still has some unique mechanics that differentiate it from the likes of Sid Meier's Civilization or other 4X strategy games. For me, as someone who didn't play this game growing up, I can see why in the 90s this would be one of, if not the best 4x strategy games on the market and as a new player I can still see why the game is reviewed so highly.
That being said, there are several glaring issues with the Steam version of this game. I played the community patch if that makes any difference. First of all, if you alt tab out of the game while playing, the game window resizes to a 250x250 square which cannot be full screened again without quitting and reopening the game. Very annoying. The music is jarring and horrible, and I generally don't mind the soundtracks of older games. Turning off the music greatly increased my enjoyment of the game, and imo was necessary.
Additionally, the game is insanely difficult with no tutorial whatsoever. Resources online about the game are few and far between. Sure, you can find the OG game manual online and a wiki but I can't be bothered to read through a 154 page manual, or consult a wiki every five minutes to become a competent player in a 90s strategy game. The thought of having to quit and reload the game every time I need to check the wiki for information makes me want to uninstall, again due to the game window resizing issue. During my three hours of play time, I was constantly frustrated by the UI, controls, difficulty, and the game resizing whenever I had to alt tab to try and figure out why certain spells aren't appearing in combat, why can't my settler build an outpost there, why are my towns getting invaded and sacked on the easiest difficulty very early into the game? I do really enjoy the spell mechanics, and the turn based combat which I actually believe is a huge step up from even contemporary Civ games.
That being said though, would I actually recommend this game to someone? No. I see on Steam there is modern remake of this game, and maybe that one is worth it. I would say if you played this game growing up or are familiar with it, or are willing to sink dozens of hours into it, fair enough this could be the game for you. Unfortunately for me though, the aspects of this game that make it special simply aren't worth the frustration and confusion the rest of the game causes.
That being said, there are several glaring issues with the Steam version of this game. I played the community patch if that makes any difference. First of all, if you alt tab out of the game while playing, the game window resizes to a 250x250 square which cannot be full screened again without quitting and reopening the game. Very annoying. The music is jarring and horrible, and I generally don't mind the soundtracks of older games. Turning off the music greatly increased my enjoyment of the game, and imo was necessary.
Additionally, the game is insanely difficult with no tutorial whatsoever. Resources online about the game are few and far between. Sure, you can find the OG game manual online and a wiki but I can't be bothered to read through a 154 page manual, or consult a wiki every five minutes to become a competent player in a 90s strategy game. The thought of having to quit and reload the game every time I need to check the wiki for information makes me want to uninstall, again due to the game window resizing issue. During my three hours of play time, I was constantly frustrated by the UI, controls, difficulty, and the game resizing whenever I had to alt tab to try and figure out why certain spells aren't appearing in combat, why can't my settler build an outpost there, why are my towns getting invaded and sacked on the easiest difficulty very early into the game? I do really enjoy the spell mechanics, and the turn based combat which I actually believe is a huge step up from even contemporary Civ games.
That being said though, would I actually recommend this game to someone? No. I see on Steam there is modern remake of this game, and maybe that one is worth it. I would say if you played this game growing up or are familiar with it, or are willing to sink dozens of hours into it, fair enough this could be the game for you. Unfortunately for me though, the aspects of this game that make it special simply aren't worth the frustration and confusion the rest of the game causes.