Join us for a spell

Cower, brief mortals! Wait, that’s a halloween thing, isn’t it. Welcome to the magic circle, pals! Not the actual one, just, like, thematically speaking. Starting today until next Friday, February 17th, it’sMagic Weekhere at RPS, where we aim to highlight all manner of fabulous games about magic, witches, wizards, general sorcery and other spell-adjacent tomfoolery. We’re also putting special emphasis on magic games made by trans developers, too. Join us for a glimpse of what’s coming up.

We’ll be posting about games that are out now, games that have demos, and games that aren’t going to be out for a bit, but seem like they’re worth keeping an eye on. There are games about schools, kind of creepy games, life sims, potion brewing, and even a bit of wrestling. Over the next two weeks, keep an eye out for any posts with the little magic logo in the corner of the thumbnail image, or follow theRPS Magic Weektag to see new articles go up. We’ll also be adding everything you write to this post right here, so why not whack it in your bookmarks for later, yeah?

At RPS we’ve always been about championing great indie games and creators who put interesting, weird, or otherwise good stuff out into the world. We hope that you follow along with us and find something you really like during Magic Week, because we found a lot of thingswereally liked. There’s also an added bonus because, since many of these developers are small teams - or even one-person teams - you can then feel extra cool if one of them turns out to be your new favourite, just like when you’re the first person to like a new band and you can wear their t-shirt to other shows.

So fill up yer cauldron and scoop the eyes out of your designated newts, we’re going magicking.

Rearrange the shelves in your probably-illegal potion shop and give people whatever potion you think will solve their problem. Sometimes it won’t. But we persist.

No, there isn’t an Old Testament that whirls around your person like a holy sawblade, but there is a revolving shield with a pistol glued onto it.

A fluffy, cosy visual novel where you play as a mischievous witch living a cottagecore lifestyle? One where you tend your garden, make poitions for villagers, and potentially romance said villagers? Bliss.

Making potions meets paying attention to market trends meets haggling via card battles. Meta, because that combination is agood recipein itself.

Not only doesRekahave said house, but you can customise and decorate it, and add new rooms for your witchy doings. Excellent pitch. I want mine to have a big weird tower on one side, and a library.

Making potions meets paying attention to market trends meets haggling via card battles. Meta, because that combination is agood recipein itself.

You wouldn’t have thought a bullet hell goes naturally with a ‘troidvania, but The Knight Witch has good controls and cool level design that carry it off.

A solo dev is working on a very cool horror concept where your only magical protection is drawing in salt. Fascinating, weird, good. And scary.

The combination of cute and deadly is always a winner, especially if magic cards are involved. This rabbit is ever better because he has a hat with holes for his ears.

In the hands of a seasoned pro, this is a game that’s essentially magical kung-fu, with your titular wizard pulling off flashy spells in spectacular fashion. But cor, it does not give up its secrets lightly.

This non-violent witchy puzzle game is cute to the core, but with a great sense of humour between the layers, and a very fun take on myths and legends at the same time.

I’m a fan of match-3 games, so I’m thrilled that one exists that is high quality, not trying to squeeze me for money, and full of magical queer characters with horns.

In The Last Spell, magic is the thing that destroyed the world and created an army of mutants from which you must nightly defend your settlement. So magic isn’t all good, is what we’re saying.

What’s better than a cute isometric pixel-art RPG set in a magical school? A cute isometric pixel-art RPG set in a magical schoolthat has great tunes.

I know I wish that I’d been part of a coven when I was a teen. In So May It Be, you are, and you learn how to do witchy things at the same time as making friends with your nice bejumpered fellow witches.

Rebecca chats to Alchemist Interactive’s CEO Florian Mann about their interesting and creative roguelite-ish magic shool adventure. Colour me intrigued by all the spells.

Speaking of magic schools, have you any idea how tough it is to run one, keeping an eye on all the students, while a Dark Lord is slowly advancing to destroy you? Pretty tough!

If Netflix’s TV show version of Sandman had Tom Sturridge hoppin’ about doing all platforming I reckon you’d get a six series run, easy. But seriously, check out this demo.