The Life of a Magical Circle Review (Steam)

by Jim Smale · August 15, 2023

For this The Life of a Magical Circle Review, where we play a narrated roguelite in which you dodge obstacles and pick up circles. Some of the circles are part of your goal, but some of them are just for fun. It’s up to you to figure out which is which and to try to stay focused.

The Life of a Magical Circle Review Pros:

Nice graphics.
1.75GB Download size.
Steam achievements.
Graphics settings – resolution, mode, v-sync, lock fps, narrator, and subtitles.
The gameplay is one where you drag a circle around hitting other circles whilst avoiding the triangles and other straight edge Shapes.
Thought-provoking with its quotes and general themes.
Circles change color and make different noises when hit.
Very chilled-out soundtrack.
Simple controls as you use just the mouse to loosely guide your circle.
Roguelike as in you get one life then the layout randomises.
As you progress you can earn more hit points before death.
You can change the mouse sensitivity with the W and S keys on the fly.
Power-ups can be collected that grab green circles for you or slow down time or shoot the red straight-edged enemies.
It’s almost like a therapy/motivation session as the narrator discusses subjects like procrastination and not giving up.
The narrator feels like he actually reacts to your actions.
As you hit the circles it makes a noise.
Really addictive game.
Has a strong one-more-go mentality.
You are working everything out which is both good and bad.
Looks really good when the explosions are going off.
You can attack enemies by hitting the purple and pink circles that do a set radius of damage so timing is critical.

The Life of a Magical Circle Review Cons:

Doesn’t explain anything and that is both good and bad.
Starting a new run sucks as it is slow to start with.
The handling of your circle has some learning difficulties attached.
No scoring or leaderboards.
Doesn’t support a controller.

Related Post:

The Life of a Magical Circle:

Official website.

Developer: Solideo

Publisher: Solideo

Store Links –

Steam

7/10

Graphics - 7/10
7/10

Sound - 7/10
8/10

Accessibility - 8/10
7/10

Length - 7/10
8/10

Fun Factor - 8/10

7.4/10

Summary

This is a very surprising roguelike. It’s a game that sounds boring and plain, you are a circle and you must avoid squares and circles to unlock more hit points and get more “story”. The scary thing is the simplicity of it all is actually its redeeming quality for it is such an addictive game. The narrator is the “story” but it’s more like you are having a therapy session mixed with the stress of a roguelike. I lost hours to this game and it’s crazy that you go in knowing nothing but you piece it together bit by bit to understand what each colored shape does, the music kind of reacts as does the narrator. Due to the nature of the roguelike, it’s very much like a Geometry Wars I. That starting a new run is slow and it takes ages to go again so a cheap death is grating. I came away though with positivity as the game is just so surprising and addictive and I implore you to ignore the Minimalistic look of it all and give it a go it’s a true shock package.