I took a longer lunch break today, and now I have to stay after work and Pay the Reaper. Luckily, I spent my ordeal playing the Witching Stone demo. This demo applies the magic of shape-matching to the magic of magic. Coming September 16, it's a pixel art game that “combines elements of puzzle games, roguelites, and deck-building games.” Like a red circle and two golden triangles to create a lightning bolt.
Watch on YouTube
The setup: You're an anime mage exploring a node-based dungeon map. Some nodes contain treasure chests, campsites, and shopkeepers. Others trigger battles, which are turn-based events. However, instead of simply selecting Firaga from a menu, you'll need to gather raw materials on a grid screen beneath the fighting characters.
Each spell requires a different mix of shapes, and while you can cast several at once, you can only draw a line through a certain number of squares per round. Firing a spell also clears those shapes from the grid and causes others to fall from above, so as well as choosing the best spell, you're trying to clear out unwanted shapes and create combinations for your next round.
If you've played the great Puzzle Quest games or Capcom's Puzzle Fighter series, you'll find this all very intuitive. As with Puzzle Quest, there's a progression system. In this case, it's all about expanding your spellbook and modding your spells. For example, the Giant Slayer mod makes your lightning bolt do more damage at the cost of always targeting the largest opponent. Even based on my 15 minutes of play, I feel like there's scope for creepy concoctions, and what's a witch who doesn't dabble in creepy concoctions? A scam, that's what. A shame.
Overall, it was worth the splurge after five – find the demo on Steam . In general, I'm always in favor of video game sorcery that involves the actual conjuring of spells – it keeps spells from feeling like weapons. If you hate grid puzzles and prefer a real-time incarnation of all this, let me combine three twisty blue diamonds to make a Great Displacement Hexagon and teleport you into Magicka.