7 Mages Reviews

Excellent and innovative "old-school" type CRPG. Has outdoor exploration, a bunch of unique dungeons, 6 mages to collect + yourself and more. Very good stuff.

It would be good game if it guided a player a little better. I had problem figuring out stuff and controls. Finally I have found out I had to lower difficulty, otherwise I would not be able to proceed through game as it offers very few enemies to loot in some areas and few difficult to kill and a little too much to buy and upgrade which is not cheap at beginning. There is freedom to choose where you will go first (how you pick up other 6 mages) and that means trouble ahead. You train skills not by adding to your present ones but getting some limits, for example if you have one mage level 29 in magic and other 8 in magic, it costs you same money to train both 30 in magic. Thus training is recommended before adding any skill points. You can attack enemies from afar without entering to combat, once you are close enough they will start combat which is actually good. It is all very similar to Legends of Grimrock. You have many chances to think your way through, how to pass closed doors when there is no key nor hidden pedal. How to jump a river without drowning yourself. How to move crypts so you place them correctly on clicking floor. Game has enough riddles since beginning. My huge problem is that it is not well balanced or as I mentioned it needs to guide player in some way because there is only one way to get a lot of money, killing summoned enemies by mages and that will drain both your health and energy plus time and is not very fun way to proceed through game. I am very happy with feature to skip to any unrevealed floor / location thus you spend less time travelling and it saves your hunger, did I mention you need to it to survive? And you can sleep to gain health and energy. All in all, game is good but needs some fixing so I can recommend it to anyone. We want games fun and though game has huge potential to be good, hell story and dialogues are good. But no, I will not say yes.

Not a good game. I wasn't surprised when reading some other reviews that this is a modern remake of an old 80's RPG that never achieved much fame back in the days. My biggest issue with this game are the puzzles that lack logical solutions, using trial-and-error being is the only way to solve them. The visuals are average, the sound is average, the story is average, the character development is average.. The game starts out slow and doesn't gain any momentum. Not recommended.

Unfortunately, this game seems to have all its priorities wrong. Clearly a lot of effort has been put into some beautiful artwork and it has fair graphics. The problem comes when basic things are overlooked and quickly become irritating. Character creation pretty much consists of chosing male or female then base stats are all randomly rolled for a number between 10 and 20. This makes little to no sense meaning there really is no character creation. When you DO allocate stats (at least in the early stages) they have little to no noticeable effect. Weapon use is superflous and pointless since you know from the start you will be focussing on far more powerful magic. Your inventory is a complete disaster even to the point that removing things from it is awkward and clunky, no items stack, and you have only five slots that are quickly filled by potions. Switching between combat and movement is also cumbersome meaning that you have to stand around and wait for anything to walk into your direct line of sight to do ranged damage and by the time you switch back to movement you have likely been hit several times or plain killed before you can take so much as a step backward. Which is what 7 Mages is - a step backward for the genre. Even at such a tiny sale price I'm refunding this one.

I've tried really hard to like 7 Mages as I love the genre. It's fair to say that a lot of work has gone into it, in particular the graphics which are excellently detailed and the music the characters can play which is a very original concept. But I'm afraid that doesn't make up for it's shortcomings. It's bugged - e.g. try moving a character onto the open trapdoor on the slave ship and see what happens. The turn-based combat is tedious and far too slow, I've lost count of the number of times I've had to reload because there was no way I could win or withdraw from a fight. Then there's the system performance. My rig has a 3ghz quad-core I5, 8gb ram and a 2gb graphics card, well within the "Recommended system requirements", yet when I started playing with game settings at full-screen and "advanced" graphic quality, the game crashed after a short period of play and the crash dump indicated I'd run out of memory ! Even running the game full screen at only "normal" graphics quality results in my system fan going into overdrive and my PC running hot when there are multiple characters moving around ! Anyone considering buying the game should bear this in mind. So with a certain degree of reluctance, I can't recommend it. It's just too frustrating. Edit 29/07/16: I played this again to highlight the performance issue I mentioned. I'm running the game "windowed", graphics quality "good", screen resolution "1024 x 768". I'm also running Windows Task Manager alongside and my 3ghz quad-core I5 processor is showing 98-100% cpu usage ! This only happens in certain areas, so far the slave ship and under the sea, but it's enough to put me off. So be warned, ignore the "Recommended system requirements", you'll need some serious hardware specs to run the game at a decent level.

There are a few things 7 Mages did right, but oh so many more were done wrong. I absolutely hate downvoting a dungeon crawler, but admittedly my standards are pretty high. + With so few turn-based party-blobber dungeon crawlers made these days, I appreciate that an attempt was made to make one with updated graphics. It's definitely a pretty game. + Splitting the party in a blobber, while not original (Realms of Arkania was probably first to do so), was a great way to introduce different "puzzles" and interesting situations. + Not grindy like most turn-based party-blobbers. There are ways to grind, but they're off the beaten path and I'd say they're optional. + Up to 7 party members is great. I'm tired of the 4-person limit which most dungeon crawlers impose. + I appreciated the music/instrument system of this game. A certain "Bard's Tale 4" could've learned a lot from this. Unlike the dialog, the music system was imaginative. - Dungeons are small and typically simple, incredibly annoying or both, which makes 7 Mages more "puzzle" game than dungeon crawler in my estimation. My favorite was probably the slave ship, which contained a couple of clever moments. - The dialog would make more sense had the game been titled "7 Blondes". It's brutal, utterly unintelligent, and certainly doesn't fit the setting. It severely ruined the immersion for me. - A number of "puzzles" are more trial and error rather than deduction. For a game that's more "puzzle" than dungeon crawl, that's a major turn-off for me. - Very few enemy types. There are far more skills and spells than enemy types. - The combat lacks balance. Early on I was getting my spleen handed to me and really had to plan every move, otherwise it'd be my last. A bad initiative toss could mean a restart. Buy a magical longbow and get 30/45 speed, then all of a sudden fights are nothing. Three mages could bard 100% of the time for more XP or gold while two others killed stuff and the remaining two loitered. I really appreciate having 7 party members, but I do not appreciate not needing them all. TL:DR - Two words sum up this game: wasted potential.

Ok, this one is hard to deside, but my final decision is that I don't recommend the game. Most of the time I was somewhere between, but the final battle was so disappointing that I shifted my decision to no. Find a comfy chair, this is gonna be a long review. I recommend this game to two types of players: 1) Those who played the original game released in 1998 (Gates of Skeldal, aka Brány Skeldalu) 2) Fans of dungeon square-movement type of games (although there are lots of buts and ifs) Let me start it this way: I was one of the fortunate who played the original game, Gates of Skeldal, in 1998 (it was released only in Czech Republic and only in Czech language). Gods, it was an amazing game. I finished and replayed the game many times and did it again one (or two?) years ago, when the original game was released for mobiles - well, the mobile port was a crap, I replayed the original DOS version on my PC. I also played many campaings created by fans, some of them even longer and bigger then the original story. The game was (is) a legend! Fast forward to 7 mages ... uh, well, it's not *that* bad. But let me start with the cons. 1) Controls feel like the mobile port of the original game, maybe even worse. Movement is slow, inventory management is tedious and impractical, controls are all over the screen and you know what, you cannot change the mapping of keys (edit: actually you can, see comments). WASD movement is different than the movement done by arrow keys. A and D work as a slide to the side, not turning over on the side, which I personally hate. I was forced to move with arrow keys, which was inconvenient. 2) Writing is awful. It's so awful it will make you sick. Imagine a diary of a talentless 13-year old boy, who tries too hard to write his first "the coolest story ever". On the other hand, the writing in the original game wasn't any better. Don't play this game for the story, you will end up very disappointed. I know that these games are not primarily played for the story, but compare it to other similar games, e.g. Darkest Dungeon. The difference is tremendous. 3) The machanics are basicly the same as they were in the original game. It means a lot of exploites and tricks remained in the game - bows and crossbows are still overpowered as they were in the original game (you can find in various walkthroughts on the internet that people cosidered them underpowered, but it's not true - you could finish the whole game without getting any damage at all). Moreover some cool mechanics that were present in the original game like an ambush (attacking from behind or from a side) were removed and are not used here anymore. On the other hand ambush was one of the mechanics that could be greatly expoited for your benefit. 4) Caredbar town layout is not the same as it was in the original game! Also the areas around are completely different. Well, most of the players didn't play the original game, so it actually doesn't matter, but come on, if you use the same world and the same lore (there are few flashes in the game), at least make it relevant to the original lore - new players wouldn't see any difference and old players wouldn't have the urge to slap someone's face. What a wasted potential. 5) The game is easy. I confess as a veteran player of original Gates of Skeldal that I knew what to do (see point 3), but even so, I consider this a design flaw - the game shouldn't be much easier even if you know what to do. 6) Weapons are not balanced properly. As I have already said in the 3th point, bows are overpowered. So the magic is. And everything that can hit from the distance. Tell me, why should I use melee if bows and magic can do the same damage? I killed most of the enemies just from the distance so far that the battle didn't even start! And because most of the enemies have some kind of range attack, why would I force myself to the movement with melee when I can just hit them from afar? Moreover every square of your move costs 1 action (and end game characters have 2-3 actions per round), so you basicaly just have to chase them. It doesn't make any sense. And when you get a battle skill that will allow you to shoot from bows behind a corner (!) and is able to hit up to 3 enemies there then the game becomes so ridiculous it's not even funny anymore. Most of the skills feel either overpowered or useless. Some are just usable only for puzzles or for some areas. 7) The final battle is sooo disappointing. I was so angry when I finished the game. Let me explain. The boss is a huge monster with a lot of HP, two actions per round, aoe range attack and a single melee attack. So far so good. Apart from these attributes he also has a special skill that summons gargoyles every third or fourth round. These monsters have quite high HP pool, four attacks per round and a single range attack. They are strong but managable. The problem is the amount of mobs summoned by boss is random. So he can summon one or two gargoyles (which is ok), but he can also summon five or six of them. If you consider that the attacks are often chained and target is locked, you have a problem here. I was getting five or six attacks in a row to one character. And you can't do anything about that. The character is just dead from full HP. It wouldn't be a problem if it were a punishment for your bad moves or strategy, but this is just a random element. The boss itself is not a threat, the mobs are! And it's just a random element. There is no strategy involved in this battle. You just have to pray that the amount of summoned mobs is low. And you know what, with bows you can kill the boss from distance before the battle even start, hahaha. Pros: 1) The machanics are basicly the same as they were in the original game. Wait, didn't I say that in the cons already? Well, the mechanics are generally great and imaginative and it's what made the original game so great. Some cool mechanics were added, like the double slash, special movements with weapons, double-weilding that works etc. Also the music mechanics are interesting, although it could be better (you can compare it with Pillars of Eternity - imagine you were able to play more and different instruments in the party in the same time and the effect would depend on what instruments are played - something like a walking music band of sellswords :)). 2) Puzzles and areas were nicely designed. "Hidden" buttons were visible enough, so you didn't stuck just because you missed that 1-pixel button on a random wall that opened a door in a completely different area, and either didn't shine, so you could actually miss them if you didn't pay attention. 3) It's dungeon square-movement type of a game - extinct type of games, so every new piece counts. And the mechanics are superior to other similiar games (e.g. Legend of Grimrock). If you like these types of games I believe you will enjoy the game, but the replayability is rather low. 4/10

One more "classical" dungeon crawler, somewhere on the same shelf as Ubisoft produced Might & Magic X, but even worse than that. I've tried to like it, I really did. The visuals are nice enough, the quest is generally quite simple, but sometimes quite challenging, some of the puzzles were quite good. On the other hand, the controls were made for mobile devices, and it feels Very Clunky and unnatural on the PC. While it is not that bad in the exploring, the battles are quite cumbersome. For every move, you need to click at least two or three different buttons. There are none quick slots or anything. Yes, it is manageable... But still quite bad, compared to other similar PC games (yes, even to the M&M X, and the controls were certainly bad there)... Even more to it, the gameplay isn't calculated good enough. To the point that I feel someone is mocking me intentionally. Imagine the situation: the start of the game. I've completed the first dungeon, got the first companion and need 5 more. Where to look? Someone tells me to look at the harbour. I'm coming at the harbour, talk to the guy there, the next moment I'm trapped inside some slave ship and have to raise a riot and get my characters out of the cells, possible slavery and God knows what's more. Ok. At the end of that level, after I've cleared the ship, I see some elevator, with only one controlling switch. This means that only one of the two characters I'm controlling can use that elevator, while the other is pulling the lever to send it higher. On that next stage, there is a guy, the 3rd mage that you need to recruit. However, to perform that recruitment, you need to talk to him with both characters. And it goes like this: one of my two characters is dropping the line, then I had to run to the elevator, changing the character to say the next line. The trouble is that you need to do those bunny hops for about 10-12 times. So, instead of the simple dialogue at the end of the level, the player has to crack his own mind, and keyboard, with saying the line, running to the elevator, changing the character, saying the next line... it goes about 5-10 minutes! And if you'll go to the swamp first, instead of that slave ship ride, you'll have similar difficulties at the end of the level as well. You need to get the third party member before getting into the ship or swamp... but you'll be in trouble anyway. Anyway, those stupid recruitment dialogues where you need both main two characters (player's avatar and Dog-man) and have to jump back and forth instead of the proper short talk... It was not the only trouble in the game. In fact, all of it was made quite bad. Therefore, don't even bother to try it. It's painful and fruitless. Mark 3/10. Very bad game design, very bad controls, lame story, borrowed from famous western (and similar samurai movie). Nothing original that is worth observing.

7 Mages is a very old-school turn-based dungeon crawler with some innovative mechanics thrown in. There hasn't been a game quite like this in many years - since Wizardry 8 or maybe even David Bradley's last masterpiece Wizards&Warriors. And the good news is that 7 Mages lives up to its pedigree, featuring great level design with creative puzzles and interesting combat encounters. Despite being a mobile port the game is perfectly playable on PC even in its current state, and doesn't require too much tweaking to make it feel like a native PC title. Some assorted impressions: - Even though it's been optimized for mobiles, the game is beautiful - the art direction is top notch and each location feels very unique and atmospheric. It's already miles ahead of Might&Magic X in that department, and with all the graphical enhancements the PC version will eventually get it will rival Legend of Grimrock 2, and maybe even surpass it. - The perspective doesn't change in combat, but in structure the game is closer to Goldbox games or Realms of Arkania than pure first-person RPGs like Wizardry. In combat each character is a separate entity, with their own action points pool and initiative rating. You can split the party out of combat too, and sometimes have to do so to solve certain puzzles. - Speaking of puzzles, 7 Mages is [i]extremely[/i] puzzle-heavy. If you hate puzzles in RPGs, this isn't the game for you. In its puzzle density it's close to Legend of Grimrock, but the approach to puzzle design is very different. Unlike Grimrock, where every puzzle is built from the same building blocks, in 7 Mages each dungeon features its own set of unique puzzle mechanics, and many of them are inventory-based like in Adventure games. - Level design also influences combat mechanics: in one dungeon you can't wear armor, in another one you can't rest and have to keep your characters grouped together, yet another starts your party scattered around the levels etc. Enemies are also fairly varied and able to stun or poison you, summon help or avoid ranged attacks etc. My only gripes with combat is that each dungeon only features two enemy types (with one exception) and most of the time they are much fewer in numbers than your party. - The game is very old-school in that there is no hand-holding. Don't expect quest compasses or NPCs helpfully giving out directions and puzzle hints. The game is also not afraid to let you screw up in various ways. Got locked in a dungeon level with no food? Well, tough luck, unlike Grimrock you don't find it lying around in the dungeon. - You generally don't find a lot of things lying around in dungeons, most of loot comes from enemies and it's mostly only good for selling in the town. But you can't carry out too much, the inventory is extremely limited. Initially you only get a handful of slots, ater you can buy bags and chests that expand that space. Moreover, potions and food don't stack, and you always need space for quest items. - The in-game economy works quite well: even if your characters have good Charisma, the prices for good items are quite high and you never run out of money sinks. - Character system isn't terribly detailed, this isn't Wizardry. There are no races or classes, you get four main stats (improved on level-ups) and skills for each weapon type/magic school/musical instrument (improved with use). On the other hand, there is quite a bit of depth behind this simplicity. There are no dump stats and almost all kinds of builds could work if you know what you're doing. If you don't, however, it's quite easy to make your character severely underpowered. - In the first half of the game the world is quite open, you can visit many areas right off the bat - provided you can survive them. The second half is strictly linear. There aren't any sidequests, but spells are often hidden off the main path, behind a difficult battle or puzzle. - The starting town is fairly large but most of the buildings and NPCs are just props, you can't enter/talk to them. Most of the dialogs boil down to clicking the only availible options, when there are more it usually involves some sort of service (training etc) - but, well, it's a dungeon crawler, they aren't exactly known for deep dialogs. Some options are locked behind Charisma checks, others require having a certain character in your party. - The dialog part brings out my main gripe with the game: the English translation is terrible, I do hope it gets redone for the final PC release. As is Russian one, but Russian game writing is always terrible, so there's no surprise in that. German one seems to fine however. Bottom line: if you liked Grimrock titles, or older dungeon crawlers like Wizardry 6-8, or RPG/Adventure hybrids like Quest for Glory series, chances are you'll love 7 Mages. If you think that the main purpose of an RPG is to tell a story, you should stick to Bioware titles and JRPGs.

With the Yes/No system of Steam reviews I choose the "Yes" but with two big caveats: 1- The game at the release data is a direct port from mobile devices. Devs seems to be very responsive and eventually we will have a game with fully PC capabilities, but for now you will have some weird things like tutorial referring to drawing your fingers or tapping buttons. 2- This is a very puzzle oriented RPG. If you are not good at puzzles or don´t find them funny -as is my case- do not buy this game. The puzzles in 7 Mages are more about experimenting and looking carefully -as in classic adventure games- than resolving geometrical riddles or having good timing and reflexes, like LoG. -Apart from this, you have a classical grid-based RPG with turn based combat. The combat has some innovative approach: you can split your team and distribute each mage tactically on different squares. -All your 7 characters are Mages but this does not mean that they can not use a sword. -Another good novelty is that you can directly move from the map to another square previously visited and not blocked. -Beautiful graphics, better, to my tastes, than most grid based RPGs like LoG or M&M X. To conclude, an eye-candy decent grid based RPG, very puzzle oriented, responsive devs and a lot of fixes pending. If you like old school RPGs with turn based combat and grid based movement, I would try instead The Quest. NB: Sorry for my english. But, when the game is very niche, reviews in other languages than English are almost useless.