Master of Magic

About Master of Magic

Master of Magic (1994) is Simtex's fantasy 4X strategy game in which rival wizards build empires across two linked worlds, Arcanus and Myrror, a buggy release that became a cult classic often called the best of its kind.

Master of Magic in Depth

Each game generates a random world, with adjustable land size, magic strength and difficulty, and players design their wizard's skills, spells and appearance and choose one of 14 races for their first city. Units explore through the fog of war, defeating monsters that guard treasure, finding city sites and discovering the Towers of Wizardry linking Arcanus, an Earth-like world, with Myrror, a parallel world of stronger magic and stranger creatures. Settlers found new cities, which produce food, gold and mana and grow through buildings, while the player researches spells.

Magic is split into Life, Death, Chaos, Nature, Sorcery and the general Arcane school; the number of spellbooks chosen in each school limits how many of its spells can be learned, and traits add further bonuses. Spells can enchant units and cities, summon creatures from demon lords to dragons, affect the whole world, or, with the enormously costly Spell of Mastery, win the game outright. When armies meet, battles move to a detailed isometric map, fought in turns until one side is destroyed or flees, or drawn after 50 turns. There are 86 unit types, many unique to a race or region, plus mercenaries and heroes with special abilities.

Making Master of Magic

Simtex developed Master of Magic and MicroProse published it for MS-DOS in 1994. Early versions were riddled with bugs and poor AI, frustrating reviewers, and GameBytes' Bill Cranston savaged it next to Civilization, though Strategy Plus named it runner-up Strategy Game of the Year and it was a Computer Gaming World nominee. Version 1.31, released in March 1995, fixed many bugs and improved the AI, and opinion warmed: IGN later called it the best fantasy strategy game ever made, Computer Gaming World inducted it into its Hall of Fame in 2005, and GameSpy said it made Steve Barcia and Simtex household names. Eurogamer wrote in 2012 that it "hasn't yet been surpassed by any other fantasy 4X game". After Simtex closed in 1997, fans continued patching it, and many later games such as Age of Wonders have been compared to it, though reviewers have said its essence has not been recaptured. It was re-released on GOG.com in 2010.