The Wizard of Malicious program looks like a sport I would possibly’ve reviewed for the 3DS eShop in 2015. But, right here we’re in 2025, and this “stimulating brain-bending puzzle journey” is a brand new unlock for the Transfer. Whilst it begins off relaxing sufficient, it quickly places an excessive amount of emphasis at the brain-bending, on the expense of amusing.
There’s a plot to this sport, useless for a “Sokaban-style” puzzler. I believed the tale on its Nintendo web page sounded newbie, and in-game, it’s best marginally higher. My recommendation could be simply to forget about it, excluding that components of it are arduous to forget. Display actual property is wasted with persona portraits (Shirley and Ella) on all sides of the playfield. This isn’t a visible novel! But it surely does appear to need to be a mix of journey, dungeon crawler, and RPG with puzzle wrappings. Your purpose is to take away enemies from every room, however in one of these trend to be sure that Shirley and/or Ella stay with one middle left. It will sound complicated (and it roughly is), however with a controller in hand, you’ll ultimately come to grips with it.
The early puzzles struck a pleasant steadiness of entertaining whilst nonetheless making us assume. Sure, I performed this single-player sport along my spouse to profit from her having a head for puzzlers like this. Shirley and Ella function in a similar way however have other mechanics. They aren’t simply palette swaps, and also you’ll must take on every room with their person and restricted movesets in thoughts. The most efficient puzzles had been in the ones phases the place you’ll trade between the 2 of them. I want the swapping used to be higher taken benefit of early within the sport.
It’s a easy puzzle sport in principle, and I believed Wizard of Malicious program would possibly have some comparison with previous Sokoban titles that I’ve reviewed. However the issue takes a speedy curve, and lovely early within the sport, no longer lengthy after Ella is presented. I quickly learned that we had been not having a lot amusing, however I stored seeking to buckle down and do, complications and all. No turning down your mind to play this one.
I believe the builders will have to have had an inkling of this, as they’ve made some effort to make the sport much less irritating. There’s a measure of non-linearity, however it’s restricted and can temporarily vanish. Rewind skills appear to be a valid concept on paper, however we ended up the usage of them sparingly, because it steadily made extra sense to easily get started a room over. Likewise, a touch machine turns out considerate, however in observe, no longer such a lot. As soon as this abnormal tackle Sokoban clicked with us, we actually had no additional wish to use it. In reality, once we did it, it simply made issues extra sophisticated. I don’t know if it’s only a case of unhealthy translation, deficient writing, or possibly slightly of each.
Wizard of Malicious program is a goofy identify for this Sokoban sport with a twist. It loses a few of its early goodwill thru unnecessary plot, an unbalanced issue curve, and plenty of extra oddities. Locking content material in the back of beating the sport used to be additionally a large mistake. You’ll be able to take a look at the demo for those who like. However this unlock calls for consistent center of attention, and don’t be stunned if it actually struggles to stay yours.
