Games Convention: The Bloody Magic Impressions
Jaz, 2003-08-29

The Games Convention 2003 in Leipzig was significantly bigger than the first GC in 2002 - and what's more, this time a significantly larger amount of CRPGs (or games with RPG elements) were shown. Unfortunately, the two days I spent at the GC weren't enough to cover all of the RPG/like games - in fact, I was really glad I glimpsed as many games as I did, because sprinting from booth to booth, from award ceremony to press center and back while elbowing my way through hordes of gamers took a considerable amount of time.

I spent a considerable amount of time at the booth of Russian publisher/producer/developer 1C which occupied a space right between several big booths, stalls and stages. The advantage was obvious, many gamers stopped to watch the trailers of the 1C games displayed on two big TFT displays. The disadvantage: even though we found a somewhat quieter place in the ‘backyard' of the booth, the noise level was so high PR manager Anatoly Subbotin and I had to shout to converse. 1C had brought many promising games to the fair, four of which were either CRPGs or sported enough RPG elements to warrant coverage. The first one being The Bloody Magic.

The Bloody Magic (1C, PC)
Formerly immortal Modo has committed a crime and been punished with mortality. This is too much for Modo to take. Not only does he try to regain his power, he also wants to destroy the world he's been exiled to. Now it's up to the hero to do something about Modo and his plans. But whether the hero wants to thwart the tyrant's heinous plan or help him to bring about the end of the world, well… that's completely up to you.

The Bloody Magic is a beautiful, isometric 3rd person CRPG with Diablo-esque graphics where the focus is - well - on magical combat. Player characters are always mages, but there are 12 classes of magic to choose from - earth magic, fire magic, poison magic... among others. Your initial choice for a spellcaster class will define your character's basic looks; whenever your character upgrades his skills or acquires a new class of spells, the appearance will change accordingly. Depending on whether you stay true to your initial class or branch out into other fields of magic, the visible result can be anything from terrifying to downright weird, or both. A pure combat mage will end up looking very martial, while a nature mage who also trained in death magic will wear a bone cuirass in addition to his antlers - looks nice.

Magic is the most important part of the game, thus the magic system is rather unique. Each spell has two different modes, and spells/modes can be combined in any way to create new effects. Up to two spells/modes can also be combined with melee weapons, creating magical weapons in the process. Which spells can be combined with certain others and which can't is something the player will have to discover for himself.

According to Anatoly Subbotin, multiplayer modes will be numerous. Actually, it looks like nearly all known multiplayer modes will be present - from cooperative mode, CTF, kill/ protect the VIP to one-on-one and free-for-all arena fights.

First Impression
A beautiful action-CRPG with a main focus on magic. Visual character development is hilarious. All in all, this game looks very promising - another title to keep an eye on.