Master of Magic. Most underrated, groundbreaking games of the 90s

Master of Magic can be safely described as fantasy take on Civilization. The creators of Master of Orion, or Civ in space, are responsible for this creation. Each of these games was published by MicroProse, so everything stayed in the family. The gameplay in MoM looked very standard for the genre, but with just the right amount of spells and magic. We had a randomly generated map, fourteen races to choose from, and fog of war covered undiscovered areas. Interestingly, the action took place in two parallel worlds: Arcanus and Myrror, between which units could move using magical portals.

Unfortunately, the game has never been as popular as 18×16 svgCivilization. During the release period, it garnered average ratings, mainly due to the terrible technical condition of the code – with a huge amount of bugs, poor artificial intelligence and constant crashing. Its patching took a year and only this final version was warmly received by the reviewers , we should bear in mind that such things were then distributed mainly through media attached to the press, which made access to them very limited.

As a result, Master of Magic became a somewhat forgotten title that lived mainly among the biggest fans of the 4X genre. The very idea for such a gameplay formula in the fantasy world was taken by others, for example the Age of Wonders series. There were plans for a sequel, but SimTex became dissolved, and then MicroProse itself got into trouble. Suffice it to say that the gaming world has forgotten about Master of Magic until now, because it was only in 2019 that the revival of the brand was announced and a new title was announced, with the premiere scheduled for December 2022. So it can be said that finally, after almost three decades, the genre returns to its roots.

1. Master of Magic in our encyclopedia