History VideoGame / Magicka

''[[http://www.magickagame.com/ Magicka: An Adventure Of Sorts]]'' is a Dungeon Crawler Adventure RPG game for the PC, at its roots in the ''{{VideoGame/Gauntlet}}'' gameplay we all know and love, but with plenty of quirks of its own. Up to four players each control a wizard and travel the monster-infested countrysides of the "generic fantasy world" of Midgård, guided by Vlad ([[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial who is]] [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain totally not a vampire]]) and a variety of other [[SpeakingSimlish Simlish-speaking]] people. Yeah, it's that kind of game.

Announced at E3 2014 and released in late May 2015 for PC and UsefulNotes/Playstation4, ''VideoGame/Magicka2'' is a more traditional sequel to the first game.

** The sword, Gram, has an ability called "Dragon Slayer". It's obtained fairly early in the game as a secret, and seems a pretty crappy weapon with no other abilities... Until you realize that [[spoiler:In Chapter 11, the boss is Fafnir, a ''dragon''.]] Killing [[spoiler:Fafnir]] with Gram is a UsefulNotes/{{Steam}} achievement which used to be quite hard to get, due the extreme length of time between getting Gram and slaying [[spoiler:the boss]]; however, with the introduction of a patch that allows you to replay chapters, acquiring the sword and taking it to the fight is now significantly easier.

* DropTheHammer: The Warhammer items.

* ExcaliburInTheStone: Found and usable in-game... [[MissedTheCall complete]] [[DropTheHammer with]] [[DishingOutDirt stone]].

* CameraScrew: Excessive usage of skills with high knockback (read: mines) will lead to this, because the camera attempts to center itself in between the up to four players; a player being knocked far enough away (but not dying from falling damage or from a cliff) can actually cause the camera to be centered on nothing, with none of the players visible at all.

* BeamOWar: If beams are of opposite elements, they explode at the point of contact... HilarityEnsues. The wizards (and enemies) can also combine their beams (think [[StarWars Death Star]]) to deal lots of damage. Sometimes to themselves. The Rule of Opposites ''always'' applies.

** Crash to Desktop is this, sort of. [[OneHitKill Blue-screening enemies]] is fun, but remember that it will randomly target ''anything'' near the caster, friendlies and the caster included. If you [[WhatAnIdiot cast it with no targets nearby, you will blue-screen yourself]].

** A few good examples of this are the fifteen or so soldiers getting their rear-ends handed to them by [[WarmUpBoss Ygg the troll]], doing little more than [[StopHelpingMe hinder the players' ability to actually hit the thing by standing in the way]], and the soldiers at Havindr who [[charge into literal, giant meat-grinders and set-up a pile of dynamite to blow open the door with a giant fuse while the flame-spewing wizards are fighting to get past them and solve the problem instantly.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Vlad frequently insists that he is not a vampire. [[spoiler:He is.]]

* KillEmAll: PlayedForLaughs. [[spoiler:At the end of the game, all the wizards fall to their deaths, because they don't have the necessary Magick to escape the final boss's collapsing lair, and they can't ask Vlad to teleport them away because they're {{Heroic Mute}}s!]]
** Averted, since the Wizards are alive and well in ''The Stars Are Left''. However, [[spoiler: WordOfGod says that the Wizards in ''Dungeons & Daemons'' are a different group, so they were likely trapped in R'Lyeh at the end of that adventure]].

** Originally, the Arcane+Steam+Lightning spell combo produced a [[DepartmentOfRedundancyDepartment super-deadly spell of death]] which so effortlessly wiped out enemies that many players, especially [[{{Speedrun}} speedrunners]], rarely used anything else. It is still this, more or less, but some enemies (like Goblin Warriors) were changed to resist most of its damage, forcing you to use different spells on them.

* AnAxeToGrind: The Captain's Axes and Axes Of The Champion. Both quite powerful Weapons.

* SuspiciouslySpecificDenial: Vlad consistently states that he is not a vampire. [[spoiler:He is.]]

* BalefulPolymorph: [[spoiler: Dagon and Cthulhu have an attack that turns your wizard into a Cultist. This is considered an [[OneHitKill instant-death]], by the way.]]

* FinalBossPreview: [[spoiler: Assatur]] appears at the end of Chapter 6, but is impossible to harm. This necessitates [[spoiler:Vlad sending you back in time]].
** [[{{Foreshadowing}} Even earlier than that]], there's a statue of him earlier in the level.

** Dagon has one attack that hits you with what looks like a small meteor, which is instant death. He'll also try to [[BalefulPolymorph turn you into a Cthulhu Cultist]], which is also considered an instant-kill.

* FragileSpeedster: The Rogue Robe from the Party Robes DLC. The player moves like a ninja straight out of ''Manga/{{Naruto}}'', runs at a pace slightly slower than a normal wizard with Haste, uses a crossbow with [[PoisonedWeapons poisoned arrows]] in lieu of a sword, teleports (backwards only) using [[SmokeOut Smoke Bombs]] to evade attacks, and [[UpToEleven is twice as squishy as any other Robe in the game]]. Case in point, using 1 Fire element to set yourself ablaze usually takes about 1/3 of your hit points in the average set of Robes. In the Rogue robe, the flames will quickly kill you before they run out.

* PurposelyOverpowered: Vortex. You get it by beating the final boss so you can only use it in Challenge or NewGamePlus, but for good reason: it sucks in and instantly kills anything that wanders close enough to it, and it gets bigger as it sucks in more things. Dealing with massive waves of enemies can often be solved simply by dropping a Vortex or two. [[UpToEleven Taken to ridiculous levels]] [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tt7TWmEOzJg&t=0m37s here]]. Yes, that number goes to over '''one hundred billion damage'''.

* SpellBlade: Taken UpToEleven: you can bind entire ''spells'' to your sword, though some combinations of elements are much less useful than others, especially when just casting the spell has more or less the same result. A good way to make {{Healing Shiv}}s and {{Flaming Sword}}s though.

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* StandardStatusEffects: Burning, Chilled[[note]]slows[[/note]], Frozen, Panicked, Poisoned, Wet[[note]]increases Lightning damage and results in Freezing when combined with Cold[[/note]].

Announced at E3 2014 and released in late May 2015 for PC and UsefulNotes/Playstation4, VideoGame/Magicka2'' is a more traditional sequel to the first game.

!!Provides Examples Of:

''[[http://www.magickagame.com/ Magicka: An Adventure Of Sorts]]'' is a Dungeon Crawler Adventure RPG game for the PC, at its roots in the {{VideoGame/Gauntlet}} gameplay we all know and love, but with plenty of quirks of its own. Up to four players each control a wizard and travel the monster-infested countrysides of the "generic fantasy world" of Midgård, guided by Vlad ([[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial who is]] [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain totally not a vampire]]) and a variety of other [[SpeakingSimlish Simlish-speaking]] people. Yeah, it's that kind of game.

* ''The Stars are Left'': Released on November 29, 2011, with content based off of (and, of course, spoofing) the works of Creator/HPLovecraft and VideoGame/{{Minecraft}}.

Two spinoffs were released: ''Magicka: Wizards of the Square Tablet'' (for iOS/Android/PC) and ''Magicka: Wizard Wars'', a MultiplayerOnlineBattleArena [[TrialByFriendlyFire with friendly]] [[UnfriendlyFire fire enabled]].
Unfortunately, [[DefunctOnlineVideoGames these games are not playable anymore]].

Announced at E3 2014 and released in late May 2015 for PC and UsefulNotes/{{Playstation 4}}, {{VideoGame/Magicka 2}} is a more traditional sequel to the first game.

* BossBanter: [[spoiler:Vlad]] does this, and unsurprisingly uses the opportunity to drop StarWars references.

* FinalBossPreview: [[spoiler: Assatur]] appears at the end of Chapter 6, but is impossible to harm. This necessitates [[spoiler: Vlad sending you back in time]].

* {{Foreshadowing}}: Vlad sounds both surprised and angry to see the Wizards in Chapter 4, which is odd since he was the one to send the Wizards there in the first place. [[spoiler: The reason is that in Chapter 9, the Wizards are sent back in time and fight Vlad. Vlad responds to this by banishing them to Niflheim. He's surprised to see the Wizards are alive and in Hávindr.]]

** The sword, Gram, has an ability called "Dragon Slayer". It's obtained fairly early in the game as a secret, and seems a pretty crappy weapon with no other abilities... Until you realize that [[spoiler:In Chapter 11, the boss is Fafnir, a ''dragon''.]] Killing [[spoiler:Fafnir]] with Gram is a {{UsefulNotes/Steam}} achievement which used to be quite hard to get, due the extreme length of time between getting Gram and slaying [[spoiler:the boss]]; however, with the introduction of a patch that allows you to replay chapters, acquiring the sword and taking it to the fight is now significantly easier.

** OurDemonsAreDifferent: Daemons look like frog...alien...limb...eyeball...''[[OurMonstersAreWeird things]]'' that phase in and out of the Corporeal Realm and shoot lasers at you. There are three types: small Daemonlings, larger Daemons, and giant Daemon Lords, and each type splits into three of the smaller type when killed. There's also TheButcher in Dungeons and Daemons, a ShoutOut to VideoGame/{{Diablo}}.

* WidgetSeries: Starts off tame enough... then you notice the abundant {{Shout Out}}s and ''[[RuleOfFunny wooden horses]]'', among other things such as [[UsefulNotes/TheVietnamWar the expansion]].

* DiscOneFinalBoss: Khan. The whole point of the quest is to kill him, [[spoiler:but when you do, you're far from done]]. A better example would be [[spoiler:Grimnir. He's been built up since the intro of the game, is the most powerful Wizard in the world, is Khan's master, is located at the literal end of the world, is proceeded by [[AllTheWorldsAreAStage the Mind Duel]], is the first boss to have unique battle music, and is possibly the hardest fight in the game. When you beat him, you're HALF WAY through the game]].

* StoneWall: A literal example: You can encase yourself and your surroundings in rock or ice (and add [[PowerGlows giant glowing runes]] if you prefer), allowing you a brief respite to charge up a devastating area attack when mobbed by enemies. The rock/ice armor extends your HP considerably, but slows you down to a crawl.

* TooDumbToLive: The village of [[MeaningfulName Dunderhaed]] in Chapter 3.

** Special mention also goes to the soldiers who blindly charged into the Town Grinder's blades in a blaze of suicidal bravery.
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Also a bit of [[AllThereInTheManual all there in the concept art]]. Almost all the concept art shows the Wizards wielding the [[JokeWeapon Sausage On A Stick]]. Cheese would also seem to count, mentioned on more than one occasion by NPC wizards.

* TurnsRed: When Death uses his DoppelgangerSpin attack, the copies will move faster and faster the more damaged he is.

* DummiedOut: See PoisonedWeapons; Poison actually used to be a legitimate element on par with the other 10 elements, but was removed. You can still do Poison damage by wielding PoisonedWeapons, for example, [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bIZNqEGa6SU and some modders have even readded it]]. Considering that Poison inflicted damage over time on enemies, slowed down their movements, and it could only be removed by healing, which only Elite Mooks and some bosses have, it may well have been an [[AvertedTrope averted]] GameBreaker.

** See AscendedGlitch. This is actually DummiedOut as well, because the developers had originally ''intended'' to allow players to get Teleport that early; the game has no [[GameBreaker "breakable"]] areas where the ability to teleport early causes problems.

* BarrierWarrior: The Element of [[DeflectorShields Shield]] is used for this. It can be used to make walls or domes of energy around you, or as a personal armour. Adding additional Elements to a wall or Area Of Effect Shield will make a Shield out of that/those Element(s), while adding them to a Personal Shield gives you resistance to those Elements. All these Shields also need to be charged to prevent them from breaking, which the Shield Staff can help with.

* CriticalExistenceFailure
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%% CrossingTheStreams does not apply in trope name only: Unless something happens that follows the trope description, please do not add %% an example of just two beam spells crossing.
%%

** The first ''level'' boss is also an example: Ygg, Hungry Forest Troll. Forest Trolls are encountered several times as {{Giant Mook}}s in ''the very next Chapter'' (the only difference is that Ygg carries a tree trunk that gives him slightly more attack power).

The main selling point of the gameplay lies within the magic system. Using eight basic elements (Water, Life, Shield, Cold, Lightning, Arcane, Earth and Fire) and three special elements (Ice, Steam and Poison, which are Water + Cold / Water + Fire and Water + Arcane, respectively), players craft and cast their spells at a moment's notice. For further customization, spells can be cast in a standard fashion, in a circle around the wizard, on the wizard's weapon, or on the wizard himself. There are also special spells called Magicks gained from books placed throughout the campaign that offer even more powerful abilities.

* DifficultySpike: The second half of the game is noticeably harder than the first.

''[[http://www.magickagame.com/ Magicka: An Adventure Of Sorts]]'' is a HackAndSlash game for the PC, at its roots in the {{VideoGame/Gauntlet}} gameplay we all know and love, but with plenty of quirks of its own. Up to four players each control a wizard and travel the monster-infested countrysides of the "generic fantasy world" of Midgård, guided by Vlad ([[SuspiciouslySpecificDenial who is]] [[MostDefinitelyNotAVillain totally not a vampire]]) and a variety of other [[SpeakingSimlish Simlish-speaking]] people. Yeah, it's that kind of game.