Lichdom review: A masterful magic system hobbled by ho-hum gameplay

August 27, 2014

I almost feel bad for the skeletons running towards me. Almost. I call ice down from the sky, a massive hailstorm that freezes the entire group in place. With a flick of the wrist my hand lights on fire, a fireball conjuring in my palm. I throw it at the nearest skeleton and it literally explodes. Shatters into dust. The others break free of my ad-hoc ice prison, renewing their onslaught. One swings an enormous sword at me, but I get a magic barrier up just in time. The entire canyon erupts into flames from my shield, trees and grass burning to black. When the flames die down, no skeletons remain. I almost feel bad.Yer a wizard, Harry Lichdom is Xaviant's attempt to strip the artifice out of video game magic. Going all the way back to tabletop role-playing, games have had to concoct all sorts of constraints in order to make it so an archer or a swordsman or a rogue could viably compete against magic. We've dealt with mana bars. We've dealt with memorizing spells. We've dealt with cooldowns. Video game mages have been neutered in the name of "balance."To read this article in full or to leave a comment, please click here

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