Dawn of Magic

Dawn of Magic contains enough deep content and a pleasing enough approach to the genre to recommend a purchase, but only if you know what's in-store and don't mind the incessantly repetitive nature of the combat.

Fails to rise above mediocrity. The game is surprisingly enjoyable at times and has genuinely interesting gameplay elements, but the clumsy UI ruins the fun. [June 2007]

It's still a hack and slash game that does little to the alter template of the genre; it's good fun, but it's not memorable.

This RPG seems to miss the mark in just about every way.

If the developers had spent as much time on the rest of the game as they did on the magic system then we may have had a fun game on our hands, as it is we have a game whose single redeeming feature isn't enough to hide the underdeveloped, uninspired and frankly boring nature of the rest. Even playing as the baker's wife can't fix that.

In short, just don't. [Oct 2007, p.64]

Tweaks like the character mutations based on what spells you’ve learned are neat, but don’t have an impact on the gameplay itself. Lack of co-op is a disappointment.

It's choked by its own clumsy presentation and inability to develop its own ideas. [July 2007, p.83]

Some nice ideas, but a mere damp squib as a spellbinder. [July 2007, p.79]

Oddly, the problem is that, it feels too much like a classic hack-'n'-slash RPG. Games like Diablo and Baldur's Gate used the same formula over 10 years ago, and they did it better.

Topping off all of this mediocrity is the weird multiplayer, containing modes (free-for-all deathmatch, capture the flag, etc.) not normally found in this type of game. In theory the game should be more unique for these options, but there's a reason hack-and-slash RPGs avoid this style of multiplayer: it doesn't work well in the engine.

The interface is clunky and once you can get past that, you will find this is a game that is very much in step with every RPG stereotype. Yep, there are load times, too.

Dawn of Magic does everything in the RPG book by-the-numbers, only it seems to have used all the wrong numbers.

My advice? Forget about this accursed game and play "Diablo II", "Dungeon Siege II", or "Titan Quest" again. [Apr 2007, p.68]

Then there's the combat. It's messy. You'll fling ranged spells at enemies and they'll mysteriously miss, presumably due to line-of-sight issues, but it's difficult to tell. Even melee combat seems buggy at times, with monsters you can't hit even though they're stood right next to you.