One of the powers that indie developers have at their disposal is to see opportunities to take what have become more tired and ordinary ingredients from genres and spice them up with elements from other ones. While people may enjoy a solid RPG with interesting characters and a story to tell, there’s no doubt that classic turn-based combat can feel like a grind more often than not. The same can be said of deckbuilding games, which can consistently provide a good strategic challenge, but tend to be lacking in terms of world building to help them be more engrossing. Magin seems to be a title that has heard the call to do something more with each of these genres, combining them to help make something that’s the best of both worlds… but it doesn’t quite get there.

From the storytelling side you’ve got your grumpy main character who has ties to a local guild that is all about getting things done, even if that means getting nasty. Handy with a weapon, and with a tongue that can be just about as sharp when talking to people, he feels like a moody protagonist pulled out of a 90s comic book, which is also true of the game’s pretty distinctive visual style. Working through what ends up feeling like a pretty linear base story and path, you’ll be making a variety of decisions and throwing down with people on a steady basis. How you decide to handle yourself is tied to an overarching essence system though, so you’ll want to try to keep it in balance or there will be negative consequences. While this does add some flavor, and another consideration to what you’re doing, it also ends up hamstringing some of your decisions though, so in a way it can feel like it is diminishing your degree of agency rather than increasing it.

On the deckbuilding side of the equation there are also some enhancements that are noteworthy. The first is tied to your essence, and gives you cards that you’re able to flip over for different effects as a fight may dictate. It’s definitely novel, and can come in handy at times, so that’s at least a win. You’ll also continue to add to your deck as you win battles or make certain key decisions, helping to at least aid in giving you the feeling that you’re crafting a deck of your own. The problem is more on the combat side of things, as it feels like in terms of balancing, the game is all over the place. More often than not match-ups tend to feel either too easy, especially if you’re able to abuse some specific mechanics like stuns as you build up your deck, or too hard as you face foes that feel like their decks have literally been stacked against you. This sort of whiplash moving between extremes, with not enough match-ups in the middle that realistically push your tactics without being cheap, really undermines the satisfaction of the strategy end of the equation. The result is an experience that absolutely shows potential, but feels like its good ideas are lost in more muddled execution.