Part 1 (Sep 2023) · #12 of 14 in that tierWatch the moment (1:27:40)
Explore, craft, and survive in this Multiplayer RPG Platformer with permanent death! Featuring many Rogue-like elements, Magicite randomly generates each underground dungeon for you and your friends to delve deep into.
Consensus
C66.1/100
Steam players85.3% positiveVery Positive7,588 reviews
Metacritic ↗Users: 7.3/10
VG Insights estimate ↗≈383K copies · ≈$2.5M gross
What creators say
What players say
A 2D pixel-art side-scrolling RPG platformer by solo dev Sean Young (SmashGames) with permadeath, randomly generated underground dungeons, combine-any-two-items crafting and local/online co-op.
Steam players rate it Very Positive (about 85% of roughly 7.6k reviews) and many describe it as a charming, replayable, challenging roguelite with great music and crafting. The big caveat is that development stopped years ago, and the late updates left game-breaking bugs (final-boss/victory-screen crashes, chicken cooking freezing the game, multiplayer false-loss bugs). A vocal share of the negative reviews are about abandonment and the developer's shift to Roguelands rather than the core design. No professional critic coverage exists (no Metacritic critic score, no OpenCritic entry found); Metacritic has only a small user score (7.3 from 32 ratings). A community fan patch and a 'Rewritten' project keep interest alive, but the player count is tiny (around 12-13 concurrent).
Players love
- Addictive 'one more run' loop: each death leaves you slightly stronger through unlocks, giving clear short-term goals
- Crafting by combining any two items is fun to experiment with and rewards discovery
- High replayability through unlockable races, hats, companions and randomised stats/builds
- Satisfying, challenging difficulty with a real sense of accomplishment on beating the final scourge levels
- Excellent music and sound design, plus charming pixel sprites
- Co-op where the run continues as long as one party member survives encourages teamwork
- Good pacing, enemy and map variety; fast, ninja-like movement and combat
- Strong nostalgia and loyalty among long-time players, some calling it a childhood favourite
Common complaints
- Abandoned: no official updates for years, with the developer having moved on to Roguelands
- Late-game bugs that can make the game unwinnable, such as crashes at the final boss or victory screen
- Specific known bugs: cooking raw chicken freezes the game, forced wolf riding with no jump-off, shopkeeper interaction icon disappearing
- Multiplayer is buggy: false 'all players downed' game overs, players falling through the floor on restart, desyncs
- Multiplayer lacks Steam integration and in-game communication tools, so people rely on third-party workarounds
- Mouse cursor flicker bug reported since 2021 and never fixed
- Some players consider it overpriced or mediocre compared to many modern roguelites
- Some unlocks are obscure and hard to figure out
Can feel tedious
- Repeatedly rerolling stats until a desirable combination appears
- Early game feels punishing and opaque until the mechanics click
- Writing down crafting recipes because the game doesn't record them
- Hunting for unlock conditions that are not explained
- Working around broken bugs (shopkeepers, wolf mount) mid-run
- Co-op sessions ending in frustrating false-loss resets
What's unique
- Combine-any-two-items crafting as the core progression system rather than fixed recipe trees
- Side-scrolling Terraria/Spelunky-style platforming blended with RPG stats, races, hats and companions
- Co-op permadeath where the run only ends when the whole party is down
- Inspired by Monster Hunter and Spelunky per the store description, unusual for a 2D pixel roguelite
- Persistent unlocks (races, hats, companions) that change how each run plays
- Active community-made fixes (MagiciteFanPatches, Magicite: Rewritten) extending the life of an abandoned game
Players want
- Add a tutorial or early guidance; new players get little direction on doors, recipes or systems
- Let players choose their starting attributes instead of repeatedly clicking 'roll stats'
- Save discovered crafting recipes so players don't have to write them down
- Fix the long-standing game-breaking bugs (final boss crash, chicken cooking, multiplayer false losses)
- Add Steam-integrated online multiplayer and communication tools
- Explain or fix obscure unlocks
Summarised from Steam reviews and community discussion.
Steam tags
IndieRPGRogue-likeMultiplayerPixel Graphics2DAction RoguelikeAdventurePlatformerCrafting
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Tier list Part 1 (2023)
Magicite (2014) is an older survival-exploration roguelike where you create a character, get dropped into a world, and explore to gain stronger gear in order to save the world. He was excited to try it because he had played the developer's later game. He respects it as a hardcore, historically influential title but found it slow and grindy, and got tired of it after a short play. He says he would be more likely to play it than Exit the Gungeon, but does not state a tier letter.
Liked
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