A Journey into an Idle Wizarding World
One genre of games that I have really struggled to get on with is the so-called “idle” games – why bother playing a game at all if all you need to do is sit there and look at it?
The last time I tried this genre was way back when Clicker Heroes launched, and since then I’ve avoided them like the plague.
However, needs must, and with the release of Idle Wizard from TwoWizards and Desert Water Games hit the scene, I wondered if anything had improved in the intervening years. Perhaps Idle Wizard is the game capable of rekindling my faith in the genre as a whole…
Wizardry Without a Story
Don’t expect a story though. Aside from the blurb from the Xbox Store page asking “Ever dreamed about being a wizard?”, all I can say is that those Harry Potter books seem to have had it all wrong. All you need to do to be a wizard is gather mana. That’s it. And luckily, this game will allow you the chance to harness and harvest as much mana as you could ever dream of. Being a wizard is a piece of cake!
The presentation is somewhat easier to describe, mainly because there is a definite look to the game. What we see depends in large part on which of the various classes of wizard cadets we choose. I have no idea if wizards have cadets, but it seems fitting.
Anyway, whether we choose a necromancer or a druid, the depiction of our character changes, and there are further cosmetic tweaks we can make as well. The other thing that decides what is seen is which pet is recruited to help us gather all of the mana. They appear in a slightly smaller box at the top of the screen. And that is pretty much it, if you discount the counter that shows how much mana we are generating per second. Obviously, there are odd looking firefly and vortex things to click on, if you can be bothered, but other than that the screen is pretty much static.
Sound is ok-ish though, with a nice line in subtle music underscoring the whole thing. As you may expect from a game of this type though, any major sound effects are somewhat lacking.
The Mana Grind
But what of the gameplay? Given this is an idle game, there is again not much to report.
The basic premise of Idle Wizard is to gather as much mana as quickly and efficiently as possible, and to do this it is possible to purchase various contraptions that gather more and more mana. We start pretty simply, and as the gathering of mana takes place, new things become available to buy, using the very mana that we have just earned.
In addition to the contraptions, there are also other upgrades to purchase. These upgrades work hand in glove with the contraptions and so you can purchase an upgrade that increases the amount of mana that the Mana Fountain produces, as an example. Keeping things in balance in this way is important to make the mana gathering process as fast and smooth as possible. And with any idle game, fast and smooth is what you need.
Spells, Resets, and the Gamerscore Hook
Of course, like any good idle game, there are other things to try and do as well. It is possible to reset the world and your progress when you reach a certain level, rewarding you with faster mana gathering the next time around.
And what would a wizard be without spells? Well, a pretty poor one, to be honest, and so the game does allow you to unlock spell scrolls. The scrolls depend on the class you choose to a large extent, and while some spells are common, some are class specific. Using these little bits of magic at the right time does add a certain amount of variety, but not a massive amount, let’s be honest.
A Flawed Idle Experience
One of the weird things about Idle Wizard is that despite it being an idle game, when it isn’t actually running, it doesn’t seem to continue to gather mana for you. This is a bit odd, as it means that you have to have this running at all times to make progress. Why would you look at a boring, almost static screen when you could be playing Wuchang: Fallen Feathers? I got around this by leaving the game running overnight on a couple of occasions, and this enabled me to not only buy lots of the things on offer, but also allowed the unlocking of every one of the achievements – some 2000 Gamerscores worth. Now, 2000G is a pretty good return for leaving the Xbox running a couple of nights, but other than that it is hard to think of a reason to recommend this to anyone.
The gameplay loop found in Idle Wizard is pretty dull, but if you are desperate for some Gamerscore, have at it. Otherwise, I’d leave this one well alone.
Important Links
Sit Back and Watch the Potions Brew in Idle Wizard for Free on Xbox – https://www.thexboxhub.com/sit-back-and-watch-the-potions-brew-in-idle-wizard-for-free-on-xbox/
Download Idle Wizard for free on Xbox Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/idle-wizard/9P0G32LCD7B9/0010
Or play on Xbox One – https://www.xbox.com/en-GB/games/store/idle-wizard-xbox-one/9MV0ZPWQD9GN/0010
