Lacking in Wizardry
Certain games seem to be bestowed by something greater, breathing a magical combination of narrative, gameplay, and visuals into a compelling masterpiece. They’re full of exciting and fulfilling ideas, bringing innovation to perhaps stagnant genres, truly pushing standards to the next level.
I can wholeheartedly say that Afil Games’ Magic Sheep is not one of these games.
The story follows the same barebones formula the majority of their titles are plagued with, in this case revolving around a magical sheep who must push barrels onto pedestals… and that’s how far it goes.
I can understand that a story wouldn’t fit in with the game’s formula, yet at the same time it leaves no incentive to progress through any of the stages.
As I mentioned earlier, the main objective of Magic Sheep is pushing barrels onto pedestals, although this isn’t always as easy as it sounds. The early stages are far from brain bogglers, with their most challenging puzzles consisting of moving these barrels around an obstacle in the stage. This doesn’t ramp up until around stage ten when the barrel amount amps up to four per stage. This design is fitting of a self-proclaimed “slow-paced puzzle adventure”, although I would’ve liked to have seen more variety.
Stagnation in Design
This issue of stagnation also extends into the stage design too, with each level feeling like an slight extension from the last, as if each was duplicated and then slightly altered. This is in large part thanks to Magic Sheep’s tendency to contain the same solution for each barrel; move them around an obstacle, and through either trial and error or a tactics plan, push them onto their designated pedestal.
I was able to speed through every stage of the game in a ridiculously short amount of time whilst also collecting every achievement, highlight Magic Sheep’s predictably repetitive gameplay.
Quality of Life
Thankfully, it’s not all doom and gloom as Magic Sheep has two minor consolations to soften the lacking experience. They’re not game-changing, and in many cases most players probably won’t need to use them, yet they show a small degree of thought on the developers behalf.
I am of course talking about the rewind and restart abilities, allowing for small mistakes to go unpunished, or a new attempt at each stages. It’s nothing revolutionary, yet it’s one of the only signs that Magic Sheep has any ounce of soul. All of these factors together leave gameplay and stage design a temporarily fun affair which rapidly goes downhill once you realise each stage is almost identical.
Visually, Magic Sheep won’t be winning any awards, with the game displayed as pixel art with a top-down isometric 3D angle. It certainly fits the cozy aesthetic the title was aiming for, but also blends in with various similar games. The soundtrack is largely the same story, with the slim selection of tracks likely to be the music of your boredom as you attempt to power through. All of this is presented in a tolerable way, with menus befitting of the game’s quality, yet Magic Sheep seems to be missing the most important aspect of any art… a soul.
A Disappointing Addition
It truly feels as though Afil Games worked a game up to the bare minimum of playable, yet skipped out on elements to enhance the quality. This raises a larger debate on why people create games, why we play them, and their role in the overall entertainment hierarchy, but for me they’ve always been forms of art designed to entertain. Whether this is through an emotional narrative designed to make players rethink their lives, a thrilling gameplay loop, or any other reason players will gravitate towards them, gaming can produce art.
Sadly, Magic Sheep seems to have missed this memo, leaving thirty stages of repetitive and stagnating gameplay that I’m unsure if anyone could truly enjoy. I understand that this criticism may seem harsh as Magic Sheep isn’t aiming to be a piece of art, instead wanting to be a ‘switch your brain off’ affair, but even still it hardly succeeds at that.
Despite the few minor elements it gets right, Magic Sheep is yet another addition to the Xbox Store that players would certainly be better off missing out on. Whether looking at the barebones gameplay, level design that repeats itself, or the lack of polish present, Magic Sheep contains all the qualities you’d associate with disappointment.
Important Links
Magic Sheep Casts A Cozy Spell On Xbox With Woolly Good Puzzle Charm – https://www.thexboxhub.com/magic-sheep-casts-a-cozy-spell-on-xbox-with-woolly-good-puzzle-charm/
Buy from the Xbox Store, Optimised for Series X|S – https://www.xbox.com/en-gb/games/store/Magic-Sheep-Xbox-Series/9PKWBC7ZNN1P
Buy for Xbox One – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/magic-sheep-xbox-one/9pnflhsjd4hm
Buy for Windows PC – https://www.microsoft.com/en-gb/store/p/magic-sheep-windows/9nm6krq2mpwt
