Review: Sigil of the Magi Trades Complexity for Depth

There’s something to be said for keeping things simple when it comes to numbers. While games like Disgaea or any given MMO have taken their “number go up” mechanic and pumped it into the stratosphere, Sigil of the Magi keeps its math far simpler and more readable without sacrificing any of the strategic possibility that tactical RPG’s allow for.

Developed by solo Singaporean developer Yongjustyong, the Sigil of the Magi is a turn-based tactics RPG with an overarching roguelite element. You start with a team of three characters you can use to fight with, but can eventually unlock a pool of up to nine. Each character has a small deck of attacks and buffs as well as a passive effect, which are simple bonuses that inform the character’s role. For example, your starting team’s passives place a premium on positioning, especially standing next to allies, and you’ll have to choose whether to prioritise placing your heroes next to your Knight so he gains additional armour, or near the Wizard to increase your team’s power. Later teams also give bonuses for things like the first card played each turn or on storing cards on the ‘card rack’ to play later, but the emphasis on positioning remains throughout.

You’re then placed at the start of a branching map with all the usual monsters, shops, treasures, and choice events leading you up to a boss encounter. As you traverse these encounters you’ll gain new cards, upgrade old ones, or obtain relics that can grant various bonuses. Some of these can be as simple as gaining an extra mana each turn or as complicated as buffing a character when you play five of their cards in a row during the same turn. A lot of these can have really fun or interesting synergies but the random nature means you may never find the particular one you need to make a particular build click. But then, such is the nature of roguelikes.

The passives and cards of a character will encourage playing them a particular way but, as they say, no plan survives contact with the enemy. Though you’re able to see their next planned action, turn order and even their target priority, dealing with them while also keeping your formation together is where the challenge comes in. Add on to that all the new strategies opened up by unlocked cards and relics, not to mention terrain effects, and battles quickly become calculations of what you stand to gain versus what you can afford to lose. It’s reminiscent of Subset Games’ Into the Breach, albeit much less intense and with less of a focus on knockback attacks.

It’s here that Sigil of the Magi‘s simple presentation and low-numbers systems shine. I can’t imagine trying to wrangle these bonuses with several unnecessary zeroes tacked on to the end. And while the art style isn’t the most distinctive, it does keep fights from spiralling into unreadability as they escalate. The music however, does tend to go from unremarkable background filler to strangely distinct. The shop has a lovely, but oddly Animal Crossing-like theme, while being defeated plays a sudden and unexpected horn sting. It’s nothing big enough to really detract, it’s just that when the rest of the game is fairly spartan these flourishes stand out in an odd way.

But that hardly matters when you finish a run, only to unlock a new card that gels with a mechanic you’d previously overlooked. When I started unlocking cards that utilised Burn, which removes a card from your deck to power up another, it changed how I saw the Junk and Wound cards that you could find clogging your hand. They were no longer just chaff, they were fuel for my better cards that I could use instead of something more useful. Similarly, the second set of heroes you unlock have several cards that require discarding, but also cards that have effects on discard or the ability to reshuffle discarded cards into your deck. Suddenly I was theorizing card combos and starting to vaguely understand the appeal of competitive Yu-Gi-Oh!.

But Sigil of the Magi never gets overwhelming, even with all the numbers and strategies flying around. With battles being a good length to be engaging but not so long as to become a slog, and thanks to the roguelite set up you are rarely far from a new upgrade or unlock. In fact, while the game is currently only available on PC, the methodical pace and bite-sized battles would make this a perfect addition to the Switch Library.

It’s an unassuming little title, but one that rewards patience and paid attention with some really solid strategy gameplay. So if you’re looking for something that can scratch the dual itches of tactical RPG’s and roguelike progression, Sigil of the Magi is a hearty recommendation.

Sigil of the Magi is available on the PC via Steam.