Maglam Lord Review: teetering on the edge of greatness
Fellistella is a Japanese game developer that, for the most part, has developed JRPGs that feel pretty niche and mid-tier in their concept, with a gameplay experience that matches up. However, this is the opposite for Maglam Lord, a genuinely enriching narrative-focused game that combines 2D visual novel storytelling with 3D brawler-like combat. Unfortunately, the latter is what leads to Maglam Lord making me somewhat Maglam Bored.
You play as Demon Lord Killizerk, a powerful entity who has brought nothing but chaos and ruin to the world of Eusdeal. So much ruin that both the Gods and other Demon Lords have decided that the only thing they can do is destroy you. Lovely. Something about being so much of a nuisance to society that even good and bad guys team up to get rid of you feels abundantly queer, so I was tickled at this cold opening and even more so when Killizerk wakes up after the attack to find a peaceful world and their loyal subjects, having sacrificed so much to keep them alive, at their side. I do love a good-found family trope, and Maglam Lord is happy to serve.
It’s with this opening that we quickly establish a few things: Killizerk lives in a so-called peaceful world, meaning that their magic and power is significantly weaker since they usually strive on strife and chaos. Also, Gods and Demons are both gone, making them the last Demon Lord left and part of an endangered species that is under the protection of the Administration – a governing body of pencil pushers that rules this new world. Oh, and they are being put to work to make sure the mutabeasts – which range from diamond-shaped elementals to undead knights – don’t ruin the peace.
As we figure out though, Killizerk can’t use their full power without being weakened. It’s a real pain in the butt. However through Maglams, special weapons that players are able to take the form of, the demon can fight enemies without weakening themselves. On the contrary, they’ll grow stronger from being in a different form and ‘sucking’ the essence out of their enemies through combat. You know, typical JRPG stuff. Of course, this means that Killizerk will need to team up with other companions that aren’t their servants as one is a scholar called Satyus, and the other is a floating demon head called Balga. Not exactly great candidates.
This leads me to talk about something which, if nothing else, Maglam Lord does well in – creating enjoyable characters. There are a handful of characters that make up the main cast who, at first glance, seem paper-thin but as you get to know them, are surprisingly well-developed in their presence within Maglam Lord’s story. One example of this is Charme, a loving, elder sister and the voice of reason that chides the party when they take things too far, but instead of just putting her in a maternal role for the rest of the story, we’re instead treated to finding out that she’s a young woman with a lot on her plate and how she needs to learn to relax every now and then, because her taking on everyone’s burdens means she’s neglected her own.
Another character who I found myself pleasantly surprised by was Darius, Charme’s younger brother and an unawoken Hero – meaning he hasn’t yet reached his full potential. I’ll be honest, I don’t like surly characters who go out of their way to be jerks, so my reception to this disgruntled Hero was, at first, pretty negative. I much preferred hanging around with Charme and M.O.A.V, a robot valet who is also a nuclear weapon. Yet as I played on I found myself impressed with how Maglam Lord wove Darius’s story – including the reason why he is so insecure, as well as moments where he lets his guard down – into the main narrative while also paying an equal amount of attention to the rest of your companions. It’s a really touching story, and one that I found myself relating to.
Even Killizerk themselves is a fascinating character, and that’s largely due to Felistella giving you the option to choose whether you’re male or female, as well as allowing you to pick what sort of Demon Lord you really are. For my review, I decided to play as the more feminine Killizerk and act like a demonic hardass, which often led to a portrayal of a character who can be incredibly frightening one moment, and a total fool the next. During moments like this, it feels as though the tone of the main protagonist can swerve wildly and mess up how you’ve chosen to role-play yourself, but I found myself not minding too much. It added a new, malleable layer to the character that makes them a recognizable figure, similar to Shepard and Hawke from Mass Effect and Dragon Age 2 without sacrificing player choice completely.
Unfortunately, player choice can only get you so far when it comes to Maglam Lord’s combat. As we’ve already established, Killizerk can only gain power through special weapons that they are able to shape themselves into. It sounds cool on paper, but the reality is that you’re only able to make certain sorts of weapons: swords, spears, and axes. These weapons are fine, and you can change what they look like (for example, I ended up changing my sword into a cute little lollipop and my axe into a turnip) with cosmetics, but they all do pretty much the same thing. They hack, they slash, and they bonk enemies on the head. You might think ‘well, isn’t that enough?’ but the answer is simple: no.
Let me be clear: I don’t find anything wrong with Maglam Lord’s weapons having the same animations, nor am I under the impression that this game should have the same sort of combat I expect from triple-A JRPGs like Tales of and Final Fantasy. What I do expect though is combat to change and adapt in meaningful ways as my character and companions grow stronger, otherwise, it all starts to grow stale. There’s no challenge and when there is a hike in difficulty, the expectation of grinding is an arduous process that doesn’t remotely appeal because combat is just the same thing over and over again. You hack, you slash, and you bonk. Again, and again, and again. Not even power-up abilities or magic can make combat seem fun.
It would have been more compelling for your partners to have unique actions in combat, just to make it more fun and meaningful for you to swap between them, but nope. Companions in combat are practically skins of one another, which is both beneficial for those who want to romance a certain someone, but ultimately boring for the rest of us.
Speaking of romance, there’s a fair bit of it thanks to the introduction of The Lovo Dojo that’s introduced early in-game. It’s here the players meet the Love Guru, a jacked-up Master Roshi lookalike that wears his love for marriage literally around his neck. It’s honestly quite the endearing design and I am here for it, solely because this strange old man seems to be only here to educate the protagonist on filling their bleak soul with love.
Oh and also to help you find someone that you can reproduce with. Just so you’re no longer part of an endangered species! What a nice fella.
Finding the love of your life is pretty easy when you’re all companions, but you’ll need to do more than just adventure with them to get on their good side. You’ll need to give them the right meal, take them to places they like, and make sure you pick the right dialogue choices. Then, if all is going well, you can even take them on a date.
Dates in Maglam Lord are incredibly simple, so don’t expect anything akin to the romance system in BioWare games or even Larian Studio’s Divinity Original Sin series. In this JRPG, dates are a simple dialogue choice, as well as going to a certain location that you think your partner will enjoy. Then after a few cutesy moments together, you’re back with a new image added to your Gallery to commemorate the date. After that, you’ll get the chance to go on a handful of dialogue-less dates that are pretty superficial in the grand scheme of things, before you then go on another date that has more of a meaningful impact on your relationship. Sadly you do not receive another image to commemorate that date.
While I won’t be bestowing Maglam Lord with a gold medal for its depiction of romance, I can’t deny that the game is endearing with how it handles it all the same. For one thing, you’re allowed to romance whoever you want – regardless of gender. How this helps with reproduction is never actively talked about, and even Killizerk themselves gets introduced with they/them pronouns. Never do we get a moment where it’s like ‘but we’re both girls’ or ‘oh no, it’s creepy that us two guys are hanging together without the ladies.’ Instead, companions treat Killizerk and their relationship with nothing but the utmost respect. With all this in mind, this is all I have to say: stick that in your pipe and smoke it, Persona 5.
Overall, I had so much fun with Maglam Lord. And while I don’t think it’s going to be a game I’ll return to anytime soon due to its dull combat, I think that it has more than enough positives that it’s a game I’d recommend. Particularly to queer gamers who are looking for a nice, meaty JRPG that doesn’t actively demonize them for their sexuality.
Score: 3/5
A copy of Maglam Lord for Nintendo Switch was provided to Gayming Magazine by the publisher.
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