It’s been hard work, but Aldin Dynamics, after much effort, has finally combined the right ingredients to bring us the ultimate offering of magic and medieval fantasy. Available on PC VR, Quest, PSVR1 and PSVR2.
The wizard’s dwelling
History of Magician’s Waltz lasts for several years, from that first version, where, without a clear purpose we messed around with dozens of objects in the wizard’s fortress. This old room has grown through updates until it offers what we now have in hand, a product with greater capabilities although not yet defining its purpose.
Without much introduction, we appear in front of a table with a magical cauldron. This, in addition to what seems to be the ingredients to put in it and others many interactive objects. And as soon as we start playing with them, we understand it Magician’s Waltz This is exactly the name for play with what virtual reality offers, to experiment. Something that will surely appeal to those who are new to the technology.
By combining the three ingredients in a different order, we unlock spells that only serve to play with what’s in front of us. Anti-gravity forces, ballides or drawing in the air Here are some of them, always designed for the player’s interaction with the environment. For this reason, the remaining facilities offer different mechanics and even mini games with a crossbow to shoot a sequence of targets or a laser sword to split apples.
Playing as we also find mural with stickers that continue to be a reward just to try different things with everything in the room. A very common universal option in the early years of virtual reality and one of those famous “experiences” that served admirably gateway to a new gaming world. The question is… what does it offer for most of the veterans of the place?
A world of possibilities
Outside the borders Updated facelift with new lighting and details (albeit with somewhat basic modeling and textures) this time we leave the tower after completing the three tasks (somewhat respectful of what has been said) and move on to the next voice controlled area. The magic ring lets us Use voice commands to create objects or move othersturning us back into true witches between hand gestures and voice commands.
A large number of orders that, like everything in the name, They are not very useful in development. If by some chance we do not want to use the microphone to talk and prefer more traditional actions, it will not be possible after the start of the game. You have to start from the beginning, something that can obviously hinder the experience of more than one person. One such It would be better if subtitles were included of some sort, since the game is entirely in English (we see some text as a tutorial).
Gestures are a nice addition, but they are underused.
And although to some extent it is unbalanced and mechanically, we also have it the final part where there is room for actionintroducing a dungeon where you can use these spells and defeat several stone golems with more gestural (no fluidity Synapse). This part also benefits from an asymmetric game where another player can give us a cable through the TV throwing fireballs and moving objects is more useful than in the rest of the adventure.
It is too noticeable that Magician’s Waltz is expanding its offering in stages, finessing the end result in what is still a diverse experience with no greater problem than discovering all his little tricks. And it’s a pity, because the large number of chores could have given a lot to talk about in an adventure with objectives, secondary and, in short, rewarding or incentivizing the player for letting himself go by trying everything what does it have to offer other than completing the sticker board.
Another player can help us through the TV by throwing fireballs and moving objects in the final dungeons
Image sharpness is good, controls are responsive (except for those gesture powers), and while I don’t get much use out of the haptics there are interesting things in vibration (when we put our hands in the water in the cauldron) which can be used in many other cases. Even eye tracking is used to highlight the stickers in the collection, but again, that’s still it curiosity without meaning. Something that might well sum up the reach of this journeyman wizard.
In the end we stayed a game of sensations. To surprise us with what virtual reality can provide through atmosphere and immersion. Feeling unnerved by a giant shadow approaching us, or dizzy when it appears on a suspension bridge. Make sure our hands move the way we like and touch all the objects we see. In short, a product that knows it’s playing even if it doesn’t offer, today, we didn’t see anything.
In mid-2023, this is too experimental a proposition for veterans.
Conclusion
a few years ago Magician’s Waltzhow they serve it today would be the perfect experience to enter virtual reality. And it continues, but perhaps only for those who are new to the headset at home. It tries to incorporate new mechanics and go deeper with the somewhat mechanized parts of the action, so we’re left with many experiments with many possibilities but without any type of scope other than simple experimentation.
Analysis performed on PlayStation 5 with PSVR2 in game version 1,000,001.
