Near-Mage

I absolutely loved this game. Honestly, games like this usually aren't even my thing, but Near-Mage completely won me over. I became so immersed in the world, the atmosphere, the characters, and everything the game has to offer that I genuinely didn't want it to end. If there were another 1000 hours of content, I would happily play every single one of them. I could honestly keep playing this game forever and never get tired of it. Near-Mage is an absolutely incredible, magical, and wonderfully crafted game, and I cannot recommend it enough. Even if this isn't normally your type of game, I would still strongly encourage you to give it a chance. One of the best gaming experiences I've had in a long time. Absolutely phenomenal.

OK game, very nicely drawn, has some funny moments (but not all). Occasionally the characters seem rushed in and out of the story without getting to know a bit more about them. Other times some don't appear for a long time only to resurface later. I feel the magic use idea was cool but was under used and it could have been put to use more creatively. The main issue I have is with the story progressing towards the finale without giving you a real option to "fail". Sure, you can get better or worse outcomes (or just different), but overall it felt extremely simple and somehow "linear". I get the choices I made influence the story, but I did not feel I had much agency into that. Felt more like a gamble, if you happened to do X two hours ago, Y will happen now. But then I could not "plan" the outcome. Example: you have the option to save a bit of some material for later with no effect on your current quest => you choose to, great, some time later something positive happens. But if one chooses not to keep, something negative happens. Now when I kept some of the material I really did not do it thinking I would obtain anything remotely similarly to the effects I obtained, so in the end…

Well, it made me hyperfixate on itself, so it did something right. Also, to anyone finding flying useless, hold down the Run button to fly faster; running while flying might be the fastest form of locomotion in the game.

Near-Mage? More like Near-Game...because this is mostly a walking simulator and visual novel; there's not much game aspect here. The story and dialogue are somewhat juvenile, but I liked the artwork and music and almost all of the voice acting. I liked all the weird characters hanging around.

I really enjoyed the story. I played Gibbous so a few names and characters made me excited but I don't think we'll get direct answers any time soon. Can't wait for Illya and co. to meet the Gibbous team. I love the characters and atmosphere but admittedly get confused sometimes with the names amd story.

I enjoy story driven, casual games with some adventure. This is a beautiful game, the graphics are gorgeous. The fantasy element is a favorite as well. The characters have personality and the choices you make are your own and shape the story. I love that you unlock fast travel pretty quickly because there are three separate maps. If you like witch schools, fantasy, and mystery- this point and click, story rich game is for you. I personally love it and I'm not close to being done but, I have a feeling I will be replaying and making some new choices.