Formed by ex-Capcom developers 30 years ago, Inti Creates is a developer and publisher that I find myself checking in on periodically. Whether it’s to show off spiritual successors to games like Mega Man through the Azure Striker Gunvolt series or reboots of beloved classics like BlasterMaster Zero, they always seem to have something interesting in the chamber that commands my attention.
This time around was no different. In July they revealed Majogami, an action-platformer complete with a flashy visual style that incorporates a paper craft aesthetic, crafted by none other than Yuji Natsume who’s known for their impressive art design in titles including Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. With such a fascinating art direction and snappy-looking combat, I had to get my hands on this title and try it for myself.
Starting with the gameplay, Majogami is what I would describe as a 2D hack-and-slash game given how the combat starts off fairly simple in the first chapter. You are equipped with a katana and are capable of slicing enemies either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally with a special targeted move called “Setsuna.” Special moves in this game spend a resource called “Magic Paper” (MP), which is gained from attacking enemies with regular attacks.
I enjoyed the combat in this game, as slicing through several enemies in a row felt very satisfying. The flashy visuals that follow a special attack look so cool, too. That said, I do wish that I could use these moves outside of just combat for exploring levels, as I found myself looking at platforms that would have been in my reach if I was able to use attacking moves to boost myself up. The levels feel as though they’re designed to be explored this way, given there are a handful of hidden treasures to be discovered, so this would have been a nice addition for level exploration.
The combat is as intuitive as it is simple at first, and expands with a variety of abilities and moves as you progress. One of these features is “Ascension,” where you gain power from an Astral to boost attack power and max MP for a limited time. In my experience, I found this to be a useful mechanic since it also gives you a double-jump, making level traversal far better.
Moves and techniques can be purchased at the shop as “scrolls,” but it’ll cost you a significant amount of “kunoha,” the game’s currency which is collected via treasure spots and enemy drops. In addition, you can also purchase charms which can be equipped to enhance resistances or provide buffs to HP and movement.
This goes into one of my biggest critiques with the game: the money grind. I found myself replaying levels to collect more kunoha to be able to afford all the new techniques and equipment available to me–some of which was necessary for certain boss fights. For example, there is a boss in the prologue level of Chapter 2 that makes use of fire for their abilities. After attempting the boss, I realized I had to grind money to buy a charm that either negated or reduced fire damage to even have a chance at defeating it. I’m not a fan of having to buy an accessory to progress in a game, so this left a bad taste in my mouth for that chapter.
The money problem is exacerbated by having multiple charms for sale. While you can only equip a handful of charms at once, the high price makes it difficult to swap them around to find a combination that works well for my play style. If I want to mix and match a few charms to find the build that works for me, that kind of experimentation will have a hefty price tag to boot, requiring further grinding in previous levels.
Going back to bosses for a moment, I found myself struggling on the normal difficulty most of the time for these bosses. At the end of each chapter, you have to fight a boss known as a “craft witch,” who holds the memories of the protagonist Shiroha. In my experience, I felt there was a significant difficulty spike in going from the standard levels to the boss fights.
When fighting a craft witch, they have several phases indicated by the number of green flames on their health bar. Each phase results in the boss using more moves to rock the boat, making for boss fights that become progressively more difficult to fight given having to telegraph several phases worth of moves. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I felt like I was getting sweeped on what is supposed to be the “regular” difficulty. Plus with these bosses having anywhere from five to six phases on average, it makes for quite the endurance test.
Speaking of the bosses, their character designs are certainly interesting! The bosses are designed around the environment of their chapter’s levels, and I think they’ve been pretty cool across the board. The craft witches also vary in their personalities, but all eventually come back to the central conflict of them holding a key to Shiroha’s memories.
Speaking of Shiroha, her story in Majogami is… well it’s something. You start off with no recollection of who you are or anything about your past. The only information you’re given is that you have a katana, you’re inexplicably trapped in the world of Orchesgra, and your father is somehow a sentient piece of paper.
Sometimes a cold open works well in interactive media, but in this game, the lack of any context of who I was playing as or what the world I was traversing even was left me just as confused as the protagonist. Some players may enjoy the quest to learn more about the world they’re in, but in this case it didn’t quite do it for me.
Overall, Majogami is a decent game with good ideas, but could stand to push the envelope further when it comes to level depth and exploration. The visual style is an absolute treat, and compliments the combat well, while also allowing for some fascinating character designs. However, progression feels hindered by variable difficulty spikes and a necessity for grinding currency to engage more with the variety of combat abilities in the game.
Formed by ex-Capcom developers 30 years ago, Inti Creates is a developer and publisher that I find myself checking in on periodically. Whether it’s to show off spiritual successors to games like Mega Man through the Azure Striker Gunvolt series…
Formed by ex-Capcom developers 30 years ago, Inti Creates is a developer and publisher that I find myself checking in on periodically. Whether it’s to show off spiritual successors to games like Mega Man through the Azure Striker Gunvolt series or reboots of beloved classics like BlasterMaster Zero, they always seem to have something interesting in the chamber that commands my attention.
This time around was no different. In July they revealed Majogami, an action-platformer complete with a flashy visual style that incorporates a paper craft aesthetic, crafted by none other than Yuji Natsume who’s known for their impressive art design in titles including Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon. With such a fascinating art direction and snappy-looking combat, I had to get my hands on this title and try it for myself.
Starting with the gameplay, Majogami is what I would describe as a 2D hack-and-slash game given how the combat starts off fairly simple in the first chapter. You are equipped with a katana and are capable of slicing enemies either horizontally, vertically, or diagonally with a special targeted move called “Setsuna.” Special moves in this game spend a resource called “Magic Paper” (MP), which is gained from attacking enemies with regular attacks.
I enjoyed the combat in this game, as slicing through several enemies in a row felt very satisfying. The flashy visuals that follow a special attack look so cool, too. That said, I do wish that I could use these moves outside of just combat for exploring levels, as I found myself looking at platforms that would have been in my reach if I was able to use attacking moves to boost myself up. The levels feel as though they’re designed to be explored this way, given there are a handful of hidden treasures to be discovered, so this would have been a nice addition for level exploration.
The combat is as intuitive as it is simple at first, and expands with a variety of abilities and moves as you progress. One of these features is “Ascension,” where you gain power from an Astral to boost attack power and max MP for a limited time. In my experience, I found this to be a useful mechanic since it also gives you a double-jump, making level traversal far better.
Moves and techniques can be purchased at the shop as “scrolls,” but it’ll cost you a significant amount of “kunoha,” the game’s currency which is collected via treasure spots and enemy drops. In addition, you can also purchase charms which can be equipped to enhance resistances or provide buffs to HP and movement.
This goes into one of my biggest critiques with the game: the money grind. I found myself replaying levels to collect more kunoha to be able to afford all the new techniques and equipment available to me–some of which was necessary for certain boss fights. For example, there is a boss in the prologue level of Chapter 2 that makes use of fire for their abilities. After attempting the boss, I realized I had to grind money to buy a charm that either negated or reduced fire damage to even have a chance at defeating it. I’m not a fan of having to buy an accessory to progress in a game, so this left a bad taste in my mouth for that chapter.
The money problem is exacerbated by having multiple charms for sale. While you can only equip a handful of charms at once, the high price makes it difficult to swap them around to find a combination that works well for my play style. If I want to mix and match a few charms to find the build that works for me, that kind of experimentation will have a hefty price tag to boot, requiring further grinding in previous levels.
Going back to bosses for a moment, I found myself struggling on the normal difficulty most of the time for these bosses. At the end of each chapter, you have to fight a boss known as a “craft witch,” who holds the memories of the protagonist Shiroha. In my experience, I felt there was a significant difficulty spike in going from the standard levels to the boss fights.
When fighting a craft witch, they have several phases indicated by the number of green flames on their health bar. Each phase results in the boss using more moves to rock the boat, making for boss fights that become progressively more difficult to fight given having to telegraph several phases worth of moves. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, but I felt like I was getting sweeped on what is supposed to be the “regular” difficulty. Plus with these bosses having anywhere from five to six phases on average, it makes for quite the endurance test.
Speaking of the bosses, their character designs are certainly interesting! The bosses are designed around the environment of their chapter’s levels, and I think they’ve been pretty cool across the board. The craft witches also vary in their personalities, but all eventually come back to the central conflict of them holding a key to Shiroha’s memories.
Speaking of Shiroha, her story in Majogami is… well it’s something. You start off with no recollection of who you are or anything about your past. The only information you’re given is that you have a katana, you’re inexplicably trapped in the world of Orchesgra, and your father is somehow a sentient piece of paper.
Sometimes a cold open works well in interactive media, but in this game, the lack of any context of who I was playing as or what the world I was traversing even was left me just as confused as the protagonist. Some players may enjoy the quest to learn more about the world they’re in, but in this case it didn’t quite do it for me.
Overall, Majogami is a decent game with good ideas, but could stand to push the envelope further when it comes to level depth and exploration. The visual style is an absolute treat, and compliments the combat well, while also allowing for some fascinating character designs. However, progression feels hindered by variable difficulty spikes and a necessity for grinding currency to engage more with the variety of combat abilities in the game.
by Michael Fertitta
