2 
0 Love, betrayal and sacrifice await players in The Land of the Magnate produced by indie.io and developed by Permanent Way Games. Inspired by Middle Eastern myths, The Land of the Magnates combines elements of classing adventure and rhythm games to tell the story of Malik. It is available on Steam for £16.75.
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Settle in with your sitar for a love story
Gameplay
The Land of the Magnates starts by introducing you to Malik Shahbaz, the prince of the Land of the Sun. The kingdom has turned from one of joy and music to a place shrouded in darkness. Silence reigns after music was banned following the death of the Queen and now the King lays on his deathbed. Malik believes that the music of his mother’s Sitar will bring his father back. Unfortunately, Malik is condemned for treason. After a daring escape, abandoning his wife-to-be, the disgraced prince must find a way to cure his father and return to the throne.
Rhythm is the key
I was very excited to pick up The Land of the Magnates given its old-school Prince of Persia vibes and rhythm game mechanics. You pick up the sitar after a short introduction to the basics of the game and being introduced to important characters. Once you move away from the starting area and into the Black Forest, you are introduced to the combat mechanics. They’re really simple, copy the pattern above the enemies head to defeat them quicker. Whilst playing, I realised that if I pressed buttons too quickly, then some of the buttons would be ignored and I would fail the attack. The timing of it was very precise because if I waited too long then I just missed out entirely and had to try and start from the beginning.
The rhythm sections of the game were also a let down. The patterns were repeated and it didn’t scratch that rhythm game itch that I had when watching the trailer. They were used more as a means of creating an environment for Malik to cross than anything else.
You can’t control me
The Land of the Magnates is a game that recommends playing with a controller. So of course I tried playing with both controller as well as keyboard and mouse. Aside from some awkward camera movements, I found you can use either. The game itself is akin to a side scroller but with a bit more depth and changing angles.
One way this game did live up to the Prince of Persia legacy was with terrible camera angle shifts. There were many times where I would be shimmying around a ledge only for the camera to shift and to fall to my death. This could have been because of how I was positioning the analogue stick but it happened more times then I want to mention. It was yet another thing that wasn’t the end of the world, but made me walk away for a bit.
Graphics & Audio
When trying to load The Land of the Magnates, it took a lot for my PC to power through. I don’t have the strongest PC in the world, I’ll admit. However, it never fails me on games such as Baldur’s Gate, Fallout or the Outlast Trials. When I first loaded up this game, I had severe stuttering issues. If you’re someone playing on a budget friendly/starter PC and haven’t made many upgrades then you might struggle to run this game. Luckily for me I was adding RAM and upgrading my CPU at the time I was tasked to play.
Even with everything updated, there were still a few odd graphics that seemed out of place. Malik seemed to always have a strange, distorted cloud around him and the camera movement made me motion sick. If you were looking solely at the scenery or even the cutscenes it would be obvious that a lot of care and attention went into making the game. The music does submerge you in the Land of the Sun. And aside from some minor issues that I had with the graphics, the game is on the whole stunning.
At times, the voice acting was a little off-putting. The pacing of some of the discussions missed out what felt like crucial emotional moments. There would be some over-emphasised phrases, whilst lines that felt like they should be louder just weren’t.
Final Thoughts
This game, by all means, isn’t a bad game. The story is intriguing and has enough to entice players to get through to the ending. However personally, I wouldn’t pick this game up again. Not because of any major hatred or game killing mechanics but simply because a lot of very small issues mounted up and hindered my enjoyment. The Land of the Magnates just didn’t drag me into the story in the same way that similar games have in the past.
Overall, I give The Land of the Magnates the Bronze Thumb Culture Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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