The Life of a Magical Circle is Solideo‘s first game to be published to Steam, and it’s quite a journey. This is a deceptively simple collectathon with roguelite elements where your choices not only affect what the narrator says about you, but how difficult your game gets.

This is going to be equal parts review and analysis, as I found that the story being told through the mechanics was even more fascinating than the game itself.

Life Begins at Zero

The Life of a Magical Circle really confused me at first. There is no tutorial stage, no instruction given other than you could change your mouse sensitivity with a spin of the wheel. However, we are given no instruction in life – no real tutorial stage, at least, to give us our life’s purpose. And that is what The Life of a Magical Circle is about at the end of the day. Know your purpose, then focus on it. These words appear when you first start your game, and they are far more instructive than they let on.

Initially, you begin in a black void with a star and a slowly moving circle, leaving behind a blue trail in its wake. The game begins once you have claimed the circle. The screen starts to scroll and lets you out into more of a cosmic void. Galaxies and nebulas fill the background as tiny green and pink circles start to stream past. As the only interactable objects, naturally it is instinct to collect them. And yet, there’s only one sort of object you really want to touch.

See, as you collect the green orbs, your green little circle starts to fill up. It’s difficult to notice, once obstacles start filling up your screen and you have to focus on darting between them, but it’s there. Once you fill up, there’s a tinkling little starburst and the game moves on to the next stage, as your circle empties out. Fill it up twelve times, and you reach fulfillment, completing the game. 

But what about the pink circles? And the white circle power ups? They must have some use. 

Certainly, they do.

One, it’s very satisfying to get the pretty sound cues and see the circle exploding from the pink circles. There’s a white-blue power up that slows down time, a white-green one that attracts green circles to you, and a red-white one that destroys obstacles that would otherwise destroy your circle. However, there is a consequence to touching each of these.

For example, touching the pink circles summons flying red triangles to come attack you. There’s no way for you to know this, of course. They seem like a natural progression of the game play. When the triangles hit the explosion of pink from grabbing the next circle, it’s like they’re warded away for a time. It’s like an addiction, though. The more triangles there are trying to attack you, the more you seek out the pink circles to fend them off, the more triangles appear to attack you. It is an endless cycle, unless you grab the red-white power up. That, too, summons the triangles, however, like angry bees protecting their hive.

The other two are a little less devastating. When isolating for them I was still able to complete my run. The blue-white power up will slow down time, for a time, however it makes your screen scroll and the red blocks move faster with each use. The green-white one will attract the green circles to you for a time, but afterwards they are repelled from you, and it takes extra effort to hunt them down.

Not as Riddling as if First Appears

These power ups are also metaphors, but I don’t think I would have understood them without the narrator. At first, I thought The Life of a Magical Circle was meant to be a rage game in the style of Bennett Foddy’s Get Over It. Understandable, yet often frustrating mechanics in a seemingly unwinnable game while a narrator taunts you in the background. This narrator really is helpful, though. He comments on your actions as though he were David Attenburough observing wildlife. Over time, however, he becomes more sympathetic to your life, rooting for you the closer you get to the end.

If the narrator hadn’t commented once that the white circles weren’t as helpful as I thought, I wouldn’t have thought twice about them. I started my first run going after every little circle available to me, not understanding much except that I was making some type of progress.  But through the narrator’s dialogue, I started to understand. 

Direct Analogues

The blue-white dots represent procrastination, or downers. Taking your time can help you feel more relaxed about meeting immediate goals, but it makes you rush through the rest of your life, playing catch-up. And the green-white dots represent stimulants, or simply overworking yourself. You fight and struggle, grabbing everything you can, but outside of those bursts of energy it takes extra effort to reach your goals. Sometimes, they might even be entirely out of your reach. Both actions make you need the next power ups more, to slow the game down or attract the green dots, because without them it becomes nearly impossible to reach your goals.

And more than that, are certain specific pink circles that stream color into the cosmos. At first, I thought hitting these must be your goal, because when you do, they sweep away the entire board. However, these circles alter the reality of your game in various, significant ways. Sometimes it’s really fun and interesting to see how these circles change up the game. Other times it just makes your life so much harder. The narrator will also ask questions like if you’re depressed, or if pretending to be something you’re not will actually help you. It feels like you’re taking psychedelics, or other, harder drugs.

Overall

Putting all of that into consideration, I have to see The Life of a Magical Circle as not only a game about following your dreams, but a game about the cycles of addiction and how they might keep you from your purpose. The allegories are really clear, if you have an ear to listen. The way that the themes are implemented through the game mechanics are exceptionally thoughtful and thought provoking.

I haven’t said as much about the quality of the musical score and graphics, but they are really top-notch. The Life of a Magical Circle is deceptively simple and very well executed, with all elements tying in well to make a truly magical experience. Play as long or as short as you want to, but always keep your life in mind.

The Life of a Magical Circle is Free-to-Play for PC on Steam and GOG. Solideo provided NeverMore Niche with a review key.