Magic Pengel is a fun, short (~13h for me), cute RPG game where you draw your monsters and fight battles in the arena to help a girl win her house back. It's also very much a budget title, and you can see it in every aspect of it.

The small OST, repeated (and low quality) voicelines, rudimentary... everything. And long, loooooong loading screen between the few areas in the game. And the simplistic gameplay loop that goes like this:

Cutscene at home -> walk to the plaza (load) -> walk to arena (load) -> battle -> walk back (load) -> walk back (load) -> cutscene -> repeat

If doodling wasn't fun and the game wasn't so charming I would take off a lot more points for how obscene the loading screens are, even for a budget title.

The battles are doable, it's rock paper scissors which means there is some luck involved, but you can strategize your way through once it clicks. It's a very kid-friendly easy game, which means you don't lose anything if you die, even the final boss gauntlet lets you pick up from the phase you were at just to spare you any possible headache.

It's worth a try if you think RPG where you fight with your doodles is fun, but the loading can absolutely kill it for some people.

Reviewed on Apr 18, 2024


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