Dawn of Magic First Impressions

Dawn of Magic is a fantasy action role-playing game that was formerly known as Blood Magic. Being an action RPG, your job will be to run around a fantasy world and kill a lot of creatures. However, while many action RPGs, such as Diablo, are inspired by traditional fantasy, Dawn of Magic feels like it draws inspiration from both fantasy and Harry Potter. That's because you play as a budding mage in the game, armed only with magic.

The game, which is being developed by SkyFallen Entertainment, is set in a colorful fantasy setting. The immortal Mordo has been banished from his realm of magic to Earth, where he lives as a mortal. To get even, Mordo must regain his lost powers and destroy the Earth. Where you come in is that you can either try to stop Mordo, or you can help him. The choice is entirely up to you, and what you decide affects the course of the game.

We mention Harry Potter because the game begins in a magical academy full of professors and their students. You can play as one of four characters enrolled in the academy. There's the fat friar, the weird gypsy, the awkward scholar (who sports very Harry Potter-style glasses), or the baker's wife. These are clearly not your typical fantasy heroes. Once your character is selected, you'll find yourself at the school, where you must get your first quests to venture out into the wild and dangerous world, full of goblins and other creatures to battle.

This is a magic-heavy game, and there are more than a dozen different fields of magic that your character can specialize in. Moreover, spells can be combined and blended, which ups the magical possibilities considerably. Magic is your only weapon in the game, as you won't need to rely on swords or bows and arrows. With that said, you can use magic to morph your character into a deadly weapon. Examples include turning your arms into swords or summoning bats to circle around you protectively.

Dawn of Magic has a lot of atmosphere in it, as well as a fair amount of destruction in the environment. We had fun destroying doors and objects at the school, which resulted in many students chasing after us. The game is scheduled to ship later this year.