Unity - Completed - Love of Magic [B2 v1.2.6] [Droid Productions]

[v0.3.24b]

This is one of the absolute best game on this site. And that is no hyperbole. There are certainly better porn games out there if you are looking for a fap. No other game on this site has captivated me so completely as early as this game did though. Calling this a porn game is a disservice. This is a full fledged game that you can enjoy for the story, characters, setting, and gameplay.

The plot is that of a classic hero's journey. It takes place in an expertly woven urban fantasy setting where gods and demi humans coexist with humans in 2019. All the tell tales of our world are real here and incorporated into a modified history that weaves fantasy and religion with real events. A world where healing magic courses are a prerequisite to medical school. A world where Arthur's legacy lives alongside contemporary nobility like Prince Harry (don't worry, just a short mention and not prominent to the plot lol). I won't go into much details about the plot because it really should be experienced first hand. The pacing is absolutely perfect as you go from a clueless newb to unraveling the mysteries behind your existence and realizing the potential locked within.

The characters in this game are some of the most authentic and well crafted I've seen. They each have their own motivations and distinct personalities. From how they act, what they value, to their way of speech, everything stays consistent. While the MC obviously shows the most drastic growth throughout the plot, your core group of companions (party members) grow almost as much. Not just in regard to the MC, but with each other as well. The dynamics are wonderful and you can't help but cherish each one of them eventually. The MC is also very likable. Not an asshole, nor a a typical goody two shoes, but perfectly genuine. He is not an asshole, but certainly no pushover. Most importantly, he always acts according to the situation and his personality, avoiding illogical actions that leaves the player going "but why...?"

If the above paragraphs didn't make it clear, the writing is top notch. This carries on to every line of dialogue between characters. Rest assured this is written by a native speaker. The text is very easy to read, yet full of color and information without ever getting drawn out. There are intensely heartfelt moments, hilarious scenarios, some meta humar that's sprinkled about, incredibly epic moments, and of course some very erotic scenes.

The gameplay here could be classified as a sandbox with battle mechanics. However, the sandbox aspect is done very tastefully and the plot never gets disjointed because all the major plot elements are tied to the automatically triggered weekly routines like going to class and dates. In between those scripted time slots, you could visit various places on the map to trigger side quests, improve stats, make money, buy equipment, etc. There is also the dungeon map where you explore the "elsewhere" and fight monsters on your free time.

The battle mechanics should have a mention. It is, after all, a prominent part of the game and featured in the banner. It's texas hold'em on steroids. Getting into too much detail here would take too long, but its very well made and most importantly fun. It does take some intense mental calculations and just visualizing the large grid of 3x3 community cards and all the possible plays you can make might be a bit too taxing for most people though. Thankfully, you eventually get party members that can cast support abilities that can drastically alter the playing field. Also, there is a auto function that plays the strongest hand you can on that turn. I tend to just spam this auto button after a while but doing that doesn't even take away from the fun of the battles when the support abilities get involved. The actual battles are just a part of the gameplay. Much of it is in the preparation, where you decide which gems you want to equip to trigger for each poker hand. There is quite a lot of possibilities in making an effective "build" between the gem effects and the 3 companions you select who could best synergize with them.

I should mention the renders and models. I've seen most of these assets before in other games. And the game mostly uses floating models (or sprites I guess) talking over a textbox on a static background. They have a limited amount of poses and expressions, but its utilized well. The more involved scenes show unique renders, but its still on a static background. This isn't a straight up VN, so its understandable. The way the game is presented actually fits this kind of visuals. Objectively speaking though, the visual aspect does lag a bit behind the other excellent categories.

Lastly, this game does such an amazing job of incorporation almost every lewd scene into the main plot. The hero doesn't just go and fuck some hookers after a hard day of slaying monsters. Most of the lewd content is integral to the actual main plot and never seems out of place. They exist to give character development and sometimes even drive the plot forward.

The review is getting too long so I'll just say that this is a must play for anyone who wants to experience a truly well crafted game with adult content. It's something more robust than a VN with a great story or a porn game meant for fapping.

Let me preface this by saying I despise Unity-based porn games, I can't stand free roam and anything remotely resembling a grind seriously ticks me off. That's three strikes against the game right off the bat. Oh, and I'm a critical sourpuss always looking for something to complain about. Also, this is my first review of anything on this site, despite having played countless games by now. So when I tell you that I thoroughly enjoyed every second spent in this beautifully crafted world, every character, every sentence and even the free roam and the "grind", which I henceforth will refer to as gameplay, because of the well-crafted mechanics behind it, you should know I don't give this kind of praise lightly.

I now rate this as one of the best games on this site. This is far more than a porn game. It's a great story - with great gameplay - and it just so happens to have some highly erotic scenes in it. You should play it. You should support it. You should treasure it!

To the developer: Thanks a million for making this game and for making it compatible with Linux - I know the Linux user-base for these games are almost non-existent and it would have been easy to skip the hassle of making a build for us to enjoy. I sure am glad I'm not forced to live in ignorance about this fantastic gem you're crafting and I wish you all the best going forward!

Review as of v0.3.24b

I would have loved to give a better rating to this game, but sadly I could not find myself enjoying it.

The biggest problem I found are the conversations. When given multiple choices to answer, I often chose one and then the conversation continued as if I had chosen another one.

I thought that maybe I was just confused, but that kept on happening. I also found some bugs in the navigation of the map.

Besides the bugs (since I doubt they are a feature) the game is somewhat nice; enough has been said about that in other reviews.

Top flight story and characters, beautiful renders and erotic situations. Women look like real hotties instead of blow-up dolls, lovely lithe athletic builds for the most part. As of now, v0.3.24b, it's mostly tease with few truly explicit scenes, but it's trending towards raunchier material as well as an endearing romance with a wonderful waifu you might even feel guilty 'cheating' on even though she seems resigned to (and rather witty about) the fact the MC will be sampling the other ubiquitous lovelies.

The 'grind' is actually fun and there's some legitimate strategizing you can do with the system, if you like more out of your porn games than naughty pictures. The 'combat' system goes wonky sometimes, but re-loading the game will restore it.

Fantastically polished gameplay with no noticeable bugs. The combat system is well balanced and legitimately interesting, challenging, without ever getting in the way. Great writing too with plenty of ero content. Fantastic work so far.

It is a fantasy adventure game. First of all I'm not into poker but there is option in settings about poker level and automatic play so I do not have to play the poker scenes but lot of people into poker so it could be double fun for them. Stat system seems good. Render and animations are top class. There are a lot of choices and dialogue and they are all build the story. Game has a feel good fantasy atmosphere.

Great story. Somehow it's more interesting to read this porn game, than fap to it.
Fells like it's a fanfic to a real fantasy book, but I can't find any. So, if it's original - very great job. I was exited to read it. It's one of the few games where I didn't skip dialogs.
Female characters are well spelled, you can feel that they are actual persons, who are live in the story, and not just added to be part of garem. Unfortunatly, appearance of them are very similar. All are thin, medium height and similar physique, only the chest differs by few sizes. But I love this type (probable as author too), so it's not a big problem for me.
Which I don't like - is a pocker game. Classic Katie's "3 in a row" would be more fun imo.

Also, the ability to change character names had very interesting consequences for me. I decided that the mentor is very similar to the Marvel Thor... and called him Thor.

The production values are shockingly high. It has actual game elements in terms of randomness. The renders are great. Great writing for adult game, makes par compared to games I'd buy on Steam. For example, one character speaks with a brogue. Another hails from the court of Arthur. Another pulls of adorably quirky and mysterious. I haven't hit an end yet but there hasn't been any grinding at all.

Unless things go south suddenly, I anticipate buying the game when the author releases it on Steam.

A ten out of ten. This game is awesome. The story is just beautiful, something you are just more and more interested about.
Characters are well written, every one of them have its personality and behaviors.
A must have.

As other reviewers have mentioned, this has one of the best storylines of any game in its genre.

The gameplay is solid. Navigating the world is simple enough and new locations are revealed at a reasonable pace. Its battle mechanics are novel, simple enough to not get in the way, and rather fun.

I was also surprised by the quality of the music selection. At no point does it seem out-of-place or conflict with the mood of the story.

Overall, Love of Magic is one of my favorite games so far.

The story in this game is i'ts best feature.
Everything so far is of the highest quality but the story is simply great.
Sex is fun, grinding not compilcated, fighting mechanics easy to understand and fun to use. Models and locations are pleasant to the eye and original.
Characters are more then usual sex dolls, with they own motivations and agendas.
I hope this story wouldnt loose its pace in next updates.

So few games have great story telling, this one has impossible story telling. Droid has hit a line drive out of the field with this.
The renders are amazing and have that nice constant motion aesthetic.
The characters are all unique and not just cookie cutter fuck puppets for the MC.
The story is woven so well with it's own unique designs as well as integrating tales of old.
Not enough good things can be said about this game. If you love Old King Arthur stories and magic, this is a game for you.

Love of Magic has amazing storytelling. There's an evident depth to the worldbuilding in both setting and character. The story is a fun combination of action-packed historical fantasy and comically self-aware eroge, but you better believe it knows when and how to have a serious moment. Although the story features the harem/supporting cast that you might expect from any seinen anime, each character feels unique and endearing. As of version 0.3.16 there is enough story present that I would recommend Love of Magic to anyone.

The one "con" of this game, if you could even call it a con, is that its railroaded in some story choices that might make some people feel uncomfortable. Your significant other will be chosen for you, you will be forced to cheat on them (they'll make you feel better about it), and you will occasionally just make generally irrational choices sometimes that result in frustrating consequences for the main character. But all of these things are crucial parts for the conflict of a truly beautiful story.

Also a warning: porn-wise, it's a slow burn. You won't get into any of the steamy scenes for a long while. However, if you just zip it up a while and play the game, I promise you won't regret it.

Ok review time. I totally missed this game. No idea why. Started play yesterday.

Models 10/10. It is Unity, so take that to heart, but I really like the different types. All have something. Which is important in these type of games.

Story 10/10, so far. I mean, you play a good guy with powers. In a fantasy world. And, to be spoiler free, you are not weak. I like that, too many games give you a weak ass pussy in his teens as MC.

Music 10/10. Most games I have youtube with music on. This game, do not do that. I really like the music setting. Fantasy with bad ass parts.

I never liked Unity games, for some reason. But this game is different. Maybe the creator knows what he is doing with the program? I dont know. But I like it. It is up to par to high quality renpy games.

To the creator, keep up this great work, loving it.
To the viewers, play this game. If you hate the grind, I suggest save editing xp to like 20k, you pass all the checks. If you like the grind, it is great as well. Play it, review it!
To me, I am going back to the game. Wondering how long I have to the part with "this is the end of this version".

Keep healthy and coronavirus free!

I'll just say: I'm not that far in. I've certainly not completed the content. I haven't actually even reached a single lewd scene. But it's a good game. There is *definite* story here. The creator has very obviously thought their plot through, and it shows. Sure, the protag is a Gary Stu with a Mysteriously Powerful Absent Father, but it's a porn game, whaddaya want? Gotta have an excuse to get those lewd scenes in. But as I go, I'm seeing clear hints that the story is deep, there's been real thought given to how the world's lore is set up to echo but not copy standard Arthurian legend, and even the deus ex machinas seem like there's a reason for them beyond just "The writer needed to get out of a hole".

The renders are good, the location transitions are smoothly done (it reminds me of flipping cards, a detail I suspect is not accidental), and I've encountered hardly any bugs so far (Only one, a card combo that didn't seem to correctly register). From a design perspective, it's pretty tight.

I have laughed, I have seen hints dropped, I've liked the buildup. It's a good game. It's worth playing.

(And the fact that this is the first review I've bothered to write speaks well in the game's favor also.)

This is perhaps the best game on this site. As the reviewer below me noted, it’s not even about the porn, the story is fantastic. That’s not to say the game isn’t sexy – it is, and I’d argue the game would not be nearly as good without its adult content. Think more along the lines of Game of Thrones – the sex is present and very much a part of the world, but the narrative is what we’re here for (and I don’t mean to insult Droid with that comparison, he is a much better writer than D&D could hope to be).



The story: At the start you’re expecting sort of a porn version of Harry Potter, but it becomes so much more than that. There is a worldending conspiracy brewing in the background, and the main character is caught right in the middle of it. And though the MC was clearly chosen, he’s been kept in the dark about what’s going on, what his role his, and who started him down this trajectory. You pick up several friends (of course all beautiful women except for Dylan) along the way who help you navigate this world and entwine themselves with your destiny. The game is currently at the end of act III of part 1, and the story seems to be ramping up from this point. The story overall is inspired by several myths and legends and having some knowledge of such will lead you to pick up on some hints for future developments and some fun easter eggs in general.



The Characters: All incredibly well written with very distinct personalities. It is very difficult to not fall in love with the “main girl” almost to the point where you don’t want to fool around with anyone else. But she is very understanding that whoever/whatever is pulling on your strings has decided that you are destined to form a harem, and she is doing her best to curb her jealousy. All the other characters also feel very real – it would not be a big surprise to meet real people with these personalities (but alas not all of us have the fortune of having a destiny of being surrounded by beautiful women who want to sleep with you).



Gameplay: The game follows a pretty tight schedule. Each act ends on a specific day no matter what you do. On several days there are scripted events that you have no choice but to participate in. On the off days/times, you have a bit of free roam. You can complete some sidequests and train up your character’s stats and/or make some money. The time limited nature helps reduce the grindy nature. And from what I understand, main story events won’t be influenced by your lack of leveling up, it’s mostly minor side quests that you’d miss out on.

As you might expect in a lore heavy game with RPG elements, there is also a battle system. The MC sees magical battles as a spin on a poker. You and your opponent share a 3x3 grid of cards, and you each get a hand of 5 cards. You have to put down a viable hand in a horizontal, vertical, or diagonal direction to attack your enemy. As you and your enemy play your cards, the empty spaces fill up. And whichever of you complete a 5 card hand out of the empty spaces will get a bonus attack. So you not only have to play good hands, but you have to think a couple steps ahead to try to prevent your opponent from getting those bonus attacks.



System / UI: Probably the weakest part of this game, but still much better than many games you see here. I also expect it will improve significantly with future releases. Minor things that would help would be to make things like the calendar toggle buttons instead of having to find the “resume” button at the bottom right corner. It would also be good to have the ability to roll back conversations by line rather than jumping all the way to the beginning. Sometimes I’m curious about what different dialogue options would do, and there isn’t a great way to roll back and see everything, especially since the game doesn’t allow you to save in the middle of a conversation.



All in all, I really enjoy this game and think it’s criminally underrated. If the porn were turned down some, I could easily see it being much more mainstream (though as I said above, it is inherently a sexual story and probably would lose something if it were made less sexual).



5/5

There is an old joke, "I read Playboy for the articles." The joke is built around the absurdity of a man claiming that, of all the magazines out there, the one with his preferred editorial voice just happens to be the one that also has pictures of naked women. I just explained - and deliberately killed - that joke to try blunt any comparisons when I say this:

I play "Love of Magic" for the story.

Oh, I'm certainly there for the sexy times too, don't get me wrong. But there's not that many games I've played through completely (End of Act III as I write this) twice. If I'm there for the art an image extractor or screenshot library or a few savegames works perfectly well second time around. Branching paths? I'll usually run multiple savegame lines in tandem so I can zip over the repeated parts while still fresh in my mind. Nope, here I went back to give a more solid read to things, to pick up hints I might not have noticed or had skimmed over. I found myself grabbing screenshots of talky scenes so I could refer back to them quickly later. I liked being in the world, and I didn't want to leave it. I found promise of richness and depth, urban-fantasy-turning-to-epic-fantasy built around Arthurian and Celtic (neo)pagan themes but with elements from the myths and folklore of other global cultures, and I want to dive deeper in. From the typical adult game start of "guy goes to college in a new town, meets a bunch of hot girls" I found something very, very different from the average fare.

The writing is good, not just in planning but in mechanics. There's some typos, sure, and a few clunky bits but as a percentage of the total probably far less than this review has. Each character has their own mannerisms and personality (and musical theme, incidentally), enough that their lines would sound wrong coming from another character and that a mocking impersonation of one character by another is both possible and sounds "right". Planning has gone into how and when events unfold enough that the day of the week is relevant. (I can't believe I missed the importance of Evoker class being on Thursdays, though I will smug it up a bit for picking up on the day chosen for the climax of Act III.) It also rewards being observant, from a hint in a character's passing comment on how their head feels to the amusement of having Emily brick-joke my own sarcastic line back at me three and a half weeks later.

There's also the realism in that it's not all about sex. Our hero is not a man who has a mission to deflower every virgin he meets (and for in-world reasons he meets a lot of them) and will even turn an offer down if it feels wrong. And he is building a circle of friends and allies rather than a pure harem - which leads to the occasional girl making questioning comments about the man in the group. (Hey, Dylan's my bro, that's credentials enough for this party. He can't have my girls but I'd wingman for him so much that I'd need a bomber jacket.)

Tied in with that idea of realism, the renders help bring things to life. Everyone looks great, and I am grateful for the absence of dead-eyed stares; the art design is on point, and the light animation applied to the characters and character portraits really helps. (Scenes are generally a series of static shots, but it looks like animation is starting to be introduced, we'll see where that leads.) I’d describe it more, but tastes vary and screenshots would probably be a better source of information.

But there's another thing to Love of Magic I enjoy - though it's probably going to look like fairly minor praise compared to the effusion above - the combat minigame. It's a simple thing with potential complexity, you and the opponent each have their own hand of five playing cards and share a 3x3 grid of cards. Place two cards directly opposite each other along the edge of the 3x3 grid to form a standard five-card poker hand, jokers wild. (A chart of hands is included.) A better hand does more damage, or whatever effect you've chosen using the game's gemstone mechanic. It's a fun little minigame that gets really interesting when you start getting more allies and a respectable set of gems, as I find it's very easy to lose hard fights if you don't properly balance your loadout against your allies. (You should gear yourself up for a defense-heavy ally set different from an offense one different from a deck/board manipulation one different from a mixed set.) It's a good idea to get familiar with a few play styles even if you have a favorite, since unlike regular combat plot-important combat events don't give you a choice in who's going into the fight with you. While the game doesn’t enforce it, it definitely assumes you’re playing the minigame at almost every opportunity, and that you're not using the same crew every single time.)

I do wonder if the tougher monsters are going to start gaining abilities rather than just their own gems and tankiness and punchiness to change things up, perhaps as a dark mirror to the protagonist's use of allies. Like perhaps a monster for whom deuces are wild (even as they act as twos for your plays) or one who only needs to count color, not suit, for its flushes. I mean, who better to cheat at a metaphorical game of poker than the bad guy?

Of course, there's stuff the game doesn't have. Total flexibility, for instance. You're not going to often be choosing responses to roleplay a snarky type or a smooth-tongued devil, your character's personality is mostly set in stone. While he does have his serious moments, he's the type who'd likely crack a joke at a firing squad, so do be aware of that going in. The game is also on a strict timeline, with events regularly firing off on specific days (the calendar is your best friend and it being riiiight next to that "do nothing but advance time" button is a bit annoying). Also, some girls and some scenes are totally mandatory so if you develop a dislike for a character don't assume you can ignore her. One lass I would say even fits in to the role of deuteragonist alongside the protagonist (but she's the best girl so it's cool - 100% objective assessment there, folks ). That Act III ends with character development for her, I'd argue even more than for the protagonist, is telling. There is a definite story being told here and while you have control over the fine brush strokes that directly influence the minigame and some of the non-plot content, the main lines are drawn in for you already. But then, it's hard to have an epic fantasy tale with a web of interrelated characters if one leaves open the option for the protagonist to literally sleep their way to the end game. This is NOT a game where the world will be static on "day 616" without any sign of change to season or people as everyone waits for the hero to stop grinding his way to a charisma stat so high that he makes panties spontaneously combust from six blocks away.

Given the tight time pressure of the game, I do suggest that - if you're not a purist - you occasionally use the cheat menu's "Force Start Day" to time-loop a day or two where nothing noteworthy happens and poke around and do things you wouldn't otherwise do. (If you are a purist, just save and reload. No cheaty extra bonuses out of it but I’m not here to tell you how to play.) It is easy to get into the min-maxing mindset as the game moves on, given how tight a resource time is.

As for the engine stuff: It works, albeit with minor bugs. It could use some refinement, as - for instance - it occasionally draws cards on top of cards. My real pet peeve is that the button to open the calendar is accessible during a dialog scene but the button to dismiss the calendar is UNDER the dialog window and unreachable. (Well, unreachable until you realize that manually hiding the dialog UI won't also hide the calendar UI so it works to get to the thing you need. That wasn't immediately obvious to me.) Perhaps making the calendar button a toggle would be good, in addition to the "proper" dismissal button. The developer is updating the UI alongside adding new content so I hesitate to name too many specific complaints for fear they'll be gone before long (or even now, I seem to be a minor version behind already).

In summary, I find myself admitting to the weirdest thing I thought I could say on a porn game site: This game isn't porn. Some of the imagery is undeniably explicitly sexual but by and large when I think of "porn" the plot is nonexistent, generic, or a parody/ripoff. "World building" isn't a phrase you use when talking about adult entertainment. It is here. And it cuts both ways: The carnal elements add a very worldly contrast to the lofty talk of archmages and gods and fears of an impending Götterdämmerung. The combination is unique, at least in the fiction I've read/played, and leads to things like sex acts that are integral to the plot or contain symbolism and character growth (not that kind of growth, get your mind out of the gutter, this is a respectable pr0n w4r3z review). It takes an interesting budding fantasy world and gives it a very novel spin as the genres complement and contrast with one another. It's quite the mix and one I hope continues. The developer reports having ideas for (I believe) 15 acts ultimately, split across three 5-act games. While I do try not to let my expectations get that high - the number of abandoned tags in my watched threads list and my former Patreon donations has taught me to not expect anything beyond a sunrise tomorrow - I will say I'm here for as long as this ride goes, and if it gets to the end, so very much the better.

AS some have said before, i was unsure of this game at first glance with the poker like card game battle system. However i soon found out that it works really well and even if you do struggle with it you can simply lower the game difficulty or put card hints on in setting. The rest of the game is all pro quality. Gorgeous Models, renders and idles, Excellent writing and story, an engaging lore and wonderful characters with depth and charm. The added bonus for me is that it is set in Edinburgh a city i have always loved to go to. So to some it up with a strong Scottish " Brogue" in my Voice, "This hits ya reet in tha Daddy Baaggs"

At first i was reluctant as i've seen that for the combat a pokerish system is used. But man, i love it. The battle system is unique and fun and i would play this game almost for the combat only.
What i also like is, that the MC is the good guy, but not good in a naive way like in most games.
The story is ok and for my taste it's a little bit to much talking for a game like this, therefore i give it only a 4 out of 5 stars.

This game is SO GOOD:

Pro:
The writing: The story is well written, the humour in my opinion spot on, the characters are different to each other and develop in a understandable pace and loveable. The scenario is unique, but i dont want to spoil to much. The combination of a real world with mages, witches, minotaurs and stuff gave me some World of Darkness vibes, but im sure there are more inspirations playing into that.

The Progress: I really like the grind. If you play this game you should take "the time is limited" seriously. You have to plan a bit what to do, but i never felt like i wasnt able to see something i should have seen. You have 3 stats (strenght, intelligence and charisma) which help you to win certain skillchecks in the beginning and later boost your fighting abilities. At the end of the current update i was able to defeat every monster who killed me at the beginning. When everyone in the story was talking about how strong i become from day to day i felt like "Yupp, I am becoming stronger." That feels nice, helps the immersion.

The Fighting: Because you are a magical fighter you play a minigame in your head what looks like a round of poker. The idea is brilliant. If you are afraid of that minigame, dont be. My experience in poker is limited to some drunk nights with friends; I know the rules but meh, a whole game constructed about this mechanic? - I played it more like a ressource manager: Skilling my character, placing the right items into slots, activating the abilities of my companions (great system btw) but leaving the card throwing part to the "Auto button" and i think i was successful with that. In other words: I think you can play this game if you just build your character correctly without having to ever click a card yourself. And that's good, because its fun either way.

The adult content: Is nice.

Cons:
A few bugs and weird things happened in my playthrough, but that is nothing what is destroying the game or stopping you from reaching the end. I will make a forum post about some of those things and im sure they will be fixed in the long run.

Im here to buy me a ticket for the hype train and so should you. Its one of those game i wished to forget to play them again. Thanks Dev!