Waifus, Waifus Everywhere!
Magical Waifus Academy's review
Developer: Wataponno (Published by Shady Corner Games)
Genre: RPG
Reviewed version: 1.0 originally, then it was revised when v.1.2.4 came out
Censored: No
Patch Needed: No
OS: Windows
Language: English, Spanish, French, Portuguese
I have to admit my initial impression of Magical Waifus Academy wasn’t the best. I assumed it was going to be a low-effort shovelware game due to its name and capsule art. I gave it a chance anyway, and it surprised me in a good way!
Pros
Original combat system
Solid gameplay
Beautiful art
Good soundtrack
Cons
Some tracks in the OST don’t fit the vibe of the game much
Story
Magical Waifus Academy puts you in the shoes of an aspiring mage in a women-only magic academy who opens a portal to a dungeon by accident and has no choice but to clear it. The plot is good, even if it isn't the deepest story you've ever seen. It starts with a short introduction that sets up the story nicely, and then the lore is expanded by your interactions with the rest of the cast. However, the game finishes with a cliffhanger, giving room to a possible sequel.
Gameplay
Combat
I like how original the combat system is. The battles are in real-time, and unlike your typical JRPG, you have to press a sequence of keys to launch a spell instead of just selecting an attack. As expected, making mistakes has consequences. They range from simply casting a weaker spell to losing HP. Besides, you can equip up to 4 spells before you enter the dungeon, the strongest ones can potentially reduce the player’s stats, so you have to carefully choose which ones to equip and when to use them.
Another thing I find interesting is the lack of a level system. Instead of gaining exp from each battle, you obtain arcana that you can later spend on increasing your stats, learning new spells, or upgrading your familiar. Furthermore, you can increase how much arcana you gain if you fight more than one group of enemies in a row.
Dungeons
The dungeons consist of a series of procedurally-generated floors which have a grid-like interface, and the goal is to reach any of the portals that take you to the next floor. Moreover, there are items scattered that boost your stats, give you arcana or unlock animations from the gallery, as well as skulls that’ll make you fight a group of enemies if you get too close to them. Another thing to pay attention to is the main character’s fatigue. He gets more and more tired with each step he takes, and the screen darkens when he’s close to passing out. If he ends up fainting, you lose all the arcana you obtained.
Idle Time
When you’re not defeating monster girls left and right, you’re spending time at the academy. Be it interacting with the NPCs, checking out the gallery, improving your character (by either spending your hard-earned arcana or visiting the training grounds), or resting in your bedroom. It takes a bit to get used to walking around it, though. While the game is in first-person, you’re unable to move around. Instead, you only see a background representing the room you’re in, and you have to press any of the directional arrows or WASD to go from one room to the other, making it easy to get lost.
Art
Artistically, the game is pretty and has a very distinct retro vibe. It’s no exaggeration to say it reminds me of old gems I played decades ago, like Knights of Xentar or True Love. I also like the contrast between the heavily-pixelated low-res backgrounds and the highly-detailed characters. Usually, I’d complain about this because the characters stick out like a sore thumb, but somehow it works in the game’s favor.
There is a good amount of sex scenes in the game, both animated and non-animated. The static scenes are gorgeous, very detailed, and offer some variations for progression or climax. The animated scenes are well-drawn and fluid, but they have fewer details.
Music
The soundtrack is composed of memorable songs that fit the setting of the game and its mood, like a Harry Potteresque track for the academy or a chill song for the ice level. The only one that doesn’t fit is the desert level track. It’s not a bad one per se, but you’d think you’re in Rio de Janeiro instead of a desert. Surprisingly, there’s no background music in the sex scenes, but the voice actresses’ performance is so good it compensates for this.
Verdict: Must Play
Magical Waifus Academy is a game that requires some patience at first, but it becomes very entertaining once you get used to its quirks.