Casting spells to handle mundane chores in our daily life is a thought much too common in our heads. Magic Inn, a brand new game made by Purple Door Studios, puts different ingredients such as deck building, spellcasting, and trading into the cauldron of the hotel management game genre. From casting fireballs to destroying spider webs at a distance, to bringing down a cloud of rain, to cleaning tables at the restaurant, Magic Inn brings a new outlook to the hotel management game, but with a few rough edges.
Wizards of Medieval Place
Magic Inn has crafted a great fantasy world to start a restaurant business. The visual style of the game is what carries its magical theme on its back. The game has a cartoon-esque vibe to its visual style, which fits nicely with the fantasy setting. The appearance of characters is also done in a similar fashion to the game, which helps create a world that is ready to pull you inside. Every character in Magic Inn has a distinct appearance, and each carves their own identity in the game.
The game’s visual aesthetic did leave a mark during my gameplay, but the same can’t be said about the game’s music. While most of the soundtracks have a playful rhythm, none of them stand out or do anything to elevate the overall experience. I wish the team would add a memorable soundtrack that plays in the head long after the game session and matches the visual expression of the game. Since most of the time the player will spend in “Hope’s Inn”, the restaurant, having a catchy tune would’ve helped the overall experience.
Making Friends Along the Way
The most standout aspect of Magic Inn comes down to the effort the team has put into making each NPC in the game feel and appear unique compared to the other. In a game about restaurant management, all customers could easily blend in together, since the primary focus of any of these games is about turning a profit. Magic Inn goes a bit beyond this initial premise, as it promotes the idea of friendship.
Each customer or NPC in the game world carries items that are critical for the restaurant management facet of the game. The only way to make the customer a regular in the restaurant is by befriending them. A regular customer will always bring some of their items every time they show up. At first, I was a bit skeptical of the friendship mechanic, but the introduction to its gameplay incentive made me talk to every little thing in the world, including the chickens.
It takes a lot to manage a hotel; setting up more tables might sound like a great idea to get more customers, but if you don’t have multiple chefs behind the stove, then chaos will ensue. The daily routine of the game had me captivated for a long time, waking up at 8, heading to the market to buy groceries before opening the restaurant for all the consumers. The tutorial does a pretty good job of laying out all of its cards without complicating them.
Player Freedom at Its Finest
I went from feeding bread to consumers to serving a steak with a side of salad, and all of it happened in the span of 50 real minutes. The game does just the right bit of handholding, which made the overall experience better. I was free to learn recipes at any level as long as I had gold in the pouch. Money will easily come from regular consumers, as they will bring in their items that could be sold for a lot of gold.
Another interesting aspect of Magic Inn is its options. I had the option to buy a mirror from the market for over 500 gold or befriend the NPC to learn about crafting mirrors in the workshop. While buying my way to the mirror is straightforward, befriending the NPC gets you the mirror and a regular consumer for the restaurant, a much more preferable option.
The best thing any game can do is to reward players’ choice, and I enjoyed Magic Inn always respected my choice. For example, when it comes to befriending NPCs, you can shower them with gifts to earn their love or play a deck-building minigame to accomplish the same. You can use magic to cast rain to clean the table or wipe the table clean with a rag.
There are a few times, though, where the game strips away the idea of player freedom, like crafting. Magic Inn has a crafting system, but it requires hours to finish building an item. The game doesn’t allow the player to close the restaurant for a day to craft an item, which goes against its overall freedom. While you can send the restaurant staff on vacation but the option is not available for the player character.
The Ugly Side of the Business
Since the game is in early access mode, most of its mechanics look to be still a work in progress. There is a button that allows the player to open a map, but it only features two destinations: The restaurant and the market. The map didn’t even allow me to fast travel, which makes the entire Map feature unimportant to the game.
One of the major gripes I have with the game is that it is trying to tackle everything all at once. After climbing to Reputation 4 in the game, it tries to move away from the hotel management aspect to focus on a deck-building minigame to earn hearts from NPCs or help reduce shop prices.
Compared to the hotel management aspect, the deck building was not that captivating and felt unnecessary and out of place. Thankfully, the game never forced me to play with the card minigame; I ignored the system and went back to placing paintings on the restaurant’s walls.
Most of the game mechanics presented in Magic Inn function well, but the parts that could’ve made these mechanics better are in development. A curse many Early Access games bear on their skin, Magic Inn is no different.
| What Works | What Doesn’t |
| Visual Art Style | Early Access Curse |
| Cast of interesting characters | Jankiness in Gameplay |
| Engaging hotel management hook | Unnecessary gameplay mechanics |
| Magic spell casting | |
| Customization options |
We give Magic Inn a 7 out of 10. The team did an amazing job in setting up a perfect magical fantasy place with its playful visual appearance, cast of interesting NPCS, a strong gameplay hook, and more. It does show potential to morph into a great game, once all the puzzle pieces are placed perfectly together, as it flies out of the cage of Early Access.
