Evil Wizard is a hack-and-slash action RPG where players take on the role of — you guessed it — the Evil Wizard. Recently defeated in true RPG fashion by the so-called Hero Alliance, the down-on-his-luck master of darkness is kicked back down to level one. It’s up to you to storm your castle, take revenge on the Hero Alliance, and secure your place once again as the Evil Wizard.
Right out of the gate, Evil Wizard comes packaged with a great concept. Games where players get to play the villain are almost always a pro in my book if they manage to pull off mechanics that make you feel villainous. I’m surprised there aren’t more games that go for the concept, as it is an undeniably popular one when you do see it executed.
As far as villainous mechanics go, I would say that the game plays more into the Wizard part and less into the Evil. While you certainly have some gorey execution and the Wizard himself will say rude things, it is a pretty standard hack-and-slash with no real evil-overlord twists beyond the theming. The exception to this would be when I “cheated” to solve a puzzle and was rewarded for my efforts.
When it comes to reviewing Evil Wizard as a game there’s one big glaringly complicated factor to take into account, and that’s the subjectivity of the game’s humor.
The thing about Evil Wizard is that it markets itself, above all else, as a game jam-packed with comedy. The humor is kind of the point, and that’ll become super obvious super fast. You won’t get ten seconds into the opening cutscene without a joke, and they just keep coming at you nonstop by the way of quips, dialogue and visual gags.
Evil Wizard is not an action RPG with humor included, it’s a comedy with hack-and-slash elements. The humor is fundamentally important to the experience. The game pauses itself to allow you to watch full exchanges of comedic dialogue between the Evil Wizard and the countless mobs in the game, and it does it frequently. The game wants you to laugh first and slash second.
The thing is.. the comedy is just not going to hit for everyone. I struggle to find a single umbrella term to label the comedy in Evil Wizard, but I could summarize is fart jokes, movie references, and a lot of crude humor that I would have been a lot more interested in as a teenager. That is sort of the audience I see enjoying the humor the most, teens aged 13-19.
I can recall chuckling once or twice, and I wasn’t offended or cringing.. too much. It really did not hit the mark for me, and I will say that if you don’t enjoy the game’s humor, it really isn’t going to be a great experience for you. The game wants you laughing throughout, and if you aren’t charmed by the jokes it throws at you then the constant barrage of humor is just going to feel like roadblocks to completion.
That being said, people clearly like the humor. Check the Steam reviews, and you will find plenty of people calling it the funniest game they have ever played. Comedy is all subjective, and so I can’t fairly review the game on that aspect alone, but I do recommend you maybe watch someone else play a bit before you pick the game up, just to see if it’s your brand of funny.
When it comes to the actual gameplay, Evil Wizard is a solid Metroidvania title, with a lot of creativity in some places and a little lacking in others. Like I said above, the game really leans into the wizard aspect of things; Your melee mechanics are overall pretty simple, you just dodge and hack at foes, but magic is where things get more exciting.
Evil wizard allows you to swap between elements using your staff, allowing you to grab fire or lightning or ice or more from the environment around you and unleash it on your foes. Swapping elements swaps your spells, which all act fundamentally different, are super flashy and fun to look at, and can be further upgraded later. You also need to cycle through elements to interact with the environment around you, using fire to light braziers or using lightning to open powered doors, and so on and so forth.
I would say that the biggest downside to Evil Wizard’s combat is that it paces the discovery of upgrades pretty slowly. You’re going to spend a lot of time with the basic hack attack and only a few elements before things start to get crazier. With the large amounts of enemies to deal with, and plenty of deaths if you’re anything like me, this can make the game a bit of a slog to get through as the standard combat mechanics get kinda boring after a while.
You certainly won’t get tired of looking at the game though, as your evil tower is full of beautiful pixel art jam-packed with animations and enemy variety. There’s more than a few uniquely themed areas too, so you won’t be looking at the same grim dungeon or spooky forest for long. Each pixel feels strategically placed, and as I look through my screenshots I’m finding a bunch of detail I missed the first time.
The game also moves at a fairly quick pace, slowing down only for boss fights and puzzles, and of course, the jokes, which as I said above will be coming at you frequently and will stop the flow of the game to deliver. If you’re a fan of the game’s humor, these segments will feel like rest stops along a pleasant journey, but if you’re just not into it, the grinding halt might just push you away from finishing the game.
The Final Word
Evil Wizard is a solid Metroidvania title that wants to cast a spell on you with its humor. If it succeeds, you just might find yourself with a new favorite game.
7
Try Hard Guides was provided with a PC review copy of this game. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles in the Game Reviews section of our website! Evil Wizard is available on Steam, Xbox and GOG.