The first game I ever bought on Steam was Magicka. I think I stumbled across it during a sale over 10 years ago. The unique spellcasting system and quirky humor instantly drew me in, and over the years, I’ve spent more than 2000 hours in the game. It’s fair to say it was a huge part of my life for a long time. Despite its flaws, Magicka always brought me joy—first through learning and mastering the spellcasting mechanics, and later through intense PvP sessions and modding the game.
But let’s be honest: the game was never technically perfect. It’s always been buggy, with random crashes and strange glitches being part of the experience. Still, that was part of its charm—for a while.
Things took a real downturn in 2018 when an update from an internal dev studio at Paradox Interactive was pushed to the game. They introduced hot-join, which seemed like a godsend at first, but whatever code they concocted made Magicka nearly unplayable. Constant crashes, severe multiplayer issues, desyncs—it became impossible to enjoy the game as it once was.
What frustrates me even more is that Paradox portrays itself as a company that supports modding and community creativity. Yet when modders, including myself, reached out for tools or permissions to fix Magicka, their requests were denied or ignored.
Thankfully, a few dedicated players and skilled programmers are still trying to salvage what’s left. They’re patching, experimenting, and doing everything they can to keep the game alive. But as long as the official version remains broken, the player base will continue to shrink. And when those few remaining modders eventually give up—I pray this never happens—Magicka will be gone for good, and Paradox Interactive will try to sweep their failure under the rug, just like they did with Magicka: Wizard Wars and the Magicka mobile game.
It’s a sad fate for such a unique and innovative title.