Mazania - Mage Rage Part II for Windows

Retro maze shooter game for PC

Mazania - Mage Rage Part II is a free action game for PC by indie developer ZXDavies. It is a 2D maze shooter and sequel to the first Mage Rage. Continuing the story, players will venture into dangerous lairs to collect items they'll need to pass on to their mage successors.

Much like its predecessor and other games like Hallowed Knight or Black Sea, Mazania - Mage Rage Part II was developed specifically for the classic 8-bit home computer system, ZX Spectrum. It features retro pixel graphics and a neon-themed aesthetic that mimic the look of titles back in the day.

The mage is back

Mage Rage tells the story of Mercure the Mage, a wizard in charge of guarding the Stone Circle. One day as he was meditating, beasts broke in and stole magical swirls right under his nose. He then ventured forth to their lair to recover what was stolen. Mazania - Mage Rage Part II continues the story, with the once lively wizard getting along in his years.

This sequel features a similar setting and gameplay to the first game, which is part-maze exploration and part-action shooter. This around, though, the premise is different as Mercure is getting prepared to pass on the torch to his fellow younger mages. To do this, he will need to venture into beast lairs again to collect ingredients that are needed to complete the ritual.

The controls remain the same here, with support for both keyboard and joystick input methods. One thing that was changed in this sequel is the difficulty, which makes the already challenging gameplay of the original much harder. Speaking of difficulty, this is probably where most newcomers will encounter a steep difficulty curve at the beginning. They will get the hang of it soon enough, though.

Much of the same

There really isn't much new in Mazania - Mage Rage Part II despite supposedly being a sequel to the first game, Apart from the story and the hard difficulty, you can expect pretty much the same gameplay as the original. Nevertheless, it's still worth checking out if you're a fan of its predecessor and want to play more of the same.