Dungeons and Dragons has a long and successful history of video game adaptations, and in a lot of genres too. There's old arcade beat-em-ups from many decades ago, as well as modern MMOs and singleplayer RPGs. Wizards of the Coast seems to be enthusiastically returning to the idea of Dungeons and Dragons video games with projects like Baldur's Gate 3 and Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance. That isn't the only fantasy title that it should make into many more video games, though. Wizards is sitting on a lot of potential with Magic: The Gathering, a setting with a tremendous amount of smaller settings backed into it.
There's just so much that Wizards of the Coast could do with Magic: The Gathering that it hasn't attempted yet. Recently it's been doubling down on Dungeons and Dragons games, and there's no reason it can't try to do the same with Magic. In fact, Wizards is giving off signs that it might be interested in doing that. Magic: Legends is a pretty bold venture into the Magic multiverse, letting players explore some of its most recognizable areas freely. Magic: Legends should be a step forward rather than an exception to the rule. There's just so much that can be done within the world of magic.
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Wizards has taken a fair few stabs at Magic games before. The problem with most of these previous games, like Magic: The Gathering Online and Magic Arena, are just video game adaptations of the card game. While it's nice to see the card game really come to life that way, it really isn't too different an experience from actually playing the card game. Magic Legends breaks from that by letting players make their own characters and explore the multiverse on foot in an action RPG format. The Magic multiverse is a lot easier to get attached to when players don't only view it from a card table.
Magic Legends shows all the directions that games set in the world of Magic could go. For instance, Wizards of the Coast could make a story-heavy singleplayer RPG where players play the role of a young planeswalker awakening to their powers and embarking on a quest through the multiverse. That kind of game could introduce a compelling new character to Magic, prompt some intimate and eye-opening interactions with famous Magic characters, and allow fans to develop a relationship with the multiverse in a way even Magic Legends can't quite do. That's only the tip of the iceberg, too. Wizards could get really experimental with something like a combat-free adventure game or a large-scale strategy or sim game about building a plane.
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All these options boil down to one important thing that Wizards hasn't acknowledged much: Magic games don't have to be about the card game. After all, Dungeons and Dragons games usually don't ask players to roll dice or follow a story created by another fan of the game. Wizards has realized that Dungeons and Dragons has rich lore and opportunities for combat that make for great RPG opportunities. The same is true for Magic: The Gathering. There's so many interesting creatures, notable characters, and enchanting settings that Wizards could work with that there's no point in restricting characters to only seeing the multiverse through what's in their decks.
Ideally, Magic Legends is a sign that Wizards of the Coast is starting to realize the potential of the Magic world. There's just so much going on that can't be captured in the card game alone. For many years, Wizards has worked hard to expand the game's world through novels, short stories, art books, and more. To only view the setting through the cards is to lose out on what these books and stories contribute. Hopefully Wizards of the Coast has more planned than Magic Legends. For now, Magic Legends and Dungeons and Dragons: Dark Alliance are good signs that Wizards knows that there's a whole lot more that it can do with these powerful IPs.
Magic: The Gathering is available at game shops and digitally through Magic Arena.