How we interact with games matters. It matters to us, right? Why interact with them if it doesn’t? We can play games for hundreds of reasons but as a form of meditative relaxation is a good one. In the form of a transcendental reflection upon agency and choice, The Life of a Magic Circle — a game about a circle that collects other circles which produce different results in the game environment — is minimalist both in the way it feels very small and also minimalist in that it does not require anything more than it has.
You begin life as a green circle. Like in Bastion (2011), a narrator remarks upon your choices. Here you have two choices: you can pick up circles or you can avoid them. If you pick up green circles that look like you, that progresses the game but if you pickup other kinds of circles, ones glowing purple that clear the screen, electric ones that gather circles more quickly, or red ones that help destroy obstacles, the game environment litters itself with more complications.
The meaning, if we can draw enough from it, is that our choices in life which we make as an easy way out often complicate our lives. When we dedicate ourselves to our task, and stay focused, it’s a hell of a lot harder, but down the road, that’s going to give us a remarkable buffer, wherein we now have the privilege to make mistakes.
It’s a sweet and basic system. You run up the screen over and over again. The narrator makes dry and pithy comments about the meaning of your actions. With the comments, you begin to piece together your purpose. It feels like a good concept for a game but perhaps is not a fully fleshed out model of something you want to sink much time into. That’s alright, because it’s over pretty quickly, and the time you spend is worth it.
Update: The Life of a Magical Circle was originally a Premium Game but has since been updated and is Free to Play. At that access point, it’s an easy recommendation for a meditative afternoon.
Reviewed on PC