Magic Research
Worth it · Strategy · 2023
Steam Deck PlayableThe verdict
BUY IT.
Worth it at $4.99.
- Length
- 60.7h
- Value
- $0.08/hr
- Reviews
- 91% of 418 positive
Watch this gameOne alert at a price you pick.
Buy now or wait
Next discount: likely in the Winter Sale, Dec 17 to Jan 4, at about $3.99 (20% off). Calls like this were right 89% of the time in a backtest over 70 weeks.
Discounted in each of its last 8 seasonal sales. Last cut ended 10 days ago.
- Next sale
- Winter Sale, Dec 17 to Jan 4
Sources: IsThereAnyDeal, Valve.
What drives the score
How to read this
Grades run S to D, read from the buyer's side. ▲ marks a lift, ▼ a drag or a dock, ? an input we do not have, • a fact this genre's score does not use. How the grades work
About the game
Magic Research is a text-based incremental game about Magic. You are the headmaster of a newly-created institution of Magic. Will you be able to lead your school to win the prestigious Tournament of Magic?
Minimum specs
Minimum on the Steam store: 4 GB of memory, N/A, 297 MB of storage. Windows only.
The value story
16 discounts in the 4 years on record, a median of 20 percent off across all of them, roughly 14 weeks apart. Today it is at full price, and its last discount ended 10 days ago.
Against its own genre it lands in the top 2 percent on value. It is cheaper than 66 percent of its genre, and better reviewed than 93 percent. Among the games that feel like it, Melvor Idle ($9.99, scores 82) beats it on value, while it beats 无休仙途 ($5.99, scores 29).
More about Magic Research
Of the 337 Steam-purchase reviews this site sampled, 1 comes from a buyer who refunded the game, sampled from reviews written April 2023 to August 2026.
The drop-off
71% start to 5% rarestNo achievement in this game marks the ending, so there is no finish rate. The curve runs from the most-unlocked achievement to the rarest, and its shape is where players stop. Steam global achievements
What players say
Such a great idle game! Although I don't know if I'd really call it just an idle game. It's more like an "active" idle game, since you do a lot of things manually, especially when preparing for and doing boss fights, but also if you want to progress more quickly. The later bosses are quite hard and require a lot of preparation and trial and error to figure out what works best. I liked the story, and it keeps...
2 more reviews, 1 not recommended
An excellent text-heavy incremental game. Lots of unlockable mechanics, an engaging enough story, and challenges that require strategy to complete. I played the sequel ( Magic Research 2 ) first. Both have active gameplay for an incremental game (without devolving into encouraging autoclicker or macro use), but Magic Research 1 is the more active of the two since items are not automatically used in combat. I also...
I really wanted to like this game. I think the asthetic and vibes are fun. But the amount of MANUAL repeated content when you retire is actually insane. I kinda wish this was not the sort of incremental game that you "prestieged" in or "ascended" in. Starting a new run after retiring feels super punishing. In other games of the genre, you get back to where you were in just a couple hours. This is not the case here...
Steam reviews, mixed to its ratio and rotated daily. Opinions are theirs.
No data upstream: critic score (Metacritic).
Cite this score
Magic Research scores 77/100 on the BANG Score (worth it) as of Oct 19, 2026. The BANG Score rates what a game is worth for the money. Via Steam BANGERS. https://steambangers.com/game/2311680/magic-researchReviews set the ceiling, and price against real length moves the BANG Score inside it. How it works, and where it is weak → Steam reviews as of Sep 29, price as of Oct 18. A number here look wrong? Tell me and I will check the inputs.