Over the past weekend, I got to play many games at the Tokyo Indie Game Summit 2026, but one title in particular stood out to me as the best in show. That game was Primland the Magus. Everything from the cute character design, gameplay & screen layout made it stand above the rest, so I am really looking forward to the full release this autumn. I’ll get into the finer details below, but you don’t have to take my word for it–you can download a free demo on Steam right now!
Cute Characters
While it was far from the only chibi game at the Summit, it was immediately obvious that a great deal of care & attention had gone into making the characters striking & exceptionally appealing. As I went through all the floors & rooms of game demonstrations, I consistently thought “That might be cool,” “I’ll see if I can try that one if there’s no line,” or “Maybe I’ll come back again later” about most of games I saw, but this was the only one that stuck out to me as THE game I HAD TO play before leaving the Summit, so I stuck around for about 20-25 minutes to get a chance & I’m glad I did.
The Gameplay
There were plenty of other 2D side scrolling games at the convention, but Primland The Magus had several key advantages. It wasn’t just a beat ‘em up & it wasn’t all long distance spells, but a comfortable median of both. Some enemies/obstacles can be dealt with from a distance with magic, while others require you to get up close & personal with physical attacks. I should also mention here that the animation for the spells was beautiful, making it instantly attractive. Further abilities can be unlocked by collecting “Mementos” to chain together what appear to be fragmented memories through a menu screen. In my experience some of these mementos can be found while others can be bought by collecting gems. The Magus also has a unique digging ability to unearth gems from the ground. Many times, you are able to see these gems underneath the Magus’ feet if you keep a sharp look out, which I think is a nice courtesy considering how I used to attack literally every wall in every Castlevania to see if anything was inside because there was generally no outward indication that a wall would give unless it was crucial to the story.
The Screen Layout
It is practically a staple of 2D side-scrolling games to have a view which is pulled way out in order to allow for a greater view of the terrain. This is done at the expense of finer details. While more recent games such as Bloodstained have come to realise this & allow you to zoom in for a somewhat closer view, the character sprites still remain relatively small making it difficult to see character expressions etc. One of the points I really liked about Primland the Magus was that the view is much more zoomed in by default, allowing for a better viewing of character & enemy sprites & their design details. With a game as cute as this, that’s definitely a plus!
Memories of Spawn (SNES)
Another thing that attracted me to this game was that, to me, many aspects were heavily reminiscent of the 1995 Spawn game for Super Nintendo. It, too, was a 2D sidescrolling game with a comfortable median of both physical attacks & magical attacks, with a nice close-up view allowing greater character sprite details. Even the Primland The Magus cover art features the character in a similar pose to the iconic 1st ever Spawn comic issue. However, in conversations with the developer on X, I discovered that all of this was entirely coincidental as the Spawn game had never been released in Japan.
Preparing for the Full Release
In summary, Primland the Magus is a thoroughly charming game with a lot of potential. It immediately stands out & above its competitors. It is still a work in progress, but I really like everything I have seen so far. Part of the reason why this game appeared at the Tokyo Indie Game Summit 2026 was generate player feedback for further improvements ahead of the planned autumn 2026 release. I was happy to contribute to this & I was lucky enough to get a cool keychain as thanks.
If you, too, like what you see, again you can get the free demo on Steam now. Please note that I highly suggest that you play this game with a controller as the game controls are not well suited to standard keyboard play.
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