Last Mage

A backpack-management twist on the bullet-heaven formula

Last Mage is an Early Access bullet-heaven roguelite from Weird Johnny Studio that layers spellcrafting and inventory management on top of the wave-survival formula popularized by Vampire Survivors. Reviewers who found their footing describe a real hook underneath the familiar genre trappings. "It's a really fun and fairly challenging game in the style of Vampire Survivors. It gives you plenty of choice in skills and their modifications while going through the dungeons and has interesting equipment management with movable slots, items interacting with each other to boost stats further and a crafting mechanic where you combine items to create new ones," wrote one reviewer, who added that the system "creates nice variety and gives lots of room to experiment with different builds." A more combative reviewer put the appeal in blunter terms: "If you are a masochist like me this game is a must buy. Inventory matters, character build matters, and death is always near. Runs great on the Steam Deck! 10/10."

The difficulty curve, once players push past the early frustration, drew some of the most enthusiastic praise in the review base. "This game pulled me in overnight. At first it looks like a familiar take on the genre, but most of the real fun is in the endgame," wrote one reviewer, describing how a later level "introduced a well shielded enemy that basically forces you to upgrade your spells to break through," adding that beating it "felt genuinely rewarding, not because I got lucky." Another reviewer acknowledged the game's brutal reputation while defending where it currently stands: "Last Mage is clearly a work in progress, which is why it's in Early Access—to give us a taste of what's to come. I've seen some brutal reviews out there, but honestly, I don't think they're fair to where the game is at right now," while still conceding, "The difficulty curve definitely needs some serious tuning."

Not enough game yet

The single most common complaint, showing up across nearly every negative review and plenty of the positive ones, is that Last Mage simply doesn't have enough content for its asking price yet. "Game needs to triple its content to be worth it atm," wrote one reviewer bluntly. Another laid out the scope directly: "2 characters, 4 maps, extremely barebones where the perma progression not counting items/bags isn't even implemented yet. It might be good eventually, but at the moment it is only a few hours of a game." A harsher reviewer went further, calling it "a cash grab with devs who plan to almost never update the game" and arguing it "costs more than other similar games." Several reviewers who otherwise enjoyed their time echoed a lighter version of the same complaint, describing the game as fun but short and hoping updates arrive soon to flesh it out.

RNG, balance, and rough edges

Beyond the content gap, reviewers repeatedly point to the level-up system's reliance on chance as a specific design problem rather than a difficulty feature. "This game really needs a skip level-up button. It feels really bad having a good build, then you're out of rerolls, so you're forced to take a spell that contributes nothing to damage, but just wastes mana so you can't cast your two good spells," wrote one reviewer, who added there's "no player skill involved. It's get lucky or get swarmed to death." Another reviewer's frustration extended to core game feel: "Aside from the very limited spell pool, as others have mentioned, gameplay is really rough. Practically zero decision making, little skill expression (no dodge, no strafing)." At least one reviewer reported the game becoming unplayable outright: "I cannot recommend this game at the moment. It's too buggy. I cant progress after 5mins because the UI to select spells keep bugging out with no way to fix other than close the game."

Presentation carries a lot of the goodwill

A detailed, structured review broke the game down into its own good-bad-worse categories and landed on a similar split to most of the review base: strong presentation held back by rough systems underneath it. "The visual presentation is a standout; the beautiful art creates a distinct atmosphere that pairs perfectly with the music. I'm usually the type to mute in-game soundtracks, but the fitting music here is actually worth keeping on," they wrote, before turning to specifics: "Movement feels noticeably clunky for K+M players. The current implementation feels limited and odd, which makes navigating intense moments harder than it should be." That same reviewer connected the RNG complaints raised elsewhere directly to how the difficulty actually feels moment to moment: "Because of the heavy RNG factors, you can put a ton of work into a run only to walk away with underwhelming rewards. It makes the difficulty feel more frustrating than rewarding," before summarizing the game overall as one with "a solid foundation here with great aesthetics, but it needs some significant balancing and control polish to reach its full potential."

Verdict

Last Mage has a genuinely appealing hook in its backpack-and-crafting spin on the bullet-heaven genre, and reviewers who push past its rough early hours describe real satisfaction in its harder later stretches and its distinct art direction. But it launched into Early Access with too little content to justify much time investment yet — two characters, four maps, and a level-up system that reviewers say leans too heavily on unmitigated RNG rather than earned player skill. The balance and bug complaints are consistent enough across the review base that this reads as a title still finding its footing rather than one held back by a small handful of unlucky players. Genre fans curious about its inventory-management twist should keep an eye on it, but anyone expecting a full, well-balanced roguelite today should wait for a few more content and balance patches first.