Horror game devs team up to create the most ridiculous spiritual successor to PS1 Harry Potter games, and Steam Next Fest players are loving it
Oct. 15, 2024Welcome to the world of Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate
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There’s one demo trending onSteam Next Festthat’s a magical combination of several things you’d never predict. But it’s not “eye of newt and toe of frog,” the way Shakespeare imagines in Macbeth. It’s PS1 Harry Potter graphics and a ton of bombs.
Co-op multiplayerSecret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicateis the first game fromall threeSzymanski brothers — that’sDavid, who made first-person shooter Dusk, and his brothersJohnandEvan, who both worked on the survival horror game My Friendly Neighborhood.
Though Secret Agent Wizard Boy is an obvious parody of early 2000’s Harry Potter action games, like the Philosopher’s Stone, which makes Ron look likehe eats twigs, the Szymanskis are clearly in love with these ridiculous kids' games, too. With its chaotic “physics-based mayhem” and very loose objective system, their Secret Agent Wizard Boy brings you back to your mischievous inner elementary schooler who ate their own boogers. And then threw them up.
“It perfectly captures the atmosphere of the first Harry Potter games, and adds TONS of silly fun to it,” says one Steam review of the Next Fest demo.
“This is a surprisingly detailed recreation of the classic Sorcerer’s Stone/Chamber of Secrets PC games,” agrees another. “The texture choices to replicate the environment especially impressed me.”
Other players think it might be even better than their nostalgic childhood toys. “This game has all the charm of a PS2 classic, but you can play multiplayer with your boys.”
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“I’m finally able to fulfill my lifelong fantasy of throwing landmines like frisbees at small children,” says another reviewer. Enjoy it while you can — Secret Agent Wizard Boy does not yet have an official release date.
Those PS1 Harry Potter games that have been memed for the last 20 years are getting an indie spiritual successor that’s a “complete mess of a game.”
Ashley Bardhan is a critic from New York who covers gaming, culture, and other things people like. She previously wrote Inverse’s award-winning Inverse Daily newsletter. Then, as a Kotaku staff writer and Destructoid columnist, she covered horror and women in video games. Her arts writing has appeared in a myriad of other publications, including Pitchfork, Gawker, and Vulture.
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