Swords 'n Magic and Stuff

My spreadsheet instincts don't usually fire up for pastel-coloured indie RPGs, but Swords 'n Magic and Stuff caught me off guard in the best way. Underneath the blocky, cartoon-fantasy art style sits a surprisingly coherent progression loop that rewards the kind of player who likes to optimise even when the game isn't asking you to. The class system is the most important thing to understand before you buy. A 2023 update replaced the old weapon-skill-per-weapon approach with six dedicated classes: Warrior, Hunter, Rogue, Mage, Mystic, and Druid. You level each independently just by using the corresponding weapons, and because all six level up on the same character, you can mix and match freely. The game actively encourages hybrid builds - a potion-lobbing Rogue who moonlights as a Warrior with a shield is completely viable, and the dual-wield system means you're not locked into any single loadout. Skill trees are still being built out in Early Access, so min-maxers should temper expectations, but the foundation is there for genuine build variety. Combat itself is action-based with strafe, dodge, and parry inputs, so there's real-time execution to go with the numbers side. Beyond combat, the crafting spread is generous: blacksmithing, carpentry, tailoring, cooking, farming, and alchemy all have dedicated progression. The quest log runs into the hundreds, and a fair number of secrets are buried in NPC dialogue and hidden doors rather than handed to you by a waypoint marker, which is a design choice I respect. The loot system is locally instanced per player in co-op, meaning you and your friends explore the same chests but never fight over drops - a small but smart decision that removes a lot of friction from group sessions. Dedicated server support is also in, so a persistent world for your friend group is genuinely doable without one person babysitting a host machine. The honest caveats matter here because this is still Early Access after several years of development. The team has contracted significantly - the game is primarily a solo developer effort at this point - which means update cadence is slower than a well-funded studio would deliver. Polish is uneven, and some planned systems like full skill trees remain works in progress. The game's community sentiment sits firmly in Very Positive territory with over a thousand Steam reviews, which is encouraging, but scope gaps are real. If you need a complete, fully-polished product right now, the wait-and-see advice applies. If you're comfortable with Early Access rhythms and want a co-op RPG that respects your time without aggressive monetisation of any kind, the current build offers a solid evening-eater with a friend or two. For my money, the thing that makes this worth a look is the rare combination: a low-friction co-op structure, a class system with actual combinatorial depth for a game at this price tier, and a developer who has demonstrably listened to player feedback over multiple years. It isn't a grand-strategy game, so I'll admit this falls slightly outside my usual comfort zone - but solid decision-making loops are solid decision-making loops, and this one has them.

Diego · Scout Team

Strategy & simulation

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