Mage Arena’s spoken spells prove games can do more with voice besides proximity chat – Destructoid

Mage Arena is a new indie PVP title stylized after classic “boomer shooters,” featuring pixelated graphics, old-school music, and an enchanting art direction. It differs in its utilization of voice, as every single spell in the game is cast by speaking its name, which is quite the concept.

Released just a few days before this article, Mage Arena is already racking up a ton of players. With tens of thousands of people flocking to duke it out on the game’s maps by screaming various sorceries into the microphone, the game is gaining a ton of attention, not least because it is borderline revolutionary in its design.

While we’ve seen a ton of games utilize proximity voice (which is by no means a less-than-revolutionary step in design, especially for co-op horror), we haven’t really had a game like this before, at least not in a spell, pun by all means intended.

What this approach to game design proves is that there’s a lot more utility to in-game voice chat than meets the eye. Whereas proximity voice adds a ton of flavor to co-op gameplay, particularly in a horror environment where your buddies’ voices just suddenly disappear, voice as a gameplay tool is certainly another level.

Instead of mice and clicks and keys, our voices become the ultimate means for gameplay execution, with each spell, action, or whatever else requiring us to speak to be performed. Other games might have done it already or tried, but Mage Arena‘s popularity is about to revolutionize voice commands in video games, despite Microsoft and others’ failed attempts to vocalize their devices and products.

Now, if you haven’t already, do make sure to try Mage Arena. It’s just a few bucks on Steam and seemingly made by one person, and your support for indies means less success for corporate overreach in gaming.

Anyhow, what’s your take on voice commands in video games? Do you see a future for them in Mage Arena style? Or do you think this is just wishful thinking on the part of one random dude? Do let me know below.