Game: Spellcaster University
Genre: Simulation, Strategy, Indie
System: Nintendo Switch (Also on Steam (Windows & macOS), Xbox One/X/S & PS4/5)
Developer | Publisher: Sneaky Yak Studio | Red Art Games
Age Rating: US 10+ | EU 7+
Price: US $19.99 | UK £17.99 | EU € 19,99
Release Date: May 2nd, 2025
A review code was used, with many thanks to Press Engine.
Hold onto your magical hats! Spellcaster University is finally materialising on our consoles. It’s a bit later than the hoped-for ‘early 2024’ (Gaming News), so will it be worth the wait?
In The Beginning…
Spellcaster University starts with a cutscene (which can be skipped), explaining how, due to an unfortunate administrative error, the Lord of Evil appeared and destroyed the world, starting with the schools of Magic. However, everything will be fine because you will rebuild the academies, share your magical knowledge, train the mages of tomorrow, and, if you’re lucky, you will be able to defeat the Lord of Evil.
There is a choice of gameplay modes: ‘quick play’, a single university with an endless option (good for test runs); or the recommended ‘campaign’, a sequential run of 7 universities with a chance to defeat the Dark Lord. Within both modes, you can choose how quickly the Lord of Evil will descend and how your student and teacher’s needs are impacted. And for those who wish to push themselves to the highest magical levels, there are additional campaign challenges.
You are guided through your Spellcaster University journey by the previous headteacher, Postumus, and when you start your first campaign, he’ll give you a tutorial. It’s one of those tutorials which bombard you with information (with even more in the help screens), and at the end of it, you don’t necessarily feel any wiser. However, with the controls given on screen, you can start exploring how to build your Spellcaster University.
Creating Your Spellcaster University
For each university, you get a choice of three locations, each with its own characteristics. You are given cards to create two scholastic houses, recruit five students, build a refectory, dormitory, and student hall, and you will also receive a couple of extra cards, depending on your choice of location.
Although it’s tempting to build straight away, it’s worth checking what other cards you can draw and finding out what your objectives are first. This will allow for a more tailored (and successful) Spellcaster University build. Some rooms will restrict where others can be placed, so check the location of the doors before committing it to your magical school, as you can’t destroy or move a placed room.
New cards are drawn by collecting and then spending gold or magical mana. It is a bit of a ‘chicken & egg’ as you need classrooms to collect mana, and mana to get classrooms. However, with a starting pot of gold and some help from the king, you should be able to acquire a couple of classrooms. This will then help you select the curriculum and specialist objectives, and with those objectives in mind, you can create scholastic houses to train your students appropriately.
Each house (including the default) has the option to prioritise the magical disciplines. These can be altered (along with the name) as you progress. Created houses will also benefit from two selected features, all of which have positive benefits for your students. Hopefully, one of the options will tie in with your objectives!
The purpose of any university is to educate their students, so they have a great future, and Spellcaster University is no different. The future of each student is dependent on the type and amount of magical learning they achieve. The higher the levels, the better the future. There are about 170 different ‘futures’, so for those gamers who like to collect and complete, there is something to aim for.
Obviously, there is an element of luck – one time, I didn’t draw any classrooms initially, so struggled to gain mana, failed miserably in achieving the objectives, and my students didn’t have great ‘futures’.
Helping the Local Factions
Surrounding each Spellcaster University are various factions. These groups will send events to your university, which could have a positive or negative effect. Generally, you can select a positive or neutral outcome if you have lots of gold or mana. However, sometimes you will need a specific card or room to ensure an increase in reputation. As your reputation increases (or decreases), your university will receive additional positive (or negative) buffs.
Luckily, you can communicate directly with each faction via the messenger guinea pig and should receive a small increase in reputation as a minimum. Hopefully, though, if you have the right cards or mana, you will achieve a good boost and eventually, these factions might help to slow the Army of Evil, allowing you more time to educate your students. They will also help in the final battle, so it’s worth keeping everyone happy!
All Good Things Come to an End
Eventually, the Army of Darkness will arrive, and your lovely Spellcaster University will need to be evacuated. Any students remaining in the university will receive one of their available futures, and you move to a new location to start your next build.
If you completed at least one objective, then you will receive a spell book which gives all subsequent universities that bonus. The more objectives completed, the better the spell book. Moving to a new location has a drawback, though; you will have to accept a curse. This could be that students become tired more quickly or take longer to eat. As you build your university, you will receive equipment and creature cards, and these will help to negate some of the curses and other negative traits, as well as give other advantages. You might gain components to help create potions, and if you open a dungeon, you can gain some good loot to develop your Spellcaster University even further.
When building your seventh (and final) university, you have a couple of unique challenges. Complete one of these and you defeat the Lord of Evil and his army. Fail and you can go back in time to re-run that last university build.
Spellcaster University Gameplay
There are many actions within Spellcaster University, some with subactions, but the controls to access them are all given on screen. A couple of the main actions require two buttons and a stick movement to access them, which can be a little tricky at times. Occasionally, events would pop up, and I would inadvertently select something while attempting to do a different task.
Spellcaster University plays very smoothly, in both docked and handheld modes, although there is no touchscreen functionality. Unfortunately, I found the text quite small for continuous play in handheld mode, although once you know the cards, you can play without the need to read the description.
It can be difficult to select the correct location to place a room, especially if an available space is separate from the main area. Likewise, when placing equipment or creatures, I found myself going into various rooms before getting to the one I wanted.
I adore the the graphics, as they make playing Spellcaster University a delight. However, I struggled to see my building during the night cycles, especially if there was any glare on the screen. It would be great if there was a continual day option, so you could watch with ease, the students trudging to their next lesson or misbehaving and starting a fire.
The music is wonderful, with its medieval minstrel tunes – totally in keeping with the theme of the game. The volume can be altered via the options.
There are six save slots, so you can have multiple playthroughs. Spellcaster University saves automatically at the start of winter with a manual save via the main menu.
Spellcaster University has the option to pause and fast-forward time, so it’s difficult to say how long the four seasons last in real time. However, generally, I found I spent three to five hours building my university before the Lord of Evil arrived.
Conclusion
Spellcaster University is a fantastic deck-building, roguelite simulation.
The text is a little small for the handheld Nintendo Switch screen, and the night cycle is a little dark, which means you miss out on the hilarious actions of the students. However, the more I played, the more I enjoyed Spellcaster University. With the additional challenges and the random nature of the cards, there is plenty of replay value, and I’m looking forward to furthering my studies and aiming to graduate as Archmage!
Final Verdict: I Like it a Lot 
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