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Mind Over Magic
Mind Over Magic is a colony sim set at the site of a cursed magic school. Build and optimize your own magical academy, train powerful Mages, and master mighty relics in order to battle through the Underschool, a mysterious underground dungeon that holds the key to liberation from a deadly curse.
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-02 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
54 of the 103 reviews raise this.
13 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“omg im dying, just discovered this game - my new favourite game, the graphics and the art for the models, are just stunning, i love the material and them crystal heads are just the cutest thing lol, i love any game like…”
“In my opinion, this game is basically identical to every other colony sim building game. You never really feel like you're running a school, you never really have full classes of students or anything like that, instead…”
“Oxygen Not Included is one of my most played games on Steam, and I bought this game based on the association with Klei and the fact that it has a lot of the ONI vibe. That holds true to a point, and if you love ONI this…”
9 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“I've tried playing many versions of this over the years of development, but inevitably it feels like work and another playthrough is abandoned. Now that the game is officially done and abandoned, time for a review.…”
“Really enjoyed this game, played on normal difficulty and didn't find it hard. You really need to like micromanaging if you want to get into Mind over Magic. Not only all the characters, but also the resources and…”
“Super fun and surprisingly deep. Sort of like a combo between ONI and Darkest Dungeon, but more forgiving than either. If this game had mod support it would be perfect, as is it's very good!”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Great game, This is my third playthrough and it is still a lot of fun. It is basically a wizard school colony sim.”
“If you liked lack of direct minion control in games like Dungeon Keeper 1 & 2 or Majesty. You will enjoy this. The art is fun, and the changing room requirements from one playthrough to the next keep the game feeling…”
6 of the 103 reviews raise this.
“Overall, I think the game is worth it. My biggest complaint with it has to be the combat system, though. I am not a fan. Initially, it is not a big deal but gets boring and repetitive quickly. Other than that, I think…”
“Coming from Klei, I had to give it a chance, it's got the "Don't Starve" artistic style, but less of the stress of failure. Given the price, it's worth it for a chill building game. One downside is the learning curve…”
“[h1]Totally worth it, though the room requirements can be a bit annoying.[/h1] The game delivers exactly what the trailers promised and a bit more. The difficulty curve is spot on, it scales linearly, so you actually…”
26 of the 103 reviews raise this · 15 of them still recommend the game.
“So I’ll start by saying that yeah I got swindled like many others thinking it would be like ONI in a magic setting. It’s published by Klei, but was developed by another company called Sparkypants, and oh boy… The game…”
“I've tried playing many versions of this over the years of development, but inevitably it feels like work and another playthrough is abandoned. Now that the game is officially done and abandoned, time for a review.…”
“I really want to recommend this game, and the first 60% of it is great. Tight resource control and actively weighing if you can expand or not vs having the materials to repel the fog. Interesting design choices with…”
16 of the 103 reviews raise this · 11 of them still recommend the game.
“I have never seen more toxic difficulty design in my life. This game has you role playing as an overstressed overworked secretary desperately trying to make sure that no one recreates without their cuddle buddy because…”
“Took me a long time to understand the mechanics past the tutorial. The learning curve is steep. After 50 hours I was still learning details about the classes, advancement and races.”
“I put a lot of hours into this waiting for it to get good because I really like the concept and aesthetics, but it never got there for me. The standard gameplay difficulty is built around literally random and arbitrary…”
8 of the 103 reviews raise this · 3 of them still recommend the game.
“So I’ll start by saying that yeah I got swindled like many others thinking it would be like ONI in a magic setting. It’s published by Klei, but was developed by another company called Sparkypants, and oh boy… The game…”
“I really want to recommend this game, and the first 60% of it is great. Tight resource control and actively weighing if you can expand or not vs having the materials to repel the fog. Interesting design choices with…”
“I wish there was a better way to automate some of the student progression: summoning and upgrading wands. I think it would be very nice to sit back and watch a fully built school operate itself for a bit before moving…”
8 of the 103 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“This game is good. it's kind a quirky. but it's also very unrefined. there's a great deal to it which is new and interesting but there's little tutorial and some of the systems don't quite fit their intended purpose. it…”
7 of the 103 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“So I’ll start by saying that yeah I got swindled like many others thinking it would be like ONI in a magic setting. It’s published by Klei, but was developed by another company called Sparkypants, and oh boy… The game…”
“Excellent game. The late game seems spaced a bit far apart from the midgame, but I am sad there won't be more content made for it.... The enemy variety is lacking, but everything about the game has been excellent…”
“A good game overall. Plays like a less engineering focused take on Oxygen Not Included. However, the combat isn't very good and there is too much of it. The end game is also quite a slog. It starts strong but ends with…”
Counted across 103 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 86.6% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“I really like this one. I've already thought about what I'm going to say and it's going to sound scripted. But it's not. I'm not just playing a game, I'm making this design and operational decisions of a magician School. But, I am playing a game and it's really fun and it feels…”
— a player, Steam review · 407 hrs played“It took a few tries for me to really fall for this game. But once I did, I fell hard. If you're a fan of games that give you a never-ending list of tasks to constantly check off, this one will will satisfy that particular itch, and look pretty while doing it. If you want…”
— a player, Steam review · 225 hrs played“The fact I'm writing this review with a not recommend makes me sad and mad. When the game starts there's the hard, standard, casual, free form options. I picked casual with 2x resources because I wanted a more chill playthrough while I learned the game. I enjoy management games,…”
— a player, Steam review · 58 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-09-05.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-09-04). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
Mind Over Magic plushies! Available now!
Mind Over Magic Wolfkin Student plushes are available for order now! Order your plushie here!
The Capstone Update
The Capstone Update Hey Mages, This update wraps up the improvements that we planned post-1.0. Today's release focuses on improving performance, UI tweaks and fixes, and a lot of small improvements th
Headmaster's Guide to Survival
A common request we hear from new players is that they want a tutorial that provides more guidance. Now we have one! Our goal was to make a system that reacts to your play, rather than force you to do
Creative Mode Update - Fixes and Improvements
5/15/2025 Fix for Jade Dragon not growing in Creative Mode. Fix rare exception due to blocking object forced to change position. 5/12/2025 Fix for Withered Jade Eggplant sometimes failing to spawn cor
Creative Mode Update
One of the most common topics for feedback we receive is, "I want to be able to just build whatever!" That's what Creative Mode is all about. You don't need to research or worry about the Fog or resou
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Simulation |
| Player tags | Survival · Colony Sim · Building · Management · Nonlinear · Simulation · Crafting · Base-Building · Dragons · Tactical RPG · Stylized · Economy (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Steam Trading Cards · Steam Workshop · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese |
| Achievements | 82 |
| Official site | https://www.klei.com/games/mind-over-magic |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: Requires a 64-bit processor and operating system OS: Windows 10 Processor: 2 GHz Memory: 8 GB RAM Graphics: 2 GB VRAM DirectX: Version 11 Storage: 6 GB available space Additional Notes: Thanks to all the computers out there for making magic happen!