When comparing The Novelist vs The Magic Circle, the Slant community recommends The Magic Circle for most people. In the question“What are the best Exploration games on Steam?” The Magic Circle is ranked 8th while The Novelist is ranked 24th. The most important reason people chose The Magic Circle is:
There are many ways to play the game, whether that's finding the location of secrets while you're a ghost, or using your resources to scam your way into them while you're alive. Good example? There's a cave across a lava river. You could either make a flat rock fireproof, give it the ability to walk and take orders, jump on it and command it to take you to the other side. OR You can just kill yourself, walk over the river while you're dead, and find a hidden spawn point while in the cave. You find these keys that look important but there's nothing to do with them, along with an old recording log from a former beta tester. You can either be perceptive and find where you need to put the blocks after looking everywhere worth looking, OR You can just read the logs, listening to this tester complain that players don't look up and the puzzle is freakin' stupid and it needs to be erased. After taking the hint, you'll find where you put the keys: Directly above your head.
Specs
Ranked in these QuestionsQuestion Ranking
Pros
Pro Longevity of gameplay though different choices
There are many different outcomes to the game, all of which can be experienced through multiple playthroughs. this makes for an extension of the time spent in the game and in so makes the game last a lot longer than a linear storied game.
Pro Difficult storytelling that can hit home
The story of the game involves a family with a learning disabled son and the trials and tribulations that occur. The father is a writer who is trying to concentrate on his newest novel, his greatest work and is torn on how to advance his career while maintaining his family. The player will choose from different options on how to balance this family life, making difficult choices that will have differing effects on the game and story. It is through these tough choices that the player will experience feeling that may have an impact on their mood and maybe even life.
Pro Solid gameplay and puzzles with multiple solutions, and not just an interactive piece of art
There are many ways to play the game, whether that's finding the location of secrets while you're a ghost, or using your resources to scam your way into them while you're alive.
Good example? There's a cave across a lava river. You could either make a flat rock fireproof, give it the ability to walk and take orders, jump on it and command it to take you to the other side.
OR
You can just kill yourself, walk over the river while you're dead, and find a hidden spawn point while in the cave.
You find these keys that look important but there's nothing to do with them, along with an old recording log from a former beta tester.
You can either be perceptive and find where you need to put the blocks after looking everywhere worth looking,
OR
You can just read the logs, listening to this tester complain that players don't look up and the puzzle is freakin' stupid and it needs to be erased. After taking the hint, you'll find where you put the keys: Directly above your head.
Cons
Con Endings seem to obvious
The different endings in the game feel a bit too neat, to obvious for the story that is played through, something more gritty or less conclusionary would have been more fitting.