Wizard Worm checked out the dungeon crawler 7 Mages:

7 Mages Review - Old-school Turn-based RPG (Dungeon Crawler)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YyO_PmrVdU

Don't miss my 7 Mages Review. Gates of Skeldal: 7 Mages is a  Old-school Turn-based Dungeon Crawler RPG. The epic RPG 7 Mages in the tradition of the greatest classics of the genre takes you around the magical island of Roven. You will visit gloomy crypts beneath the city, cross an icy mountain pass, submerge beneath the surface of the ocean and venture into the guts of a dead dragon.

The dungeon crawler 7 Mages has been released on Steam:

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The Story
Assume the role of a mage charged with protecting a village of poor peasants from raids by rogue mages intent on stealing their crops. Pushed to the limit, the peasants pool their last resources and set off to town to hire mages to protect their village. They find you, and your first task is to assemble a company of six other mages to help the poor villagers.

Game Style
Seven Mages is a grid-based dungeon crawler with a unique turn-based system of combat that allows you to split up your comrades to make the battles more tactical. The mages you control employ various types of powers, including elemental magic, magical maneuvers and unique musical magic.

Environments
Besides the crypts at the beginning, players also experience many other environments: they emerge to the surface of the town and into the surrounding forests; they sail on boats, wade through swamps and struggle across frozen mountain peaks. And there will be much more: dragon guts, sea bottom level, Storm city... every level has its own graphic environment. Each environment has unique enemies with different kinds of behavior that tactically change a battles.

Combats
Combats in Seven Mages are turn-based. In other words, while movement is free (i.e. in real time) when you are not engaged in battle, the game stops when a clash breaks out and the system switches to a turn-based regime. Here you can do one of six moves: perform magical maneuver with cold weapon, cast elemental spell, play magical song, reequip (or drink potion), move any party member, or defend.

Magical Maneuvers
A battle mage can use magic to force the weapon to do things that are against the laws of nature. There is a maneuver that sends your sword far ahead of you to cut an enemy there and then return to your hand. With spear or halberd there is a different maneuver that can extend the weapon (to more than twice its length), hit an enemy that’s two squares away and pull them closer to you (where you can finish them off). Ranged weapons on the other hand can shoot several projectiles at once, and with magic, one arrow can hit more than one enemy even if they’re not standing in a line.

Elemental Magic
To perform maneuvers or musical magic, you need an item (a weapon or an instrument). The difference between these two types of magic and elemental magic is that the latter does not need any item to cast. Besides the ever-popular fireball that all mages simply must have in their arsenal, there is also a spell that can set the ground around the mage on fire or a spell that calls thunderstorms on remote squares. There are also spells that can show you the strengths and weaknesses of an enemy, give you a hint if you’re stuck on a puzzle or show you a map of unknown territory. And there’s also the option to summon a party member.

Magical Songs
Seven Mages also introduce a heretofore unseen method of spellcasting in fantasy games. Instead of weapons, players hold a military drum, a horn or a fiery violin and play a magical song on them. Everyone within earshot feels the effects of the spell and becomes a stronger fighter; their arms and legs come alive with more speed or seas part in front of them. The same tune can be played by several heroes in the party at once, and as the music gets richer, the spell becomes stronger.

Early Access
The game was originally developed for mobile devices (iOS and Android) and it will hit App Store and Google Play on March 15. Once we get the green light, we will put the same version on Steam in Early Access, and then we will start working on further adjustments of the game for more advanced PC hardware. It means that the Early Access version will be already polished and fully playable. The only difference between Early Access and the full game will be prettier graphics of the PC version, as well as some minor adjustments in texts (we will remove all the 'taps' and 'swipes', etc.). Of course we will reflect any relevant user feedback.

In points

• 14 unique environments
• 28 types of enemies with different fight styles
• 60 spells
• Heavily tactical turn-based combat
• Unique and previously unseen musical magic
• New puzzles and twists in each level
• Retro feeling in high-end graphics
• Dozens hours of gameplay

Pocket Tactics has reviewed the Dungeon Crawler 7 Mages:

Review: 7 Mages

Even in this Age of Information and social connectedness, it still happens sometimes. With no warning, no hype beforehand, 7 Mages crept onto the digital platforms as quietly as the lighting of a fly in dreaming trees in the hush of evening. On a feather duster. You know what I mean. And based on the description, it seemed to be right up my alley as well: a party-based RPG, with turn-based combat and a heavy focus on exploration and puzzle solving (and more than a few nods to those classic crawlers of yesteryear). Top that off with some handsome graphics and you get a package which almost seems too good to be true.

Created by Napoleon Games, this is their first major effort and apparently inspired by the Kurosawa flick Seven Samurai and its western-themed remake The Magnificent Seven. In these movies, a band of seven (samurai or gunslingers) is assembled to fight off the marauders who are threatening the local village. In a similar fashion, 7 Mages has you team up with six other mages to rid Roven Island of a gang of rogue mages who are raiding the countryside. Its story may have been inspired by these classic films, at the same time it is very much a love letter to the classic first-person dungeon crawlers in the days of yore. The creators themselves mention Dungeon Master as obvious inspiration, but of course the echoes of the Wizardry series, and the Westwood games (Eye of the Beholder and Lands of Lore) loudly reverberate off the dungeon walls with every hollow footstep too.

[...]

This is a premium game, but it’s free to try. You get at least two hours of dungeon crawling before you have to make a purchase to be able to continue. This will give you plenty of time to decide whether you like it or not and it’s a model I’d love to see more often. You can either purchase regions separately for $0.99 each, or unlock the complete game for $6,99, something which I would definitely recommend (as you had probably gathered from this review.) There’s a lot of content here and because the game keeps introducing new elements, it doesn’t get stale. I haven’t finished it yet, but after many hours of playing I’m still excited to go on. I can’t think of a better recommendation for this unexpected gem.

Score: 5/5

The grid-based dungeon crawler 7 Mages will be released on March 15:

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Mobile devices are bringing back the old dungeon crawler subgenre. The dungeon crawler 7 Mages is now on Steam Greenlight:

The Story
Assume the role of a mage charged with protecting a village of poor peasants from raids by rogue mages intent on stealing their crops. Pushed to the limit, the peasants pool their last resources and set off to town to hire mages to protect their village. They find you, and your first task is to assemble a company of six other mages to help the poor villagers.

Game Style
Seven Mages is a grid-based dungeon crawler with a unique turn-based system of combat that allows you to split up your comrades to make the battles more tactical. The mages you control employ various types of powers, including elemental magic, magical maneuvers and unique musical magic.

Environments
Besides the crypts at the beginning, players also experience many other environments: they emerge to the surface of the town and into the surrounding forests; they sail on boats, wade through swamps and struggle across frozen mountain peaks. And there will be much more: dragon guts, sea bottom level, Storm city... every level has its own graphic environment. Each environment has unique enemies with different kinds of behavior that tactically change a battles.

Combats
Combats in Seven Mages are turn-based. In other words, while movement is free (i.e. in real time) when you are not engaged in battle, the game stops when a clash breaks out and the system switches to a turn-based regime. Here you can do one of six moves: perform magical maneuver with cold weapon, cast elemental spell, play magical song, reequip (or drink potion), move any party member, or defend.

Magical Maneuvers
A battle mage can use magic to force the weapon to do things that are against the laws of nature. There is a maneuver that sends your sword far ahead of you to cut an enemy there and then return to your hand. With spear or halberd there is a different maneuver that can extend the weapon (to more than twice its length), hit an enemy that’s two squares away and pull them closer to you (where you can finish them off). Ranged weapons on the other hand can shoot several projectiles at once, and with magic, one arrow can hit more than one enemy even if they’re not standing in a line.

Elemental Magic
To perform maneuvers or musical magic, you need an item (a weapon or an instrument). The difference between these two types of magic and elemental magic is that the latter does not need any item to cast. Besides the ever-popular fireball that all mages simply must have in their arsenal, there is also a spell that can set the ground around the mage on fire or a spell that calls thunderstorms on remote squares. There are also spells that can show you the strengths and weaknesses of an enemy, give you a hint if you’re stuck on a puzzle or show you a map of unknown territory. And there’s also the option to summon a party member.

Magical Songs
Seven Mages also introduce a heretofore unseen method of spellcasting in fantasy games. Instead of weapons, players hold a military drum, a horn or a fiery violin and play a magical song on them. Everyone within earshot feels the effects of the spell and becomes a stronger fighter; their arms and legs come alive with more speed or seas part in front of them. The same tune can be played by several heroes in the party at once, and as the music gets richer, the spell becomes stronger.

Early Access
The game was originally developed for mobile devices (iOS and Android) and it will hit App Store and Google Play on March 15. Once we get the green light, we will put the same version on Steam in Early Access, and then we will start working on further adjustments of the game for more advanced PC hardware. It means that the Early Access version will be already polished and fully playable. The only difference between Early Access and the full game will be prettier graphics of the PC version, as well as some minor adjustments in texts (we will remove all the 'taps' and 'swipes', etc.). Of course we will reflect any relevant user feedback.

In points

• 14 unique environments
• 28 types of enemies with different fight styles
• 60 spells
• Heavily tactical turn-based combat
• Unique and previously unseen musical magic
• New puzzles and twists in each level
• Retro feeling in high-end graphics
• Dozens hours of gameplay

    More info in: 7mages.net