Review: MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy

Developer – Idea Factory/Compile Heart/Sting

Publisher – Idea Factory/Compile Heart/Sting

Platforms – PS4, PS5, Switch 2 (reviewed)

Review copy given by Publisher

Arriving at a magical academy to follow in the footsteps of your grandparents is a noble ambition. Add a mix of comedy to the story and you get an entertaining experience. Attend classes and dive into a mystery dungeon to complete tasks. Pair up with allies and choose your approach during combat to maximize your effectiveness. Everything comes together to help you become a renowned magician like you’ve always wanted.

MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy provides a mystery dungeon experience filled with light-hearted comedy. Real-time combat revitalizes the combat system and makes you consider your moves carefully. Combat isn’t the easiest to learn and the beginning feels like an extended tutorial. Give the game time and you will find a strong dungeon crawling experience that successfully introduces comedy into the mix.

You play as the titular Fia who has arrived at the Wondrous Academy. She is told she missed the entrance exam and gives up, only to be saved by the principal who invites her in. During the entrance ceremony, Fia causes an accident that causes her to be assigned to a class with problem students. Despite the early setbacks, Fia eventually gains some friends and starts her new and chaotic academy life.

It looks like a generic story but there’s enough charm and comedy from the characters that it draws you in. Even though you can likely predict some plot points in advance, some moments still take you by surprise. The cast has unique personalities that stand out but they also have hidden depths that make them memorable. Comedic elements seem generic but are carefully spread throughout the story to provide levity at the right time.

This creates a good balance of comedy and seriousness that invests you in the narrative. It’s a lighthearted adventure that reminds you of student life with all the troubles involved. There are some serious moments but the overall tone is lighthearted, focusing on the students as they grow. Even the educators begin learning and shifting their perspective to give everyone something to think about.

Gameplay involves mystery dungeon exploration and real-time combat. You dive into randomly generated floors to gather materials that help you create stronger equipment and items. During your downtime, you prepare equipment, gather resources, and configure your party for each run. You also take on quests in the form of assignments that either progress the story or help you unlock new features.

Combat consists of targeting enemies and moving around to ensure your skills hit. Instead of using a turn-based system, you fight in real time. You can use a physical attack whenever you want but skills and magic are more useful. However, you must wait for your turn on a timeline before you can use skills again. All skills have certain targeting areas that require good aim since enemies can move out of the way.

The real-time combat adds a strategic layer that makes you consider your skill usage. Are enemies in the proper position or should you move around? Is healing more important than offense? Should you use a short-range or long-range attack? These decisions don’t have an easy answer and it’s great to consider how you battle. Your needs often change and it reflects the changing nature of battle in a good way.

There is a downside to combat’s real-time nature and that is the learning curve. It’s steeper than normal because you must factor in enemy movements, your own safety, and your timeline position. Avoiding enemy attacks and coordinating powerful magic with your teammates takes practice as well. While combat isn’t difficult to learn per se, it does have an adjustment period where you experiment and test.

You also spend a long time going over the basics of gameplay. While it does pay off in the end, it feels like the beginning is a long tutorial where your actions are restricted. Once the game begins to open up with different dungeons, that’s when the fun starts. Before that, it feels like the game is holding your hand too long. It’s always good to ensure you learn the fundamentals but it does drag on for a while.

MADO MONOGATARI: Fia and the Wondrous Academy takes time to shed its generic dungeon crawler experience. Once you start progressing, the story and cast get to exude their unique charm while gameplay becomes more intense. It’s not the easiest combat system to get used to but it’s also not hard to learn. As long as you have the patience to let the game’s features come together, you have a great lighthearted experience on your hands.