New Square Enix RPG Wizardlings is free to play on iOS

Square Enix has launched a new role-playing game on iPhone and iPad.

Wizardlings is a free-to-play "casual tap adventure" where players push back the darkness covering the cursed Skyland. You can tap tiles with your wand to remove shadows (where monsters lurk) and spread light across 56 landscapes to gain mana, spell ingredients, and gems.

Gameplay also involves mixing and casting magical spells in the Water, Fire, Charge, Wind, and Holy elements.

It looks like a cute game, but users in the App Store have claimed that the term "free" is misleading.

One user explained that "brewing" spells requires ingredients, which are revealed in map spaces, but these only generate once. The only way to progress after they run out is to buy emeralds to pay for more ingredients.

The energy gauge, which decreases with each action, is also extremely slow to recharge. Players can either wait, turn off the game and come back later, or pay for additional energy.

"So, basically, this game is designed to generate micropurchases because it is essentially unplayable without micropurchases," wrote user "Blergggg."

In response to this problem, Square told Kotaku that players can use basic wand attacks without spell-casting and that the wand can be leveled up as you play. Do you think this is a fair solution?

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[Joystiq]