Magicka: Wizard's Survival Kit

The Wizard's Survival Kit DLC (as it is named on Steam) is a special offer made by the developers for free to all Magicka purchases made before January 31st 2011, 10am PST. The exact offer text on Steam is as follows:

Purchase by January 31st and receive the "Wizard's Survival Kit" DLC including: Wizard's Hat (item) - No wizard of note would ever be seen outdoors without one of these pointy hats. Sharp Blade (item) - The instruction reads “stick them with the pointy end”. Good to have in a pinch. Staff +1 (item) - Whack your foes over the head, use it to prod mucky waters or lean on it to look cool - the staff +1 let’s you do all of it in style. Meteor Shower (new Magick) - Rain burning rocks down on your enemies. ‘Nuff said.

The Wizard's Survival Kit DLC is later made available on Steam for purchase after March 08, 2011:

• US Steam Store - $0.99 USD
• Australian Steam Store - $0.99 USD
• UK Steam Store - £0.59
• European Steam Store - 0,99€

Content summary

• The Wizard's Survival Kit is a completely separate wizard model that looks exactly like the standard wizard model but wearing a yellow pointed wizard hat instead of a hood.

• The Sharp Blade deals slightly more damage than the Blunt Blade that players normally start with in a melee attack. It deals the same amount of damage as the Broken Sword from the Mea Culpa DLC.

• The Staff +1 adds exactly 1 damage to all magick and spell damage.

• The Meteor Shower Magick is cast by the combination . It causes meteors to fall from the sky in random locations on the screen, dealing roughly 10000 fire damage to any target (including the caster) that is struck. This Magick is only usable outdoors.

Accessing the content

The Wizard Hat can be found at the character selection screen when you choose your robe color. There will be arrows to the left and right of your wizard model to switch to the Wizard Hat one. The Sharp Blade and Staff +1 are given to you during the tutorial in Chapter One. Meteor Shower is given to you at the end of the same tutorial. You will also get all of them if you opt to skip the tutorial.

Reception

The Wizard's Survival Kit DLC is widely viewed as a non-essential DLC since the Wizard Hat is just a player model change, the Sharp Blade and Staff +1 are replaced by better weapons 10 minutes into Chapter One, and Meteor Shower is a rather unreliable Magick at best. There are mixed responses on whether this DLC should have been an early bird exclusive rather than it having been released for a small price six weeks after Magicka's launch.

Trivia

This DLC parodies the Dungeons and Dragons (D&D) roleplaying game. A Staff +1 offers a significant advantage in D&D whereas it offers next to zero advantage in Magicka. There is no Meteor Shower spell in D&D, though the closest match is Meteor Swarm which is described as four exploding spheres (fireballs) that each deal 6d6 fire damage in a 40 feet radius.

"Stick them with the pointy end" may be a reference to the sword Needle in George RR Martin's Song of Ice and Fire series. It may also be a reference to a quotation in The Legend of Zorro movie.