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If you asked a random individual what their favorite piece of wizard-related media is, what answers would you expect? “Harry Potter?” “Wizards of Waverly Place?” “Lord of the Rings?”

My go-to answer? “Wizard101!”

Since 2009, I have been endlessly enchanted with this game. Mind you, I was six years old when I first started playing – to this day, my mom doesn’t know how I was smart enough to go on wizard101.com and download it. In this mystical role-playing platform, you play as a student wizard of Ravenwood Academy, tasked with saving the Spiral from a rogue necromancy teacher named Malistaire, who is driven to insanity after his wife’s death. 

To save the spiral, your wizard character must venture across different worlds to get one step closer to facing off Malistaire. The best part? Each world is based on a historical time period or a pop culture reference! In retrospect, this may have been my awakening as a history nerd. 

Some of my favorite worlds include Marleybone, a Victorian-era world based on the Marylebone district in London; Avalon, a medieval world based on the mythical island of the Arthurian legend; and Polaris, a glacial amalgamation of the French and Russian revolutions. 

Not only are the worlds so creatively designed, but each of them has its own set of bad puns and pop culture references. Some of my personal favorites include: the character of Sherlock Bones, a dog detective who lives on 221B Barker Street, H.G. Waggs meant to be a pun on the writer H.G. Wells, the many references to “Monty Python and the Holy Grail” in Avalon, and David Bowie-inspired characters named Zigi Stardust and Major Tom. The developers at Kingisle have an impeccable sense of humor, I’ll tell you that. 

“Wizard101” is also insanely fantastic in the gameplay department. Since it’s a role-playing game and you play as a wizard, you duel using spell cards from your assigned school. Oh, did I mention you can choose a school of magic to be a part of? The schools of magic are Storm, Ice, Fire, Myth, Life, Death and Balance; each has its own set of unique spells, charms, and enchantments. 

As unique as each school is, be careful when choosing one to continue the game with. If you’re solo-questing, I highly recommend choosing Life or Death since both schools have potent damage and healing spells. If you’re more into questing with others or acting more as support, I would say Life or Balance. 

Another noteworthy aspect of the game is the abundance of activities you can do when you’re not constantly dueling against foes. You don’t only have to do quests; you can pick up crafting, gardening, fishing, training your own pet, or competing in player-versus-player (PVP) combat. These different activities add versatility to the game and can strengthen your wizard’s abilities. I love training pets to aid me in combat, either through providing me extra spell cards or giving me more strength or defense points. 

This game isn’t without its pitfalls, though. For years, fans have complained about the irritating paywalls and the whole pay-to-play format. Either you pay $10 a month for a membership to access every world, or you purchase different zones using Crowns, an in-game currency. Only recently did the developers make the first world of the game, Wizard City, free, and I don’t see why they can’t make the “first arc” worlds free, considering there are over 15 worlds now. 

Another critique is the graphics. I don’t want to harp on this point too much because the developers are slowly updating the visuals. That being said, four out of the five “first arc” worlds still have 2009 game graphics, and it is … painfully noticeable. Nothing like staring at unsmooth polygons, am I right? 

Now that I’m older, though, I have a renewed fondness for the game. I remember how invested I was in it in elementary and middle school, to the point where I was desperate for the school day to end so I could go home and quest until the cows come home. That’s not even mentioning the hours I’ve spent scrolling on fanblogs like Swordroll’s Blog and Archives of the Spiral!

It’s a game that has meant so much to me, and when I have the time out of my egregious senior-year schedule, I still love playing it for that nostalgia factor. And I’m not alone in this; the “Wizard101” fanbase now mainly consists of nostalgic twenty-something year olds who still find comfort in this almost 20-year-old game, and I think that’s beautiful. 

Whether you’ve played it when you were younger and totally forgot about it, or you’ve never gotten into the game (and experienced the joy of building a wicked spell deck), I could not recommend it more! The developers still put a lot of love and effort into it with consistent updates and improvements. While you’re at it, I’d say try out its sister game, “Pirate101” – now that’s a game I could also go on about for an entire article!

The game is available on Mac, PC, and now on console!