Defective Arcana

A wizard's spellbook was damaged — and now every spell works, just not the way it should.

Blast yourself across gaps with explosive recoil. Leave a ghostly copy of yourself behind to trigger switches from afar. What looks like failure is actually your greatest weapon.

Defective Arcana is a Metroidvania set in a crumbling medieval castle, built for the Metroidvania Game Jam. Explore the castle, discover new magic, and learn to use every defect to your advantage.

FEATURES

• Metroidvania exploration through a ruined castle
• Defective spells that open new paths as you learn their true behavior
• Ability gating through magic mastery, not item collection
• Hand-crafted level design built around emergent spell interactions

CONTROLS

Input	Action
WASD	Move / Jump
Left Click	Cast primary spell / Fireball
Right Click	Cast teleportation spell
Mouse	Aim

ABOUT THIS GAME

Defective Arcana was created for Metroidvania by Western Studios — a solo indie game studio. This is a jam build and may contain bugs. Feedback is welcome and appreciated.

CREDITS

Kyle Bond / Western Studios - Design & Development

Unity

Metroidvaina 32 - for the Game Jam

GALO Music - Sound Effects

domi.wav - Background Music

Marvyra - Spell Icons

MR3_2004 - Hearts

Matthew Guz, Jean Moreno, PolyOne Studio - Spell Effects

Szadi Art - Tilesets

War - Slime Enemy

Luiz Melo - Boss Wizard

Soonsoon - Main Character and Spell Effects