I accidentally played 10 hours of Magic Inn and it's already the most hands-on management sim I've played since Two Point Campus

Magic Inn managed to put me under its spell within three short hours. As a young wizard sent to work at a ramshackle tavern in the town of Crop Meadow, it's my job to give this once-glorious public house some TLC. On top of that, I have spells to master, drinks to mix, and a salad-chopping minigame to perfect.

Scratch a little further beneath the management sim surface, though, and Magic Inn proves a much broader experience. From interior decorating to building relationships with the townsfolk, solving the mystery of a magical enclave known as Embers, and figuring out what my smarmy boss is up to, there's a surprising amount of depth to Magic Inn as it enters Early Access – which means I'm already wondering what could possibly come next.

Toil and trouble

After playing around with the character creator – I choose to keep the default name, Summer, for my little witch – I finally get a closer look at Hope's Inn. My manager, Samuel, seems nice enough, granting me free rein of the place as I tick off objectives on the way to leveling the premises up.

Magic Inn is a simple enough management sim at surface level: you seat customers, take their orders, bring them their meals, and get paid for it. It's the kind of satisfying, engaging set of mechanics I recall loving about one of the best GBA games in my book: the one and only Cake Mania. Again, though, Magic Inn has a little more to it.

For starters, I'm a witch. That means I have access to a range of helpful spells to help keep things running smoothly. Rain clouds wash dirty tables in a jiffy, the Flying Plate charm sends meals soaring over to diners to save me the legwork, and Fire Bolt burns away any pesky cobwebs that might spring up around the inn.

I'll admit that Magic Inn's controls did give me a bit of trouble at first. The spellcasting crosshair is fixed rather than point-and-click, meaning I have to march around and angle the camera just so in order to lock onto a target. The item wheel is also a little confusing – entering build mode is as easy as tapping B on my keyboard, but the item wheel itself doesn't seem to be working when I try selecting the hammer tool that way instead. It's also not yet Steam Deck verified and the controller functionality is limited at the moment, which is something to bear in mind for fellow keyboard-mouse strugglers.

These are just a few minor snags in an otherwise beautifully iterated experience, and as an Early Access title, I am more than forgiving of them.

The gift of the gab

With my plate, pint, and spell-slinging skills out of the way, I'm permitted to leave Hope's Inn and make for the marketplace. Here, I'm introduced to three other key gameplay elements: shopping, crafting, and deck-building.

Everything in Magic Inn has to be either purchased, crafted, or "requested" from an NPC in town. The market has a revolving slate of pop-up shops and vendors, so checking back every morning and evening to see who's about is crucial to success. I can purchase ingredients, furniture, recipes, and other items from stalls if I wish, though the price markups can be dire. I can also try to haggle for prices, or flirt my way to a higher relationship with various NPCs by way of Conversation.

These interactions see me using a deck of 12 cards, earned by leveling up and tailored from the inventory screen, to try and gain relationship hearts from my opponent. It's a simple enough game of matching emotions with my "rival" – who in this case is anyone I'm trying to charm – while blocking energy-sapping Counters using shield cards.

If I run out of energy points, I'm locked out of Conversations until I build some points back up again. But if I win, I've earned hearts to trade for free items. These items vary from person to person; a farmer might give you free milk, while a high-level trader might give you three rare diamonds worth over 600 coins apiece.

An NPC's profession is very important to bear in mind when it comes to building up my list of Hope's Inn regulars, since regulars bring free resources each time they visit. After meeting and inviting an NPC to the tavern once I talk to them at the market, they get added to the next day's guest list. Now I need only provide perfect, full-star service, and spend five energy points on asking them to be a regular.

Regulars can be swapped out to ensure I get a steady stream of a particular item. Flowers are a safe money-making bet in the early hours of Magic Inn, as they sell for a 10% markup at market. Meanwhile, staples like sugar, lettuce, wheat, and driftwood are important commodities to have daily deliveries of, especially once I level Hope's Inn up enough that my guests expect higher quality food and drink.

Order's up

A typical day as innkeeper is a frantic thing. If I'm unlucky enough not to have a bartender hired, I'll be pouring pints and mixing cocktails as well as chopping salad, preparing fried rice, and managing to juggle the many pizzas being churned out by our resident baker.

The first additional hire I make is for a housekeeper, freeing me from the drudgery of wiping down counters and tabletops, but I also need to bear in mind my staff's own happiness. Throwing the odd vacation day their way helps keep things moving, but whatever you do, don't follow my lead and send the chef on holiday the day before the newspaper visits to critique the food and decide whether to give us a coveted North Star in its restaurant reviews section.

Magic Inn had me hooked within three hours, yes, but I've actually played about 10 so far because it's just that layered. It reminds me more of Two Point than Cake Mania in that regard, offering a host of detailed mechanics that have me actively involved in every level of operations. Managing guests, staff, interiors, ratings, and my own boss's expectations is a lot for one little witch or wizard, but there are some intriguing side-narratives at play, too.

What's with all the detectives around town, or the gossipy vendor at the marketplace who deals solely in secrets? Will I get in trouble with the Empire's guards for using forbidden magic, and will my new magical friend Maja help me get out of this sticky situation without lumping me in with the renegade wizards she runs with called the Embers?

This is one stunning new indie I can't wait to discover more of, and thanks to the transformative powers of Early Access, it's a magical process I'll get to witness first-hand.

Check out the host of upcoming indie games we're keeping an eye on here at GamesRadar+, from cozy games to roguelites and beyond