"Wizard Boy was a normal boy wizard, about to start his first year at Wizard School," begins the demo for my favorite Steam Next Fest game yet. From its opening cutscene, Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate leaves you in no doubt as to its intentions - this is simultaneously a game offering a deeply authentic parody of the original Harry Potter games that inspired it, all while also providing a destructive send-up of the books that inspired those PS1 classics.
The game begins in the courtyard of Hogwarts Wizard School, where Harry Wizard Boy has been tasked with uncovering a crime ring. All around him are the telltale marks of the first two PS1-era Harry Potter games; floating biscuits replace collectible jelly beans; gormless pre-teens stand in simple animation cycles; flat textures stretch across entire walls of the castle.
