Amanda’s Magic Book

Amanda’s Magic Book is a tile-matching puzzle game set in a whimsical fantasy realm, where players match enchanted tiles to progress through book-inspired levels. As part of the Amanda’s Sticker Book series, it offers a casual yet engaging experience with magical themes and challenging gameplay.

Amanda’s Magic Book: Review

Introduction: A Formulaic Journey Through Match-3 Purgatory

In the sprawling ecosystem of casual puzzle games, few series have maintained such quiet longevity as Amanda’s Magic Book. Yet, for a franchise that has spanned over a dozen installments since 2014, it exists in a curious state of obscurity—overshadowed by giants like Candy Crush Saga and often confused with the utterly unrelated, lore-rich horror phenomena of Amanda the Adventurer (2023). This review delves into the inaugural 2018 entry, a game that exemplifies both the enduring appeal and the creative stagnation of the match-3 genre. My thesis is clear: Amanda’s Magic Book is a proficient, mechanically sound, but artistically inert experience. It successfully executes a well-worn template with competent polish but fails to transcend its archetypal roots, offering players a pleasant, if forgettable, way to pass the time. Its legacy is not one of innovation, but of relentless, efficient repetition—a testament to the viability of the “more of the same” model in the casual gaming market.

Development History & Context: The Casual Crusade of e-FunSoft

Amanda’s Magic Book was developed by e-FunSoft Games, an Indonesian studio whose credits on MobyGames reveal a team deeply entrenched in the casual and hidden-object game space. Key personnel like designer Laksmana Wijaya, programmer Agung Wijaya, and writer Samantha Lienhard have collaborated on numerous titles for publishers like Big Fish Games and GameHouse, including entries in series such as The Enthralling Realms, The Chronicles of Joseph of Egypt, and The Chronicles of Moses and the Exodus. This portfolio paints a picture of a studio specializing in narrative-light, mechanics-driven games for a specific demographic: older casual players seeking relaxing, low-stakes entertainment.

The game’s release on March 7, 2018, for Windows places it in the late-era dominance of the match-3 genre, a period saturated with titles vying for attention on platforms like Big Fish Games, GameHouse, and Steam. Technologically, the game was built with modest constraints in mind. Its system requirements (a 1.5 GHz processor, 1GB RAM) were minimal even for 2018, targeting budget PCs and laptops. Visually, it employs bright, simple 2D art—a practical choice for a low-cost, high-volume production model. The development vision, as inferred from the ad blurb and subsequent series entries, was not to reinvent the wheel but to provide a reliable, familiar experience: a magical narrative wrapper around a solid match-3 core, packaged for daily or weekly play sessions. This context is crucial; Amanda’s Magic Book was never aiming for the critical acclaim of an Artful Escape or the innovation of a Mightier. Its goal was, and remains, functional satisfaction within a crowded niche.

Narrative & Thematic Deep Dive: The Curse of Generic Fantasy

The narrative of the original Amanda’s Magic Book is as straightforward as its title suggests. Per the official description: “When Amanda finds a mysterious book in the rainforest, she is pulled into another world. She finds that this magical place is in the grip of a terrible curse, and Amanda is the only one who can save the day! Determined to help, Amanda sets out on a journey to restore this beautiful world.” This plot is expanded across “five chapters” and “five magical realms,” with the player earning “20 upgrades to restore the world.”

Thematically, the game operates on a rudimentary hero’s journey. Amanda is an avatar of pure, uncomplicated heroism—a chosen one with no backstory, personal motivation, or internal conflict. Her companion, Charlie (introduced in later sequels but consistent in spirit), serves as a sounding board and occasional source of mild mischief, but their relationship lacks depth. The “curse” is an abstract MacGuffin; the “restoration” is a literal gameplay loop where matching tiles builds progress toward a visual upgrade of the background scene. There is no moral quandary, no character development, and no subtext.

This narrative simplicity stands in stark, almost ironic contrast to the other “Amanda” game flooding the provided source material: the horror hit Amanda the Adventurer. That title is built upon a labyrinthine lore involving a live-action public access show, a sinister toy company (Hameln), missing children, demonic pacts, and metafictional horror. Its community on Reddit and its dedicated wiki are consumed with decoding ciphers, analyzing tape distortions, and theorizing about the true nature of characters like Wooly, Blabbot, and the “tall gray creature.” The two series share only a name and a vaguely adventure-themed premise. Where Amanda the Adventurer uses its children’s show aesthetic as a veneer for profound dread, Amanda’s Magic Book uses its fantasy book premise as a literal, un-ironic framing device. The former is a cult phenomenon studied for its symbolism; the latter is a consumable product. This comparison isn’t a criticism of the puzzle game’s quality but a stark illumination of its intentional, demographically-targeted lack of depth. Its themes are “friendship,” “courage,” and “restoration”—delivered with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, befitting its intended audience of casual players seeking stress-free engagement.

Gameplay Mechanics & Systems: The Relentless Grind of the Grid

At its core, Amanda’s Magic Book is a tile-matching puzzle game, a subgenre defined by its simple input and satisfying cascades. The gameplay loop, meticulously detailed in multiple GadgetSpeak reviews for later installments (which retain the same foundational systems), is as follows:

• The Grid: A centrally-positioned grid of colorful, embellished tiles serves as the primary playground. The player’s objective is to clear specific targets (e.g., “Remove 45 red tiles,” “Collect 10 Crystal artifacts”) by swapping two adjacent tiles to form a group of three or more matching tiles. These groups vanish, and new tiles fall from above, potentially creating cascading chain reactions.
• Power-Ups & Special Tiles: The grid is rarely empty. It contains blocked cells and, most critically, Artifact tiles. Artifacts are special tiles that cannot be matched. Instead, the player must create a clear vertical pathway beneath them so they “fall” to the bottom of the grid for collection. Artifacts are always part of the level’s challenge. Additionally, creating larger matches (4+ tiles) generates Bomb tiles—user-activated explosives that can clear areas. A small selection of pre-placed power-ups (like Hammers or Shovels) appears on the left side of the screen, expendable tools for tricky situations.
• Progression & Upgrades: Completing a grid awards Stars. These stars are the meta-currency used to purchase four upgrades per chapter. These upgrades are not optional; they must be purchased in a specific sequence to unlock the next chapter. Visually, each upgrade alters the background scene, providing a tangible sense of “restoring the world.” After each upgrade, a static cut-scene with text and (in later games) voice-over advances the thinly-sketched story.
• Structure & Modes: The game is divided into five chapters, collectively containing approximately 70 levels. Players can choose between a Relaxed mode (no timer) and a Timed mode, catering to different play styles. The difficulty curve is gentle, designed for accessibility over challenge.

Innovation? The system is deliberately, almost proudly, conventional. The “Artifact” mechanic (forcing players to clear space below a tile) is a slight twist on the standard “locked tile” or “ice” mechanic seen in games like Bejeweled or Candy Crush, but it’s not groundbreaking. The star-based world-upgrade system is a common narrative-integration trope in casual games (seen in titles like Gardenscapes or Homescapes). The game’s true “innovation” is its unwavering commitment to this formula across thirteen mainline entries.

Flaws are inherent to its design philosophy. The gameplay is repetitive by design; the core pleasure is derived from the tactile satisfaction of matching and cascading, not from strategic depth or surprise. The cut-scenes are universally panned as “boring” (GadgetSpeak), consisting of static images with text to advance. The lack of meaningful variety in level objectives beyond “clear X tiles” or “collect Y artifacts” can lead to fatigue. It is a game engineered for short, daily sessions, not for marathon play. Its UI is functional but generic, and its reliance on a single core mechanic means there is little to surprise a seasoned puzzle player.

World-Building, Art & Sound: A Pleasant, Anonymous Aesthetic

The world-building is purely functional and episodic. Each chapter transports Amanda (and Charlie) to a new, loosely-themed location: a rainforest (the starting point), 19th-century Paris (Veil of the Phantom), a Japanese spirit village (Among the Spirits), a mirror city (Fractured Reflections), etc. These settings provide aesthetic variety for the background art but contribute nothing to a cohesive lore. There is no overarching mythology connecting the “curses” of each book. The world is a series of disconnected vignettes, each serving as a backdrop for a set of match-3 grids.

The visual direction is bright, cartoonish, and sanitized. Character designs are simple and expressive (Amanda typically has a determined, smiling expression; Wooly, in the Adventurer series, is a sheep—but note the separate franchise). The art style avoids黑暗或复杂纹理, opting for clean lines and solid colors that render clearly at small sizes (important for mobile/PC casual play). Backgrounds, while varying by chapter, follow a formula: a scenic locale with a visible “damaged” state (cracked mirrors, polluted river, barren land) that transforms into a pristine version after upgrades. This visual feedback loop is the primary reward mechanism.

The sound design is functional and unobtrusive. The series credits list dedicated Music & SFX teams (HappyHeo, pinkzebra, GlobalTimeStudios, Staffan Melin) and Voice Talent (Loes van Honk). The music is typically light, melodic, and upbeat—cheerful orchestral or synth-pop tunes that fade into the background. Voice lines are likely limited to short exclamations (“Great!”, “Oh no!”) during gameplay, with more extensive dialogue confined to the static cut-scenes (which, in later Nintendo Switch ports, are fully voice-acted). The sound design supports the game’s stated purpose: relaxation. It is never jarring, tense, or atmospheric in a way that would distract from the puzzle-solving.

Reception & Legacy: The Quiet Success of the Assembly Line

Critical Reception for the original 2018 release is virtually non-existent in the archival sense. Metacritic lists no critic reviews, and MobyGames shows a “Moby Score: n/a.” The few contemporary reviews from outlets like GadgetSpeak are consistently lukewarm. The site awarded the game (and its sequels) a 3.0/5 “Smiley Rating”, with criticisms centering on the “boring” cut-scenes and a perceived lack of variety in gameplay challenges. One review of Amanda’s Magic Book 12 notes, “I felt the actual cut-scenes tended to be boring as our heroes fought against the destruction attempt of Big Business.” This sentiment echoes across the series’ coverage: the core puzzle mechanics are deemed competent, but the narrative integration is seen as an afterthought.

Commercial Reception, however, tells a different story. The sheer volume of sequels—from Amanda’s Magic Book 2 (2020) through Amanda’s Magic Book 13 (released by 2025, as seen on GameHouse)—is the clearest indicator of commercial viability. Big Fish Games and GameHouse, major hubs for the casual market, have continued to publish new entries for over seven years. This indicates a steady, reliable customer base willing to purchase new chapters annually. The games are priced consistently ($9.99 on GameHouse, £7.40-£7.74 on Big Fish), fitting the “impulse buy” or “club member” model of casual digital distribution. Its success is not viral or acclaimed; it is sustained and systemic, the kind of quiet profitability that keeps a development studio like e-FunSoft in business for years.

Legacy within the broader industry is minimal. Amanda’s Magic Book has not influenced core game design. It did not pioneer a mechanic or shift a trend. Its legacy is that of a workhorse—a series that perfected a specific, profitable niche and worked it relentlessly. It demonstrates the power of brand continuity in the casual space: players who enjoyed the first book will likely buy the thirteenth, knowing exactly what they are getting. This is the antithesis of the risk-taking, narrative-driven design seen in Amanda the Adventurer, which, while also a commercial product, strives for cult status through ambiguity and horror.

Conclusion: A Competent Artifact of a Bygone casual Era

Amanda’s Magic Book (2018) is a perfectly serviceable match-3 puzzle game. It features a sufficient number of levels (70), a clean interface, functional power-ups, and a progression system that provides a slow drip of visual reward. It is, by all objective metrics of its genre, a successful product. However, as a video game—an interactive art form capable of evoking wonder, tension, or profound emotion—it is profoundly limited. Its narrative is a placeholder, its characters are ciphers, and its artistic expression is anonymous. It is the gaming equivalent of a comfortable, mass-produced sofa: functional, reliable, and utterly devoid of surprising character.

Its place in video game history is not one of honor or influence, but of documentation. It is a clear snapshot of the mid-to-late 2010s casual gaming market: a focus on low-cost development, predictable mechanics, and iterative sequels. For historians, it serves as a baseline against which more ambitious casual titles (like the later Gardenscapes or the horror-tinged Amanda the Adventurer) can be measured. For players, it is a recommendation only for those already enamored with the match-3 format who desire more content without any expectation of novelty. In an industry increasingly focused on live services and player retention, Amanda’s Magic Book is a reminder of a simpler, grind-oriented model—one where the “live service” was just another chapter in a never-ending book, and the only service provided was the mindless, comforting click of tiles disappearing into the void.

Final Verdict: 2.5 out of 5 Stars. A technically proficient but creatively barren entry in a long-running series. It achieves its modest goals without ever aspiring to more.