Expectations for game stability differ depending on what title is being released—the wretched state of Fallout: New Vegas at launch didn't seem to hurt the game—but we expect games to be playable, at least partially. Yesterday's launch of the independent and satirical title Magicka wasn't just problematic; the game has been completely unplayable during our testing.

The co-op, fantasy-based game is supposed to be a funny, low-cost alternative to Diablo clones, with an innovative element system for magical spells and team play. Game-breaking bugs kept us from launching even a single game to test those claims.

The official forum has a list of bugs players are experiencing, but the real truth is that the game is fundamentally broken. Last night we had four players attempt to play, and sometimes it crashed, sometimes it didn't launch at all. At one point the menus disappeared so I couldn't make any selections. Online play is completely broken, with games not showing up in the server browser, and LAN play is likewise nonfunctional. The single-player also has numerous bugs, making the game impossible to play.

Developer brags while gamers facepalm

Magicka has enjoyed positive buzz from PC gamers, and interest in the title was high. I had even convinced three of my friends to buy the $10 game so we could play co-op, and I have a feeling they're going to be slightly more skeptical of my recommendations in the future. According to the game's developer, Magicka has sold 30,000 copies since launch.

"The reception for Magicka has been better than we dared to hope, watching the numerous YouTube clips of gamers and editors worldwide laughing themselves senseless as they misfire spells left and right as well as the comments on twitter and forums show us people really get the humor and the idea behind Magicka.” said Shams Jorjani, Producer at Paradox Interactive. “Singleplayer and LAN is what most people are currently playing but updating the multiplayer lobby and continuously improving the game is our top priority."

While the marketing speak mentions that the team is hard at work on patches, the tone of the press release is in stark contrast to the threads in the gaming forums, with players complaining about the state of the game, and Paradox representatives promising timely fixes to the issues. Magicka, at this point, is in the worst possible position for an independent release: it has good word of mouth and a decent start in sales, but the product itself is fatally flawed. To release a glowing report of the game's performance to the press is at best hubris, and at worse negligent. Shouldn't players be warned that the game doesn't, you know, work?

Magicka is a game my friends and I are still looking forward to playing, but after spending precious spouse-points to get out of bathing babies to open our schedules for an evening—and maybe even getting some beers—it's maddening to be greeted with a press release glowing about the game's popularity after struggling and failing to get the game to run.

30,000 people may have bought the game, but odds are most of them are regretting the decision. Paradox needs to lay off the hype until the game is playable.

Update: We were contacted by Paradox Interactive, who had nice things to say about this story. "I do agree with you that the MP game should have been better on release, probably the SP game as well. I know working on the game after release is a sorry excuse," Fredrik Wester, CEO of Paradox, told Ars. "Our press release had no intention to brag about the numbers—WoW [sold] around 2 million first 24 hours after all—,rather telling the gamers we do not consider the product finished but in need of updates, sorry if it came out the wrong way."

We plan on continuing to cover the game as the patches are applied.