Hello everyone! In just one week we’ll finally have the chance to bring the world of Magicka to console for the first time and we’ve been prepping for it by wearing flame-retardant robes — it’s embarrassing when you accidentally set yourself on fire during fits of excitement. We’ve also created this list of the 11 things you should know about Magicka 2 ahead of its launch on May 26th.

Vlad is Not a Vampire

First of all, don’t listen to the rumors about Vlad. Sure, he may look like a vampire. He may act like a vampire. But, he is not a vampire, honest! He is just… Vlad.

More Magicka, More Madness, More Misanthropic Mischief

Magicka 2 is a sequel where we picked up all the things that the fans loved about the first game and improved them. All the things that were good are now great! Casting and dodging at the same time makes for a much more fast-paced game. We’ve also added a new story, a game-changing artifact system for a big pile of replayability — and, new for 2015, working netcode!

Friendly Fire is Always On

Being a powerful and irresponsible wizard is a lot of fun, but it does come with the price of loneliness. The friends you do make tend not to last long, unless your aim is good and your healing magicks are potent. Spells do not discriminate between friend and foe, so watch that crossfire!

How Do You Spell Success?

Magicka is all about conjuring spells by combining eight different elements, using up to five at a time. These elements will then create a spell that you can cast for all kinds of constructive or destructive purposes!

Not only that, but every combination can be cast in a direction, or as an area-of-effect, or into your melee weapon, or even upon yourself. Not only THAT, but certain elements combine to create unique effects; for example, you can combine water and fire to make scalding steam, or water and cold to generate shards of ice, or even life and shield to make landmines that heal people! There are thousands of possibilities, and at least most of them are good ideas.

It’s a Kind of Magick

Magicks are powerful spells that brings death and devastation for your foes and friends. Giving yourself some hasty feet, summoning a wave of flames, or reviving an “accidentally” exploded teammate; that sort of thing. Magicks can be cast from a hotbar with a cooldown system, or by using the right element combinations. The element combinations are harder to pull off, but more useful in the long run! However, not all magicks can be conjured with combos…

Play with Your Friends Until They Aren’t Your Friends

Couch co-op, online co-op, or a mixture of both! Magicka 2 supports every sort of multiplayer, whether it’s two wizards on one couch playing with two more online, or four players in four places, or three players in one room connected to one guy with an online PS4 in his secret underground bunker. We also use the PS4 chat support to ensure you can yell at the wizard who just took off your head with a boulder, whether they’re sitting next to you or not.

Challenge Modes

In Magicka 2, we have added “challenges” as a game mode. Challenges are either score or time-based game modes where wave after wave of angry creatures will hunt you and your friends to the ends of… well, of the level. Thankfully, the longer you last during a challenge, the more magicks you can unlock to help you survive!

Check your Artifacts

Artifacts — the good kind, not the weird rendering kind — are components that you can turn on or off to change the experience of Magicka 2. They can do everything from messing around with the look of your game to fundamentally changing the way you play!

Want your wizards to look really fat? Want the game to have a laugh track? Want to turn the Fire element up to 300% damage? Want to turn every explosion into an IMPLOSION? Artifacts can do it! You can select up to six different artifacts to mix and match your way into a completely new game mode. Unlock more artifacts and effects by playing the adventure mode and challenges at different difficulties.

Items, Glorious Items

Customize your wizard with all sorts of different items to get a more varied gameplay experience. Change up your melee attacks with different weapons, or make your spells even more excessive and ridiculous with a selection of staves! Once you start mixing items and artifacts, too, that’s when things get really weird.

Not every item can be unlocked the first time you find it, however, the items your friends are carrying might just fall on the ground if your friends were to, say, stop living for a few seconds. We’re just saying. No real reason to bring it up. What were we talking about, again?

Cloud Saves

Play on your PS4 at home. Continue at your friend’s place. Get thrown out of your friend’s place because you didn’t ask if you could come over. Continue back at home. Easy access to your personal wizard anywhere, any time!

New Technology and “Working Netcode”

Magicka 2 has an all-new game engine that keeps it going, and lets it really shine on the PS4! The fire is hotter, the death beams glow more, and most importantly, you can link up with your friends over PSN quickly and easily, letting you get to the mayhem much faster. Jump in with your friends, or make (and rapidly unmake) new friends with other PlayStation fans in a pick-up group!