MANDAGON on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information
Explore Mandagon, a world inspired by Tibetan theology and philosophy. With a focus on life and death, discover what it means to make a true sacrifice . . .
MANDAGON is a free to play, pixel graphics and indie game
developed and published by Blind Sky Studios.
Released on August 03rd 2016 is available in English on Windows and MacOS.
It has received 5,660 reviews of which 5,380 were positive and 280 were negative resulting in an impressive rating of 9.2 out of 10. 😍
The game is free to play on Steam.
The Steam community has classified MANDAGON into these genres:
System requirements
These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.
Windows
- OS *: Windows 7
- Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo 2.8Ghz or equivlant
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 4600
- DirectX: Version 9.0
- Storage: 300 MB available space
MacOS
- OS: Yosemite
- Processor: 1.4GHz dual-core Intel Core i5
- Memory: 4 GB RAM
- Graphics: Intel HD Graphics 5000
- Storage: 300 MB available space
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
To summarize things: Mandagon is - in my opinion - a beautifully made game with a lot of thought and heart put into it. ART - 9.5/10 I love, love, love pixel art, so I am probably biased, but I thought the art in this game was amazing. There is so much detail and I enjoyed every little bird, plant, the shrines, the big temple, the houses, the water, the snow ... should I go on? It has a very distinct Tibetan touch and it makes you feel like you got teleported into a little pixel Himalayan region. It's absolutely beautiful. MUSIC - 8/10 The music sounded ominous and a little disharmonic and spooky, but kinda ... ethereal? I found it to be very fitting in regards to the place and the story. STORY - 8/10 The more wisdom totems you speak to, the better you can figure out what's going on. I do not want to spoil anything for anyone, but there is symbolism around to help you understand too (the six big murals/pictures on the walls as you ascend in an elevator) and if you pay a little attention to any of the totems, the ending of the game will make you go 'ahh, I knew it was about xy'. It's not very hard to follow but nice to figure out imo. I enjoyed it and it fit the atmosphere and feeling of the game. CONTROLS - 7/10 Some people are whining about how hard and unforgiving the jumps are, but I found them to be very forgiving and only messed up one jump in ~60 minutes of playing. Besides the 'tricky jumping', the controls were easy to adapt to. Suggestions/bugs: Controller optimization was a little messed up as both X and A made you jump, although X was supposed to be the action button, so it made taking elevators pretty much impossible as you would just jump instead of ride, over and over again. Additionally, if you weren't holding down on right or left while taking one of the glowing elevators, it would take you up and then down again, without letting you get off. Definitely play with keyboard and mouse! OVERALL - 8/10 It's pretty, it's relaxing, it's only about an hour long, and well, it's free! I found it well worth the time and was actually a bit sad it was so short. I will be buying the DLC because I enjoyed the game a lot and I'd love to see some more games by Blind Sky Studios.
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It's always bittersweet to find a free game that you want more of. Such is the case with Mandagon, a 2D exploration game set in a Tibetan vision of limbo. You don't know why you're there or what you're doing or why you're a cheeful-looking stone head that can jump, but all will be revealed as you wander the serene temples and ruins of this magical place. There's no real puzzling to do, other than sussing out the story from the cryptic rhymes shared by ancient statues, but the exploration is more than enough to keep you engaged for as long as it lasts. The heart of Mandagon's appeal is its environment and atmosphere, which would be remarkable even for a full-priced game. The graphics are finely-detailed pixel art, showing off every crack and bit of moss on stones and every groove in the pillars holding the place aloft. You'll start your adventure in a stony valley of pools and cliff dwellings, but soon your adventure will take you to etherial ruins floating in the sky, their banners and wind chimes tossing gently in the breeze. With no enemies to harangue you and no challenging platforming to speak of, the art turns Mandagon into a peaceful trek across a gorgeous and fantastic world. It's not a big world, of course, and you should be able to see all its sights in 30 minutes or so. Your goal is to place six tablets back in their proper places, and there aren't a whole lot of places where they could be hidden. The arches where the tablets must be placed also serve as the fast travel points, making it easy to get back to where you need to be at any time. You won't find any abilities or upgrades, just shortcuts to activate and one special travel method high up in the ruins. There are a few little secrets tucked away that also build on the excellent atmosphere as well. The story's not bad but it's told in terribly vague terms, so unless you want to really puzzle out the rhymes you'll just be here for the journey. And it's an absolutely lovely, imaginative journey for the short time it lasts, so there's no reason not to give it a go if you like exploring. This feels like a title for people who loved the Knytt games, because it definitely pushes a lot of the same buttons for me. Here's hoping Mandagon's creators are hard at work on a full game, because this little slice of heaven left me hungry for more. Did you enjoy this review? I certainly hope so, and I certainly hope you'll check out more of them at https://goldplatedgames.com/ or on my [url=http://steamcommunity.com/groups/audish#curation]curation page !
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It seems rare to find games that are this intricately detailed, and clearly lovingly crafted. It's rarer that these games are free. Mandagon is a short experience, but if you ever find yourself with an hour in the afternoon, let yourself enjoy the serene soundtrack and find your way through the temple door.
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A Relaxation Game for the Already Calm or Pensive... a game that both requires and reaffirms a strangely specific state of mind. For those who wanted find out more about this game's inspriaion and meaning, you can visit Buddhist website-Tricycle: https://tricycle.org/trikedaily/explore-the-bardos-in-mandagon-a-video-game-inspired-by-tibetan-buddhism ----------------------------------- Confession: I need to say that I'm definitely not in the right mindstate when I tried out this game, and had to abandon it since this game has little room for a preoccupied mind. Some of my overall positve experience [*]Easy to control - you don' die from falling since you're already in limbo [*]Beautifully designed map and environment [*]Simple but breathtaking, calming environment [*]Mastery of solemn undertone without being grim or "morbid" [*]Love the use of colours - quite similar to colours used in ancient Eastern art Personal Peeve & Disappointment [*]- Unfortunately dislike the phrases/poem lines - Not my cup of tea: resembles the style of the horribly translated proverbs taken out of cultural context eg. Hippie's application of the Daodejing/Book of Tao [*]- Expected more puzzles or interaction - mostly because people said it's adventurous & philosophical Conclusion: Even though I have some peeves, I have to admit that it's a well made, simple atmospheric genre game. It would also be interesting to see this game being translated to different languages, predominantly to languages of regions where Buddhism is a common practice. If your mind is often filled with darting thoughts, need for constant action and interaction, feeling aggressive and irritated, you won't like this game at all.
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short game great art great sounds relaxing weird atmosphere finally a game with a soul of its own 11/10
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Last Updates| Steam data | 08 April 2025 03:05 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 10 April 2025 11:32 |
| Steam price | 08 April 2025 03:05 |
| Steam reviews | 11 April 2025 16:04 |
If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about MANDAGON, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.
- SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about MANDAGON
- SteamCharts - Analysis of MANDAGON concurrent players on Steam
- ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck MANDAGON compatibility
Online players
1
Developer
Blind Sky Studios
Publisher
Blind Sky Studios
Release
03 Aug 2016
Platforms