I will never forget my experience playing Wizard101. My boyfriend (now
husband!) begged me to play it with him, calling it his favorite
childhood game. I logged in, did the tutorial area, then played around
in the starting area. It was so happy go lucky and so easy I was like
"wow, this is for babies". How wrong I was.
I kept playing it with him all the way to the London world. He had
to log off, so I explored off the beaten path. There I found something I
did not expect this game to have. I found a secret hidden boss.
Not a mini boss. Not a story related boss. A secret hidden boss. A secret
hidden boss that kicked my ass so hard it was like the game went from
Fisher-Price to Dark Souls in an instant.
Needless to say I was instantly hooked. The game earned my respect right then
and there. And it kept earning my respect. The later worlds got harder
and harder until every single fight was straight up brutal and the
worlds became these vast lands you could explore for hours instead of
just minutes.
Do not judge Wizard101 on its starting areas. The starting areas are
themselves an extended tutorial to make sure you really grasp every
single mechanic before it challenges you. Wizard101 is a god-tier game.
Also the Jonas Brothers are canonical characters in the game, do not ask me why they just are.