Horror game devs team up to create the most ridiculous spiritual successor to PS1 Harry Potter games, and Steam Next Fest players are loving it

There's one demo trending on Steam Next Fest that's a magical combination of several things you'd never predict. But it's not "eye of newt and toe of frog," the way Shakespeare imagines in Macbeth. It's PS1 Harry Potter graphics and a ton of bombs. 

Co-op multiplayer Secret Agent Wizard Boy and the International Crime Syndicate is the first game from all three Szymanski brothers — that's David, who made first-person shooter Dusk, and his brothers John and Evan, who both worked on the survival horror game My Friendly Neighborhood. 

"Secret Agent Wizard Boy must go undercover to topple Grumblemort's evil crime syndicate, hidden beneath his wizarding school," says the game's Steam description. "Learn spells, engage in espionage, and spread utter lore-unfriendly chaos." 

Though Secret Agent Wizard Boy is an obvious parody of early 2000's Harry Potter action games, like the Philosopher's Stone, which makes Ron look like he eats twigs, the Szymanskis are clearly in love with these ridiculous kids' games, too. With its chaotic "physics-based mayhem" and very loose objective system, their Secret Agent Wizard Boy brings you back to your mischievous inner elementary schooler who ate their own boogers. And then threw them up.

"It perfectly captures the atmosphere of the first Harry Potter games, and adds TONS of silly fun to it," says one Steam review of the Next Fest demo. 

"This is a surprisingly detailed recreation of the classic Sorcerer's Stone/Chamber of Secrets PC games," agrees another. "The texture choices to replicate the environment especially impressed me."

Other players think it might be even better than their nostalgic childhood toys. "This game has all the charm of a PS2 classic, but you can play multiplayer with your boys."

"I'm finally able to fulfill my lifelong fantasy of throwing landmines like frisbees at small children," says another reviewer. Enjoy it while you can — Secret Agent Wizard Boy does not yet have an official release date. 

Those PS1 Harry Potter games that have been memed for the last 20 years are getting an indie spiritual successor that’s a “complete mess of a game.”