The Magus Circle Character Unlocks: Guide to Every Mage

Unlocking the full roster in By Witchlight's spell-drawing roguelite is the key to mastering every planet and conquering cosmic threats. If you want to expand your spellcasting arsenal and clear every trial, understanding The Magus Circle character unlocks is your top priority. Securing every single mage allows you to field distinct skill trees, harness unique active abilities, and earn the elusive "Everybody is Here" achievement. Navigating The Magus Circle character unlocks requires precise extraction runs, harvesting rare boss materials, and interacting with your eccentric companions across the sprawling manor hub.

This comprehensive guide details everything currently confirmed from official release data, patch updates, and verified player experiences about recruiting the six playable mages.

The Six Playable Mages in The Magus Circle

The game features six distinct mages who defend humanity's greatest ally. Rather than functioning as simple cosmetic reskins, each character introduces their own starting signature spell, dedicated active ability, custom skill tree progression, and personal emotional baggage.

When planning your roster progression and tackling The Magus Circle character unlocks, you will encounter the following six spellcasters:

Each mage begins with a dedicated signature spell. Because this roguelite requires you to physically scribe arcane sigils onto your screen or tablet to channel magic, your early progression with any newly recruited mage revolves around mastering their specific starting shape before drafting upgrades from the 600 available planetary augments.

How the Character Unlock Mechanic Works

Unlocking new characters does not rely on simple level thresholds. Instead, progression ties directly into the core extraction loop of planetary runs. On the planetary map selection screen, you will find six collection slots—one dedicated to each mage.

To complete The Magus Circle character unlocks across your entire roster, the map screen establishes a clear rule: you must extract with Leviathan material on each character individually.

The progression loop follows an exacting path:

1. Deploy into a Planet: Select an available mage and fight through escalating waves across one of the game's four planetary environments.
2. Defeat the Colossal Leviathan: Survive long enough to summon and defeat the world's Leviathan boss.
3. Harvest Leviathan Materials: Pick up the rare organic components dropped by the defeated boss.
4. Draw the Extraction Sigil: Scribe the four-pointed star extraction sigil accurately to open the gateway back to the manor.
5. Deposit Boss Remains: Safely return to deposit the material in that character's designated slot on the map screen.

The rarest character-related Steam achievement, "Everybody is Here," unlocks only when you satisfy this requirement across all six casters. Launch-week telemetry indicated this achievement sat at a 0.1% completion rate, underscoring that unlocking the full circle requires focused runs and consistent extraction execution.

While fresh save files provide players with 300 pink gems—the manor's secondary currency used for domestic upgrades, shops, and gambling—the specific pink-gem recruit costs for individual mages remain partially undocumented in public logs. Players should consult the The Magus Circle Steam store page and official patch announcements as the developer refines economy balance.

Individual Mage Profiles and Manor Recruitment

Recruiting each caster unravels their backstory and opens specific facilities throughout the manor. Interacting with your fellow mages between runs is essential for tracking your roster's status.

Milk: The Anchor of the Circle

Milk serves as the default face of the game. Sporting bunny ears and blonde hair, she guides players through initial spellcasting tutorials. Her kit balances classic ranged sigil drawing with survivability. Launch data connects her directly to the Bunny Form tarot card. When working on initial Leviathan kills, Milk is the most stable choice for your first successful material extraction.

Matcha: The Reluctant Angler

Matcha is characterized by nervous energy and distinctive personal quests. Launch-week players note that Matcha is tied to an introductory homeworld run. During this encounter, players can catch fish such as mackerel, linking directly to the "Fish Fear Me" achievement. After completing Matcha's introduction and speaking with him, his private room inside the mansion permanently unlocks, integrating him into the active roster.

Coffee: The Manor Alchemist

Coffee oversees the manor's apothecary facilities. According to official Day 1 patch notes, Coffee was initially tasked with running the potion-brewing tutorial. Concocting elixirs provides stat buffs and utility items for dangerous planetary dives. Bringing Coffee into active runs allows you to leverage potion-related synergies against high-density mob swarms.

Chicha: The Resourceful Cook

Chicha manages kitchen and recipe upgrades in the manor hub. Official patch updates cite the "Dark Chicha recipe," which incorporates harvested radishes to deliver active benefits. Story transcripts reveal Chicha sharing spirited banter with Rum, frequently grounding the boisterous old caster during dangerous incursions.

Rum: The Melee Powerhouse

Rum offers an aggressive, melee-adjacent playstyle that departs from traditional backline casting. In the story scene titled "Rum Introduction," Chicha rescues Rum on the battlefield, where Rum insists on acting as an "Admiral" preparing to drill new recruits. Community reports highlight that Rum wields a distinctive, short-range attack spell. This close-quarters style requires aggressive positioning near planetary swarms, making defensive time-slow settings particularly valuable when playing him.

Anchan: The Active Tactician

Anchan relies heavily on active ability management. Developer patch notes for hotfix 1.0.2 specifically targeted a softlock bug tied to Anchan's active skill, confirming his kit relies on high-impact cooldowns rather than passive spell spam alone. Community discussions on the Steam forums also reference unique wisp controls that dictate how Anchan manages battlefield positioning.

Mastering Extraction: The Four-Pointed Star Sigil

The biggest hurdle players face when pursuing The Magus Circle character unlocks is the extraction phase. Even after defeating a planetary Leviathan, you forfeit all progress and boss materials if you die before completing the extraction ritual.

To extract safely, keep these mechanical factors in mind:

• Draw the Four-Pointed Star Clearly: Extraction requires drawing a precise four-pointed star. Many community bug reports stemmed from hasty, distorted shapes drawn while fleeing enemies.
• Avoid Sigil Conflicts: Launch-week player reports revealed that the game's shape recognition engine occasionally confused rapid extraction drawings with Rum's close-range attack spell. Drawing the shape too quickly or in small strokes can trigger an unintended spell instead of the extraction portal.
• Clear a Buffer Zone: Never attempt your extraction sigil in the center of an approaching horde. Kite stragglers toward the perimeter, establish open ground, and scribe the star deliberately.
• Enable Time-Slow or Freeze Accessibility Options: The Magus Circle includes accessibility settings that slow down or completely freeze game time whenever you initiate drawing mode. Turning this on ensures you never botch an extraction star due to incoming monster collisions.
• Hardware Optimization: If you are playing on a PC with a dedicated drawing tablet, the developers officially recommend disabling Microsoft Ink in your device settings. Leaving Microsoft Ink active can cause dropped strokes and unrecognized sigils.

Troubleshooting Known Launch Bugs and Glitches

Because the game features an active drawing engine and extensive physics, players pursuing The Magus Circle character unlocks have documented a few launch-week issues across community boards. Keeping these known bugs in mind will prevent lost saves and wasted runs.

Chest Interaction Freezing

Multiple community forum reports describe instances where opening a treasure chest—particularly during or immediately following Matcha's introductory run—caused the game to freeze. Forcing the game to close via Task Manager during a freeze has occasionally corrupted local save states. If you encounter an unyielding freeze, verify your game files through Steam before attempting manual save swaps, and avoid entering character rooms mid-conversation.

Leviathan Despawn Glitches

Some players have reported instances where a Leviathan's health bar empties completely, yet the boss model fails to despawn, delaying the drop of essential extraction materials. If this occurs, maintain distance and avoid standing directly inside the boss's collision box until the game registers the defeat trigger.

Extraction Star Detection

If your four-pointed star fails to register, ensure you are running the latest hotfix (version 1.0.2 or later). Witchlight issued targeted patches to improve detection tolerances for star sigils and resolved softlocks tied to Anchan's abilities.

Essential Tips for Unlocking Every Mage Efficiently

Securing all six playable mages demands careful resource management and smart preparation inside the manor. Follow these verified gameplay strategies to streamline your progression:

1. Prioritize Single-Spell Upgrades: When entering a run to defeat a Leviathan, focus your level-up rewards into your starter spell rather than spreading points across too many new drawings. A heavily augmented starting spell provides reliable single-target damage to bring down colossal bosses quickly.
2. Utilize Manor Amenities: Visit Curio's shop ("Free as a Bird" achievement) and explore Odds' gambling mechanics ("Odd Indeed" achievement) to secure run modifiers that boost your survivability.
3. Tend the Garden and Concoct Potions: Cultivate ingredients in the manor garden to feed Chicha's recipes and brew defensive draughts with Coffee before tackling planetary Leviathans.
4. Use Button Press Mode for Controllers: If you prefer playing on a gamepad or Steam Deck rather than a mouse or drawing tablet, enable the button press mode or time-freeze options in the settings menu to guarantee smooth spell execution under pressure.

By mastering the four-pointed star extraction sigil, utilizing accessibility options, and conquering bosses with each mage in sequence, you will steadily complete your planetary collection board and assemble the entire Circle.

Frequently Asked Questions

How many playable characters are featured in The Magus Circle?

There are six playable mages confirmed in the game: Milk, Matcha, Coffee, Chicha, Rum, and Anchan. Each character possesses their own signature starting spell, dedicated skill tree, active ability, and manor narrative interactions.

What is the exact requirement for The Magus Circle character unlocks?

To complete The Magus Circle character unlocks for the entire roster, you must defeat a planetary Leviathan boss, collect its dropped materials, and successfully extract on each individual character. The planetary map screen tracks Leviathan material deposits across six dedicated character slots.

Why is my extraction drawing casting an attack spell instead of opening a portal?

During launch week, community reports noted that drawing the four-pointed extraction star too quickly or sloppily caused the recognition engine to misread the shape as Rum's attack spell. To avoid this, draw the star deliberately in an open area, install the latest hotfixes, or enable the time-freeze drawing setting.

How do you unlock the "Everybody is Here" achievement?

The "Everybody is Here" achievement is awarded once you successfully unlock all six playable mages in the game. It requires completing Leviathan extractions across the roster and filling every character slot on the planetary selection display.