Few situations ruin a successful run faster than seeing your screen freeze right when your wizard should become unstoppable. Players exploring By Witchlight's spellcasting rogue-lite frequently discover that encountering The Magus Circle level up softlock puts their progression in immediate jeopardy. If you run into The Magus Circle level up softlock during an intense boss fight or while claiming an upgrade, you need immediate options to preserve your save and resume casting arcane sigils.
The indie title merges drawing mechanics with survivor-style combat across four hostile planets. However, complex menu transitions and rapid level rewards sometimes clash with in-game prompts. Understanding how to handle The Magus Circle level up softlock ensures you spend less time rebooting the executable and more time perfecting your builds.
What Causes The Magus Circle Level Up Softlock?
According to player reports on the official Steam discussions, level progression halts most frequently under specific timing conditions and character interactions. The most prominent occurrence involves Matcha, one of the game's six playable mages. After having your initial dialogue with Matcha, you face off against the first world's giant worm boss, the Leviathan.
Once the Leviathan falls, it drops loot while an on-screen tutorial prompt instructs you on how to return to the lobby manor. Community reports indicate that if a player gathers enough experience to trigger an upgrade choice right at this moment instead of following the lobby extraction steps, the interface locks up completely. The game continues running in the background, but the UI refuses to let you confirm or leave the level menu.
Another verified softlock occurs on specific upgrade selections. Players report that choosing Popetmaster 1—an upgrade intended to increase the active limit of your summoned popets—freezes the player inside the upgrade screen. While the background audio keeps playing and the cursor moves normally across the display, clicking buttons achieves nothing, and the escape menu fails to open.
| Trigger Point | In-Game Circumstances | Community-Reported Behavior |
|---|---|---|
| Boss Defeat (Leviathan) | Leveling up immediately after killing the worm instead of using lobby portal | Interface halts; extraction tutorial conflicts with upgrade card |
| Popetmaster 1 Upgrade | Selecting the popet limit increase card during standard level-up | Audio plays and cursor moves, but clicking does not register |
| Post-Casino Gambling | Playing slot machines or cup buffs at Odds' shop before a run | Generates endless card popups during stage play; menu freezes |
| Chest Drops (Proton/Deck) | Opening chests during normal runs or the early tutorial sequence | Infinite looping reward window; save load buttons become unresponsive |
Community Workarounds to Escape Level and Menu Locks
When you find yourself stuck without an active pause button, brute force restarts are not always your only recourse. In situations where The Magus Circle level up softlock strikes after eliminating the Leviathan boss, community testing has revealed a potential in-game escape.
If the prompt overlay allows game actions behind the stuck interface, you can attempt to survive until the Leviathan encounter resets or despawns. Players have noted that drawing the four-point star extraction sigil allows the teleportation sequence to register, pulling your mage out of the combat zone and returning you safely to the manor lobby.
- Check if the star-shaped teleportation sigil responds to your mouse, stylus, or controller input despite the stuck level overlay.
- If the interface is entirely unresponsive, force close the application to avoid corrupting your run flags.
- Upon restarting, verify whether your save file allows you to click Continue or Load Game from the title screen.
- If your save is unresponsive after a run lock, inspect your local save folder path before overwriting your profile.
On native Linux systems, community members identify the default save directory at: ~/.config/unity3d/By Witchlight/The Magus Circle
Reviewing this local folder lets players verify file integrity if an abrupt shutdown corrupts active stage data.
Resolving Infinite Upgrades on Steam Deck and Linux
A closely related menu hang involves endless upgrade chests. Players on Steam Deck and Linux machines frequently report picking up an initial chest, only for the game to present an infinite stream of spells and cards without letting the player return to combat. In some cases, exiting out breaks the Continue and Load Game buttons on the main screen.
Community members have isolated compatibility settings as the primary fix for these card loop issues. Adjusting your runner options often stops the user interface from dropping inputs during loot generation.
- Highlight The Magus Circle in your Steam Library and open game properties.
- Navigate to the Compatibility tab on the left panel.
- Check the box to force the use of a specific Steam Play compatibility tool.
- Select Proton Experimental or the latest community GE Proton build.
- Launch the game and run a test run to confirm chests close properly after selection.
According to patch threads, developers have deployed rapid updates ranging from Hotfix 1.0.1 through 1.0.4 to tackle infinite card sequences and related menu bugs. Ensuring your Steam client downloads the latest build is critical to preventing these interface collisions.
Minimizing System Clashes and Input Glitches
The Magus Circle offers extensive hardware and control flexibility, supporting mice, drawing tablets, touch screens, and traditional gamepads. However, hardware drawing layers can directly conflict with card selection prompts, sometimes simulating The Magus Circle level up softlock by preventing clicks from registering.
The development team explicitly notes that if your drawing tablet utilizes Microsoft Ink, you should disable Microsoft Ink within your tablet driver properties. When Microsoft Ink remains active, sigil recognition and UI button confirmations may fail to pass through to the game engine.
Furthermore, players using controllers should explore the accessibility settings menu. The game provides toggles to slow down time or completely freeze time during drawing phases, alongside a dedicated button-press casting mode. Enabling time freeze when managing menus or complex inputs prevents combat actions and upgrade screens from triggering simultaneously, which drastically cuts down on interface state bugs.
For ongoing bug tracking, developer patch announcements, and feedback, visit the The Magus Circle Steam Community to confirm whether your specific hardware configuration has received dedicated hotfix support.
Safe Progression Habits to Protect Your Saves
Until every edge case around The Magus Circle level up softlock is completely eliminated across post-launch patches, observing careful gameplay habits can save hours of lost effort.
First, exercise caution when visiting Odds' gambling den. Community reports demonstrate that taking multiple casino buffs, pulling the slot machine twice, or interacting heavily with the circle board before starting a stage can trigger persistent infinite card loops. When this happens, quitting the run can permanently disable the load button on that particular save file. Until further patches arrive, consider moderating casino visits or backing up your save files before spending gambling chips.
Second, avoid prioritizing Popetmaster 1 upgrades during high-stakes runs until patch notes specifically confirm stability for that node. Opt instead for other options among the game's 20 unique spells and 600 available upgrades to keep your build progressing without menu interruptions.
Lastly, during boss transitions—especially on the first world against the worm—always prioritize completing the extraction tutorial prompt before grabbing extra experience crystals. Allowing the tutorial flow to conclude cleanly ensures the game transitions back to the manor hub without locking your mage between progression systems.
Frequently Asked Questions
What should I do if Popetmaster 1 causes The Magus Circle level up softlock?
If selecting Popetmaster 1 freezes the upgrade interface, clicking the screen or pressing menu hotkeys will not restore functionality. You must force close the game and restart. To avoid encountering the issue again on that run, choose alternative magic upgrades and avoid selecting Popetmaster 1 until a newer hotfix resolves the node.
How do I fix infinite chest upgrade loops on Steam Deck?
Open game properties in your Steam library, go to the Compatibility section, and switch the runner to Proton Experimental or recent GE Proton builds. Community testing confirms that running these compatibility tools resolves the infinite upgrade prompt loop that occurs on native Linux and default handheld environments.
Can I escape a softlock after defeating the Leviathan boss?
If you triggered a level up instead of following the lobby extraction directions, check if your inputs still allow you to draw sigils behind the prompt. Players have successfully escaped by drawing the four-pointed star teleportation sigil, which activates the extraction sequence and returns your character to the hub manor safely.
