If you’ve ever wondered what would happen if a fantasy novel cover accidentally summoned three different plotlines and a minor demon, Metamancer is here to answer that question with a smoke monster and a side of melodrama.
Let’s start with the woman in the room. Or is she a ghost? A villain? A haunted opera singer halfway through a séance? Who can say. Her torso emerges from a swirl of black mist like she’s being brewed in a goth cauldron, and her facial expression falls somewhere between “sultry necromancer” and “holding in a sneeze while trying to look mysterious.”
She’s floating above a man who is… sleeping? Dead? Meditating? Blissfully unaware that a zombie hand has just exploded out of a book inches from his head. And that’s not just any hand — it’s posed mid-monologue, like it’s about to start reciting lines from Hamlet for the Recently Reanimated.
The setting is equally confused. We’re in a stone castle with glowing windows that look like they were borrowed from a gothic clipart pack, featuring three different architectural styles and exactly zero depth perception. The lighting is dramatically moody, sure — but the characters and props are all lit from different imaginary sources, like everyone brought their own personal flashlight to the art direction meeting and said “just roll with it.”
Then there’s the typography.
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“METAMANCER” is awkwardly stuffed at the top like it’s afraid of commitment.
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“BOOK I OF THE SKELTOUCH SAGA” is trying to make “Skeltouch” happen, and no one has the heart to stop it.
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The author’s name sits at the bottom, in gold, on a scroll-like texture that looks like it’s clinging to the corner of the image for dear life.
And what’s on that table? A spellbook, a demon claw bookmark, a stack of lore tomes, and just to top it off — candles, because of course. This is fantasy. You’re legally required to include at least three open flames per cover. OSHA be damned.
The overall composition is cluttered, confusing, and about one werewolf away from being an unlicensed Magic: The Gathering expansion. You can tell there was effort here — but it’s the kind of effort you get when nobody says “no” during the design process.
This isn’t Metamancer. This is Mismatcher.
It’s part ghost story, part necromancer cosplay, part mid-lecture hand puppet, and 100% chaos.
Final score: 1 haunted torso, 2 candles per square foot, and 0 idea what the plot might be — but definitely a Skeltouch involved.