Last updated on November 26th, 2025 at 09:25 am
Magic River – Casual Game Review
Magic River is a Casual/Action/Entertainment game from Ketchapp, first launched in 27th August 2015.
It’s rated 4+ and currently has 196+ ratings on the App Store.
What Makes Magic River Stand Out
Move through the river without hitting any obstacles! Explore different locations while drifting down the river! Collect gems to unlock awesome new characters and boats!
Tap anywhere on the screen to change the direction of the boat.
This Casual game offers engaging gameplay and regular updates for mobile players.
Player Feedback
As a newer release, Magic River is building its player community. Early feedback suggests .
Recent Updates & Development
Latest Update: 24th October 2015
Recent improvements include:
This app has been updated by Apple to display the Apple Watch app icon.
◉ 15 new characters to unlock.
◉ New tutorial.
◉ New controls type (you can switch between them anytime).
◉ Minor bug fixes.
Download & Availability
Magic River is available through the official App Store for iOS devices.
Requirements: Requires iPhone 5s / iPad Air / iPad Air (Cellular) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina) / iPad Mini 2 (Retina, Cellular) / iPhone 6 / iPhone 6 Plus / iPad Air 2 / iPad Air 2 (Cellular) / iPad Mini 3 or later.
Compatible with iPhone and iPad devices.
Player Experience Highlights
Community Insight:
If the developers could make this game open source we are willing to help maintain it.
Add different rivers and new characters Add a lava river or oven other elements to the river Add more to magic river.
Ive been playing for about a week and already have all of the characters. We have over 2400 gems now and we think some new characters should be made. Especially a goblin and a rat.
The only reason we give this 5 stars is so u will see it. We're not saying it's a terrible game but it could be better. In the middle of your run, a random add will pop up making u loose. Also, when u first tap, it makes u go a certain direction. We think u should get to pick which way u want to start by touching one side of the screen or another. Besides that, it's a really fun, challenging game. Plz fix these things.
This game – if it works for your device – grows more addictive the longer you play it. It's a game of coordination that tests your timing abilities as well. We recommend this game to those who want a bit of a challenge, as the scenery gradually changes and grows harder. Like always, Ketchapp creates the best mind-challenging games. Also, if you don't want a problem with ads, simply turn off the WiFi.
The game is very fun and addicting! It is challenging, but now too challenging that it stresses you out. People say that there have been ads that pop up in the middle of the game, but we've seen none of that. It also looks very nice and has good animation and graphics. All in all, it's very fun and you should get it.
This is an inspired endless runner, we're a little surprised to even say one of the best in App Store given how little attention there is to the game. The game has 4 stages (mountains, desert, forest, arctic) each with progressively harder and stylistically very different challenges (stationary rocks, crocodiles which move horizontally, driftwood which moves with the tide, and floating ice which is like a combo of all three of the other challenges ). Each stage requires a different approach to navigate through. The Moscow-based development team (VIM Digital) really took their efforts to the next level to make this (compared with their earlier work) and unfortunately the game seems to be flying under the radar. The ads popping up in the middle of gameplay is obviously an unintentional programming bug that the developers should fix, if only because it is lowering the game's star rating unnecessarily (it may in fact be why this game isn't more recognized). That said, it is worth the $1.99 to remove ads, which supports a great game and fixes the ad pop-up issue completely. One minor note: we think the red bird should be the reward for beating all 50 challenge missions bc that's the only one that alters gameplay by reducing the size of your hitbox. That said, the character should have some balancing negative feature bc once you unlock him there is no incentive to play as the other characters, which is unfortunate bc many of them are clearly lovingly designed and quite creative.
This games good.. But the ads ruin it. In the middle of the game an ad will just pop up out of nowhere, messing us up. Plz get rid of them.
We love this game but there are two things that really irk us; ads will pop up in the middle of the game, forcing you to lose, and the paddle rows in the wrong direction. Otherwise, really fun and addicting game.
This app is a great app despite a few probs… When u are playing an ad might pop up while ur playing the game and u can't see and you capsize, so please people fix this!! We know ads support you but plz just make it so it's not blocking u from steering ur paddle board/boat.
First the game needs MORE SCENERY when we make it to 200 we don't wanna see the same ice river we need something new maybe a jungle, "heaven", hell, a dark cave something. Also we need something we can spend our money on all the time because now it's just stockpiling so maybe power ups but that makes the game TOO EASY (which is NOT difficult) so we don't know what else maybe a speed boost.
It's a really pretty game. Nice music and atmosphere but it's kind of difficult. You restart every time you crash so you pretty much look at the same place all the time. The boats don't move out of the way of the rocks quick enough. Also the ads pop up in the middle of gameplay forcing you to crash. We like the game but it's hard :(.
Its really great and addicting but the adds in the middle of the game make you lose and its very annoying.
Its very fun it our favorite game but adds pop up in the middle in the game and we die but everything else is good.
So, this is a good game in the most part. The art is nice, the music is nice, the concept is nice. But it needs fixed. For example, you should be able to pass under docks, bounce off of some rocks (in not head-on collisions) and there should be a zen mode in which you cannot crash, ever. Also, the rock generating needs fixed, as it makes some impossible passes. And one last thing: STOP THE POP UP ADS. They kill you like, EVERY TIME. Its so annoying. Its fine for when you die, but not in the MIDDLE OF THE GAME. Thats it.
We played like 50 games in a row and got frustrated after we couldn't get a score higher than 20. The boat is really difficult to maneuver.
Honestly we don't mind the ads before we press the play button or even the part it pop up after we lose. But does it really have to do that while you're actually playing the game.
Game is fun, but it's SUPER annoying that commercials don't pop up just between the games. Why do they have to pop up in the middle of play? That is a deal breaker for the game. PLEASE FIX.
Ads keep popping up in the middle of the game. It's a fun game and very pretty and entertaining, but good lord. STOP THE ADS.
Fun game, but we highly suggest not putting ads during gameplay. We were almost at a high score and of course 'Game of War' pops up and there's Kate Upton leading a bunch of guys into army which interrupted our high score that we would've gotten. Fun game though.
The game is so fun but there's too many ads. While your in the middle of a game ads pop out of no where while your playing and you die.
Love this game but the ads are very annoying. They pop up while playing the game and make you die. Some ads make u stay in it to play it and we think it is a big problem.
We love the game but we HATE THE ADDS! Whenever we play the gAme the adds pop up we can't play with popping up!!!! We get so FRUSTRATED!!!!heres and idea you could just make the adds smaller like at the bottom!!!!not being rude aim just saying it's It's hard to play the game when you have adds popping up.
Only 3 stars because ads keep popping up in the middle of the game! Otherwise 5 stars keep them coming.
We know all ads r annoying,but ADS IN THE MIDDLE OF MY GAME?!?!?The game is super fun but while we're playing,an ad pops up which makes us die.AT LEAST MAKE THE GAME PAUSE pls.
The game was fun, but ads kept on popping up while we were playing and it kept on killing us. The boat also doesn't steer fast enough, and the smallest scrape to a rock directly kills you.
The game was okay at first but the ads pop up in the middle of the game forcing you to crash. When the game offers twenty points we click on it and it doesn't even let us watch the video. It just spins. Then the video pops up in the middle of our game and we die and it doesn't even let us receive the points. The game used to be fun but now it's just stressful and irritating.
So basically the graphics are awesome and all but the controls need work… We will be hitting left and not go left but right, not cool man and we also get adds IN THE MIDDLE OF ME PLAYING like what not ok. Really cool idea though just please fix adds and controls.
Good game. Ads popping up during gameplay makes it very frustrating. Please fix that issue. Like the pause button. Need it on all your games. Haven't needed to use it yet since ads pop up and makes us crash. :(.
First of all, we think this games CONCEPT sis good. HOWEVER, when you play, random adds will just pop up and then you exit and you have to start over!! You could have a really high score by that time, too! Also, Ive been noticing that occasionally our screen will turn black and we exit out of the game. Its very frustrating when these things happen while youre playing the game, and it has very bad quality.
Ads ruined this game. This would be that one app we wouldnt mind paying .99 cents to get rid of ads but NOOOOOO we gonna make ads pop up while you play and die. Logs are mad annoying too.
Ads will pop up in the middle of the game and you cant x them out they stay there you have to shut down the app and go in again.
Pesimo ! :/ estas jugando y de la nada te sale un anuncio que te hace perder ,en realidad es muy entretenido pero es frustrante el hecho de estar jugando y de la nada sale el anuncio y no lo puedes quitar hasta que tu juego te hace perder por que no puedes ver nada :(.
It's a really good idea and we enjoyed it but the way they made it wasn't so good, basically ads pop up in the middle of playing so you will die and the only way to prevent that is to turn on air plane mode which is super annoying. Not only this but once you get around 80 there are logs and during the moving logs in the game and to survive you basically have to take a guess on where to go and hope you get lucky and that your path doesn't close and honestly it's annoying to the point that it's just not fun anymore. They really need to work on that but because we know ketchapp we know they won't make a update because they never do with any of they're games.
The game is really fun and addicting. However, the ads popping up right in the middle of the game while you're playing is terrible!!! Especially since the game doesn't even pause! It's one thing when it happens when you're first starting off, but when you're about to complete a mission or on a record run, it's just down right frustrating.
This game is fantastic. We love how it challenges us and makes us want to keep playing. However, the ads are outrageous. We can be in the middle of our game, doing well, when suddenly an ad pops up and we automatically crash and have to start over. It's ridiculous. That's why we took 3 stars off.
Would be a fun game, but they make ads pop up IN THE MIDDLE OF THE GAME which causes you to crash and lose what otherwise might have been a good run.
While we will say the game is simple to learn and fun to play, the ads take all the fun out of it. As others have said right in the middle of a run an ad will pop up causing you to loose. If you must have so many ads can't you at least wait until after your run? Fix this and we will give more stars. Does anyone think we will buy their lame products after they just caused us to loose.
Okay,this game is fun we have to say,but think about this Ketchapp creators if you want people to play your games then why are you making people pay money not to lose the game,it's ridiculous and needs to be removed,or else no one is going to play your games.If this affended anyone sorry just telling the truth.
We've tried to ignore this problem for a while as we've LOVED playing this game so far, but now it's finally gotten to us. We can deal with ads, but having ads pop up in the middle of gameplay is infuriating. There's legitimately no reason to do this. If the game makers really care about this app, they'll take care of this issue. Otherwise, we'll be deleting this app in the near future.
The game itself is fun enough, as it is challenging yet possible, however the ads kill the gameplay. It's hard to be good at a game when an ad pops up WHILE YOU ARE PLAYING and the game doesn't even pause, making for an almost sure death. We even had to eventually delete it because it was so aggravating when we would be, say, 15 points into a good game and then an ad would pop up out of nowhere and crash us. We wouldn't suggest you download this game unless you like a sketchers commercial to interrupt you during a good run.
Really fun until your in the middle of a run and an ad pops up and causes you to lose…. Super annoying.
In the beginning we were pretty entertained by the game and liked the difficulty but we had to delete the game because of the constant advertisement. Ads pop up during the game and some take awhile to allow you to close them. Gets very annoying and we wouldn't suggest downloading this game.
The pop-up ads in the middle of the game are pretty ridiculous. They deduct significantly from the game's playability and likability. We would give this game a 5 star rating if it had, for example, only an ad between each game. The game itself is wonderfully fun, and, forgetting the issue of the ads, probably deserves a place in the App Store amongst viral games such as "crossy road". Developers, don't you think that if "Magic River" had better reviews and became more popular, you could make more money even if you didn't put ads in the middle of the game.
Ads pop up in the middle of the game and kill you once you click out. They don't even pause the game they just straight out kill you! So stupid.
A relaxing game. It is difficult to play at first but then becomes a great game, BUT the ads make it nearly impossible to play or break your high score because it will pop up an ad without pausing the game. If you do not want to purchase ad removal we would not recommend.
This game is pretty addicting, okay. However, the only annoying thing is the advertisement. Seriously. Why tf do adds pop in the MIDDLE of our game. Okay, we get it – you guys need to make money. But seriously? You have to put them in the middle of our game????? It totally messes us up and we honestly don't feel like playing after an ad suddenly pops up and makes us lose. Am we playing a game or watching advertisements???? We're going to delete the game rn, bye.
It's a great game, but it plays ads in the middle of your game and we really really hate that. Plus, most of them take 5 seconds to exit so you can't even continue your game.
At this point this game is barely even playable. Half of the games you start end abruptly when a full screen ad pops up and you lose. There's always that banner ad at the bottom of the screen, too.
Its too far down the line youll probably never update this game But hopefully someone will notice this, the red parrot character that rafts on the gold bird cage is facing the wrong direction. We love birds and hope youll fix this because hes our favorite character but we unplayable because it gets confusing where his hit box is.
User feedback from Apple App Store
App Details
- Version: 1.2
- Size: 182.00 MB
- iOS: 6.0 or later
- Languages: EN
- Content Advisory:
- Developer: Ketchapp
Last updated: 24th October 2015 | Genre: Casual, Action | Developer: Ketchapp