My love for Battle Royale type of games continues to grow. It’s seen me go from PUBG which will always be my first, to Fortnite and so on. My search continues and lately found Blazing Sails which was a Battle Royale where the player plays as a pirate and in true pirate fashion got to sail the open sea while trying to obtain that chicken dinner. The latest game, however, that has taken me by surprise was Spellbreak. Still sticking with the Battle Royale theme Spellbreak puts its own spin on the genre and removes guns, pickaxes and all that jazz and replaces them with magic! Spellbreak is available on the PC through the Epic Games store, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation and Xbox and what is even more amazing is the fact that it is Free to Play and cross-platform. This review will cover my time playing Spellbreak on PC and also enjoying the big new update that went live during the time I was covering this title. I would also like to mention that this game is in its early days and already has shown positive mechanics and is offering more game modes and further development as time goes on.
Spellbreak is a multiplayer action-spellcasting game where you play as a battlemage and must be the last one standing. A Battle Royale with a twist, it combines casting spells and mastering elemental magic to destroy your enemies on the Hollow Lands. The Hollow Lands is the map that players play on and from looking at the website the developers say that it is only the beginning to their adventure and will offer a lot more for players in future updates as they expand on the lore of the game and the greater world of Primdal. They have already started this with there recent update and new game mode that has dropped. They are fully committed to fleshing out the games lore and allowing the players to find out more behind this powerful place and its people.
Spellbreak welcomes players with a straight forward and simple tutorial that gets you battle ready with just one playthrough. You can choose between one of six magic abilities, these can be levelled up while you play. These abilities are Frostborn, Conduit, Pyromancer, Toxicologist, Stoneshaper and Tempest. My favourite is Toxicologist just because you can create a poison cloud that deals damage over time. Not only this but while you are playing you can pick up a secondary magic ability to combine it with the one that you take at the begin of the round. This is one of the reasons why I love this game because there are countless different combos that you can use to make whatever playstyle you want to go for. These abilities are granted through gauntlets which have different rarities, the higher the rarity the stronger the damage output. Certain magics work very well together and can create cool attacks while on the battlefield, for example, if you have the Tempest gauntlet you can combine it with the Pyromancer gauntlet to create a fiery tornado attack which is visually appealing and dishes out some big damage. Not only this but while you are exploring the map you can find hidden chests that contain magical runes and equipment that can boost your states. These additional items are health potions, armour potions and a number of different abilities like flying, teleporting, controlling time and becoming invisible. However, you can only hold one of these additional abilities at a time so finding the one that goes with your magic is key to your victory and team comp if you are playing with others.
There are currently four game modes, one which recently dropped. You have tutorial mode, practise mode, Battle Royale mode, which is where you will find yourself spending most of your time either playing Solo, Duo or Squads and finally, we have Clash. Clash recently came out and offers a nine vs nine scenario, which is like Fortnites team rumble where you have to be the first team to reach the score limit, don’t worry you keep all your gauntlets and abilities on death and respawn after a short while. I’m not really a fan of this mode as I feel like there is way too much going on and is very hard to focus when you have eighteen people firing off magic abilities all at once. It gets overwhelming and I find myself just dying and getting carried all the time. So, for me, I like to spend my time just playing the Battle Royale modes. When playing the Battle Royale mode when you die you die unless you are playing with other people. If you die your teammates have a chance to revive you so that you can continue the fight, you turn into a little orb that can move around and can get to safety and hide in cover as the enemy’s team can banish you which means that you are permanently dead. When this happens, you drop all your gear and the enemy can pick it up and loot your items, it also works the other way too when you kill enemies you get to loot their equipment. Trying to find the highest rarity for your loadout is very important as it helps increase your chances of victory.
It wouldn’t be a Battle Royale without the dreaded circle that closes over time, I like that Spellbreak gives you a bit of a boost when you get stuck in the circle so that you have a better chance at surviving. The map feels huge but sadly doesn’t really have much going on, you spend most of your game looting chests and outrunning the circle but when you do get into combat it’s where this game really shines. It’s really cool just firing off magically abilities rather than just using guns, it brings a fresh and well-needed feel to the Battle Royale genre and I’m fully on board with it. Though by using magic it comes with a price so that you aren’t just endless firing off magic you have cooldowns and mana bars that you have to watch out for, if you are mid-fight and run out of mana then it’s can be quite dangerous and could lead to you dying however it isn’t the end of the fight just find cover or back off a bit and let you mana and cooldowns rest and then continue the carnage.
Graphically, the game looks fantastic. Proletariat has done an amazing job at creating a unique Battle Royale and the map is full of beautiful locations and full of vibrant colours. The character designs are awesome and by the looks of things, you will be able to purchase more skins through the in-game store. these can be purchases with gold that can be bought or earned. However, it will take a lot of grinding to get gold through challenges and just playing, Gold works like Fortnites V-Bucks. Audio in Spellbreak is magical, the soundtrack is brilliant and the sound effects used for the casting of magic and general exploration creates a memorable experience. There are also emotes and artifacts and other cool things that can be added to your characters overall look but these are only cosmetic and don’t give you an upper hand on the battlefield.
Like all Battle Royale games, there is so much replay value. Spellbreak recently came out and has left the gates running. It’s has had a very positive start to its journey and promises a lot more for players along the way. As mentioned, it just dropped its Prologue: The Gathering Storm updated which bought a new mode, a battle pass like thing and a few new runes and other things. Which is promising for the players because it shows that the company is willing to offer content and keep the game fresh so that there is always something new and exciting going on. Not only this but you have a rotation in the shop so new things are always available for players that might want new shiny skins. For me, I can see me playing this one alongside my other main Battle Royales just because it’s a breath of fresh air and is exciting.
Closing Statement
Battle Royales are so much fun and can be played by anyone. Spellbreak offers a new and unique feel to the genre that people might want, I know that I welcome the change from guns to magic and am fully on board with the style of play that Proletariat has offered. Seeing as it’s only just come out and is already a fantastic game, I can’t wait to see what more will be added and what new things they will implement into the game. They recently added Chapters which is like a battle pass sort of system which I don’t know if I like but it is free so I can’t complain, the only reason I say this is because every game nowadays seems to offer one and realistically I don’t have enough time in the day to go through every game’s battle pass but like I said Spellbreak offers it for free so it’s a good bonus. That not the only free thing though Spellbreak is a free to play title which means you can jump right in now for free and join the millions of other battlemages that are taking to the Hollow Lands. It’s a refreshing, fast-paced action game that offers hours of gameplay and some magical moments, so put the guns down and get your mages hats because Spellbreak is a game I highly recommend you play and for those reasons, I’m giving Spellbreak a score of 7 out of 10.
Spellbreak is available on Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and PC
Pickup Spellbreak here for PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4, if on Nintendo Switch head here, the game is free 2 play.
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