We have a lot of rouge lite games on the market nowadays. The Last Spell first stood out to me because of its pixel art style and turn-based combat. This game reminded me of a Dungeons & Dragons campaign I played a few months ago where we had to defend a town against a horde of monsters and it was down to the heroes to try and save the day. However, the one big difference is that in the D&D campaign, we managed to succeed, while in The Last Spell, it wasn’t long before I was kicked to the curb. It gives off huge retro vibes and after watching the trailer I wanted to give it a shot and see if it could dethrone my favourite rouge lite (Dead Cells), spoiler alert it doesn’t but it’s still a good game, nonetheless.
This dark Fantasy Tactical RPG puts the player straight into the thick of it. War and a hand full of mages seeking power, brought about The Cataclysm, which put the whole world on the brink of destruction. There are only a few safe Havens that are keeping up the fight against the hordes that emerge at night. Your job is to manage a group of heroes whose only mission is to protect the mages from the monsters until they can cast The Last Spell, which will banish all magic from the world and restore peace. The game is split into Day and Night, by day you will fortify your town, level up your heroes and prepare for the nights ahead. When night falls, you will defend the mages against the hordes of randomly generated monsters that come in all shapes and sizes. It is worth noting that you will die, a lot and it was only after the third time in a row that I failed I found out that this is kind of expected and not a huge problem. You could say that it was meant to be.
The Last Spell uses turn-based tactics for its combat and it’s surprisingly fun. Normally I’m all for a hack and slash, guns-blazing combat but having to take it more strategically is a nice change of pace. The game as briefly mentioned above is split mainly between day and night. During the day you will get to spend your gold and resources to prepare you for the oncoming storm. Use resources to build new buildings, walls, traps, and watchtowers that will aid your Haven. Gold can be used to purchase weapons, armour, and potions for your heroes to make them stronger and more equipped against monsters. Each hero has their class system as well as a perks tree that you can personalise to your play style, it also means you can build your heroes as you see fit.
The fun truly begins when night falls. You will be given the chance to deploy your heroes to prepare, there is a flag that appears in the direction in which the monsters will appear. Use this brief opportunity to your advantage because once the monsters start coming, they will stop at nothing until they have killed all your heroes, destroyed the circle of magic, or you successfully kill all the monsters. I liked the hero abilities and having a good mix of heroes that could deal damage as well as buff one another was a huge success when I manage to get my dream team sorted. One of my main bugbears was the controls, I seemed to have my fair share of selecting the wrong things or activating the wrong ability. It did take me a few hours to get my head around the layout on the controller, but it feels like this game is more tailored for PC with a mouse and keyboard setup.
Being a rouge lite there is no shortage of challenges. Whether that be the hordes or monsters or trying to successfully build your Haven to be able to fend off the hordes long enough for your heroes to take them out. It does feel like there is a big learning curve in the early hours of the game, once you get your head around everything it starts to become natural and you can manage the hordes more effectively.
Graphically The Last Spell is fantastic and I love the little avatars for the heroes, structures, and monsters. Sadly, there is no voice acting instead we get the good old-fashioned text which still does a good job of revealing the story and giving the hero’s character. The music fits perfectly and the pixel style they went with complements the game so much, it’s nice seeing new games still using this style. The visuals when the heroes use their spells are cool and look polished. The UI is a bit awkward on the PlayStation 5, it feels like the whole UI is designed for the mouse and keyboard and then you have annoying shortcuts that I kept forgetting and ended up selecting the wrong things.
There is a decent amount of gameplay in The Last Spell that will keep you entertained for hours. The only thing I will say is that it does get a tad bit repetitive after a few hours of playing. It gets very samey and becomes a bit of a grind, it feels like you are doing the same things over and over which when playing long sessions can get a bit boring. Don’t get me wrong I do enjoy playing The Last Spell and the concept is simple but effective, though there is only some much horde slaying I can do.
Conclusion
When it comes to The Last Spell it is a decent rouge lite Tactical RPG that fills a few hours of my day with challenging encounters. However, it does get repetitive quite quickly and you feel like you are stuck in a loop. It feels very limited when you have one area of the map that you have to defend night after night and most of the time you feel like you’re barely hanging on. Toward the middle point in the game, it picks up but it still is the same basics that fundamental make The Last Spell a good game and not a great one. The visuals are stunning and the hero’s levelling and perks trees help give the game a level of diversity when using the heroes in combat but ultimately if you aren’t one for repetitive mechanics in games then this one isn’t for you. I, on the other hand, did enjoy The Last Spell even though at times I felt like it was a never-ending grind but I persevered and came out on top, and for those reasons I’m giving The Last Spell a 7 out of 10.
Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Mac operating systems, Microsoft Windows
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