By now, I think it’s pretty well known that I love a battle royale. Better still I love games that are cross-platform, and let you carry your progress with your account. Spellbreak is all of those things.
Playing on Switch and on PC, my progress is carried between them, seamlessly. My magic-flinging battlemage can fly around, no matter where I am.
What is Spellbreak?
42 battlemages drop onto an island. Only one can survive and win.
It’s another battle royale, but Spellbreak does plenty to set itself apart. Namely the role of battlemage. Grab your preferred gauntlet to drop with one set of elemental abilities, and you’re good to go.
Choose where to drop, by teleporting to one of the few randomised spots on the map and then hope you get somewhere free of enemies, so you can loot-up.
The gauntlets are a great idea. Giving you a choice of elemental powers.
Better still, Spellbreak lets you choose one to start with, and then you can pick another one up on your way.
Like most battle royale games, your loot is graded. So you can get basic gear and improved/better variants, depending on where you loot or how lucky you are.
Very quickly, you’re kitted-out with a couple of elemental gauntlets, some health and shield pickups to consume if needed, and you’re making your way as the circle closes.
Elemental mixes
Spellbreak sets itself apart by being focused on magic. Although the graphical style and fantasy dressing give me pretty strong Realm Royale vibes, it’s nothing like that at all.
No weapons here!
Spells, spells, spells. Oh, and all mages can levitate for a little while, so actually, verticality is a massive part of the game, too.
I pretty much always pick the wind element (Tempest, I believe). After I progress in a round a little, I can use my tornado spell, not only as an attack, but as a way to shoot myself into the air for an advantage.
Every gauntlet has a small, quick attack, and a bigger, almost area-of-effect attack (tornados & walls of fire anyone?). So you get some variety straight out of the gates.
Spellbreak really shines, though, when you mix your elements to give you better attacks (or turn enemy attacks to your advantage!). See a hurricane? Send in a fire attack and it becomes a fire tornado that will hurt the original caster of the tornado!
I’ve done the same with ice, getting frozen in my own windy funnel of doom.
I haven’t had chance to mix and match everything in the game. But knowing it’s there means I can experiment and get a new combo everytime I play for a while!
Gauntlets aside, Spellbreak lets you pick up an additional ability too.
Ranging from teleporting, to flying, jumping really high, going invisible or leaping forwards. I love the flight and the featherfall perks best. That vertical advantage, mixed with my winds of chaos feels great!
So far, so good?
I think it’s pretty clear that after few hours in Spellbreak, I’m having a good time.
Crossplay and cross-save works a treat. The combat is varied and interesting, with a lovely art style and loads of magic combinations to suss-out.
Two things stand out to me as areas for improvement, though. Nothing major, mind. Just a couple of bug-bears.
The map is pretty big for just 42 players. Of course this works both ways. You can drop with relative safety and loot. But it can also mean you don’t encounter someone for quite a while. It’s not massive, but it just feels like a touch smaller map, or a few extra players would balance it out.
My other issue is the rumble feature on Switch. I’ve set it to the lowest setting, which fixed it in one match. Only to find that it reverted to giving maximum rumble, even when the setting was at it’s lowest.
Generally speaking, a bit of rumble is fine. But full-tilt is loud and annoying, especially when you’ve just cast your own spell and nothing else is happening. It’s a real pain. Sure, not world-ending, but it needs looking at.
Otherwise, though…….I have no complaints. Spellbreak is a small package of good fun, at no cost!
Onwards and upwards
Spellbreak is seeing massive traction online, and it’s great to see. It’s a decent game with loads of depth that sperates it form the usual battle royale candidates.
The cross-play is an absolute must for me. Being able to play on Switch when I can’t get to my PC when it’s not practical is excellent. Carrying-on my progress regardless.
There are some cosmetics to purchase, but so far after every time I level up, Spellbreak has been generous in giving out the in-game currency, too. So I don’t feel like bnuying stuff is being rammed down my throat.
It’s free to play, so they have to make income somewhere! It’s not aggressive, it isn’t hampering the game in any way, so good for them.
If there’s a battlepass in a few months time, then that’s fine with me. Assuming it’s reasonably priced, in-line with everything else in the store, I hope it generates the income for Proletariat to give Spellbreak a long and healthy lifespan.
I can see myself dipping in and out casually for weeks and months to come. So hopefully I’ll get decent and master all of the spell combinations!
A great game, on all current platforms, for free. What more could you ask for?