SPELLBREAK
We like it, but… actually, a lot
We’re guessing that if somebody offered you magic powers, you wouldn’t wish for the ability to guess somebody’s card, or the chance to go on hunger strike in a transparent box while somebody with a radio-controlled helicopter taunts you with burgers. You’d want powers of flight, invisibility, throwing fireballs, lightning; right? Then you’re in luck – Spellbreak gives you all of those and more!
Although the beta build we play is unstable (it crashes several times over a few days), what we get a taste of is delicious enough to keep us coming back for more. There are plans for more modes but, for now, Spellbreak is a battle royale. The art is amusingly derivative of Fortnite, yet this isn’t quite like anything you’ve played before.
Yes, you dive from on high onto a huge map, and the objective is to be the last player or team left standing. But something as simple as how you move around immediately differentiates this game from its many rivals. While there’s no sprint button, holding down q (rather than tapping it for a jump) sends you shooting high into the air for a few seconds, perfect for navigating the excellently designed map with its many buildings, mountains, hills, and canyons.
Similarly, if you find the right rune during a match, you gain a cooldown-based ability to briefly fly at great speed, or teleport a short distance. PUBG this ain’t.
Your magical attacks come from gauntlets.
You choose one to take into the match with you, and you can select and swap a second as you find them while you play. Fancy having both ice powers and toxic attacks? Wind and
THERE ARE EVEN WAYS TO MIX ELEMENTS, AS WE DISCOVERED TO
OUR DELIGHT.
lightning? Earth and fire? Go ahead! With two gloves, you can have whichever two you want – and you will definitely want different types. You see, there are even ways to mix elements, as we discover to our delight when, sending a tornado into a patch of toxic goo, our windy friend turns green and poisons our opponent. Hah!
Spellbreak is already fun, but there’s a list of tweaks we’d like to see before the final version hits. For example, with no sprint this seems to be a game crying out for a dedicated evade button. Attacks from behind usually mean you’re doomed. No matter what magic’s in use, it’s currently very difficult to tell where attacks are coming from if you don’t have sight of the enemy, which led to many a frustrating death for us. Still, it’s a great starting point, if nothing else, and we’re excited to see where it goes from here.
VERDICT
It’s already fun – we had a great time experimenting with magical blends – but a few tweaks and improvements to the stability could make this the next must-play battle royale. Luke Kemp