Game Cover

Magice is yours to use.

Platform played on: Xbox One

# Review

One of my hobbies is playing bad games that flopped and from first glance, Spellbreak appears to fit that mold. It’s a battle royale that shut its servers just over two years after launch. The free-to-play battle royale game type is overdone so I expected a generic shooter that focuses more on monetization than on creating a unique gameplay experience. I was partially wrong.

Spellbreak is a fantasy shooter where one uses different gauntlets, each with an element associated to it, to fight and eliminate other players. Right off the bat, the game feels more nuanced than the other battle royales I’ve played in the past. One isn’t limited to RNG (items and weapons found on the map during the game); players in Spellbreak can select different skills and attributes to bring into the match, leading to different game metas for everything ranging from attacks to movement. One can practice and experiment with different combinations of equipment to optimize gameplay.

Complex game meta

My favourite aspect of the game is the combat gameplay; dueling other players on the map is extremely fun and unlike many other battle royales, skill and coordination plays a much greater factor than just getting the jump on someone. Another aspect of the game I enjoyed is the movement; it’s incredibly smooth and different gauntlets allow different movement patterns, such as using the Ice gauntlet to create an ice path to glide along.

Fast-paced duels

The game is being shut down so it’s obviously not perfect. For one, the game lacked a consistent player base; the lobbies are filled with bots which are not fun to duel with. I was reading into the reason behind the dwindling player numbers, and the chief reasons being cited were the lack of updates (no new elements being added to the game since release) as well as the removal of different aspects of the game to favour newer players (such as debuffing many movement perks). I found the game got quickly repetitive (as there were only 6 gauntlets to play with) and as a new player, I didn’t find too much of a skill gap. The map was also very generic and lacked many noticeable features used in other battle royales.

# Conclusion

A fun third-person battle royale with exciting and fast-paced gameplay.

# Overall rating: 7.8

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