This article originally ran under a different banner/website in September of 2020 and is now being here re-uploaded for purposes of convenience and consolidation. Please enjoy.
HEAR YE!!! HEAR YE!!! MY LOYAL FOLLOWERS!!! Have you ever wanted to have dominion over the elements and the mystical arts? Have you ever wanted to combat harsh words by flinging a fireball at your assailant? Or freeze them directly where they stand? Have you ever wanted to move the winds and the earth with a mere snap of your fingers? I, the Video Game Doomsayer, understand your dreams and desires. I frequently wish I had the ability to teleport myself out of awkward situations. Alas, I am a mere human and must take my mystical fantasies to the world of video games. Fortunately, there are a plethora of games that allow you to play as a mage. However, I have been keeping my eye on one specifically. One that would pity your spell casting skills against 42 other magic wielders in a battle royale. LADIES AND GENTLEMEN!!! I present my review of Spellbreak.
As I loaded into the tutorial for Spellbreak, I was informed I am a VowBreaker, a loose sub-faction of mages that choose to practice magic even though it is outlawed. I picture a world where mages were forced to flee cities out of fear of persecution for practicing magic. Forcing them to practice their craft in this battle royale in maybe a pocket dimension. I was eager to learn more of the lore of this world, but the tutorial quickly wrapped up and I was hurried into the battle royale. No additional story was given to me during my time with Spellbreak. Nothing new for a battle royale title I am assured, but why even start to establish a world and lore if you are not going to follow through with it. I am sure some of my more presentient followers will say there is more information on the Speelbreak wiki, and I would cry heresy to that. Merely, typing up random facts about your world and posting them online will never be considered worldbuilding to me. If players have to go hunting for lore outside your game, you have not created a fully fleshed-out world. My loyal followers, merely setting one up and not finishing it, is the tip of the iceberg when it comes to my disappointments with this title.
Walking away from the tutorial with a hunger for more of a story that was never satisfied, I was able to jump into a match fairly quickly. I was introduced to the six elements that you could wield: fire, ice, stone, wind, lightning, and toxic. Toxic, I thought, this seems oddly out of place alongside the more natural elements. Nonetheless, I was able to gain a handle on these different elements and the fact you could wield two of them at a time. You chose one element at the beginning that will accompany you throughout a match. You have the ability to equip the second element as you progress through the match. Each element would allow you to throw out a rapid spell that drains a mana bar, and a second, more powerful spell that doesn’t use mana but has a cooldown. These spells could be combined like creating Dragon’s fire by combining fire and toxic or sending a stone shockwave through a firewall to create fire trials.
Unfortunately, there is a lot of baggage in this spell casting battle royale. As soon as you drop down onto the map you will only be equipped with a common elemental gauntlet of your choosing. If you want the second element, you will have to search through endless crates and boxes to find one. Even when you have your preferred combination, you will need to search for different rarities of gauntlets. Common, uncommon, rare, epic and legendary gauntlets await you as you open boxes hoping to find them, and you will have to find them. I often found myself outgunned … I mean out spell casted…because my opponent had found legendary weapons before I did. On top of the different gauntlets, there are also different items, all with different rarities, to hunt for. Amulets increase your mana, boots increase your movement speed, and belts allow you to have a shield. You can also hunt for separate movement spells such as dashes, teleports, and the ability to fly. All these combined together to make me feel like when my opponents kill me, they simply had more power because they got lucky and found the proper gear.
If all the different rarities of items remind you of a certain battle royale, I am here to reassure you that I also felt the influence of a world popular battle royale weighing down on this title. Yes, Spellbreak could charitably be called a Fortnite clone. I am not just referring to the fact they are both battle royale titles. I am sure everyone is quick to point out the similarity between their two cartoony art styles, but I don’t fault Spellbreak for that. Art styles are often baked into games early in development; to ask a small studio to change it is a bit unreasonable. However, things like having rarity on items and shields that you can recharge with potions… I mean, shards, make it appear like Spellbreak is copying Fortnite’s homework.
Now Spellbreak boasts that you can combine spells to take down your opponents, I often found the wide-open spaces within the map make it easier to dodge the bigger spells. I found it was more effective to use faster spells as I dish out attacks at a rapid pace. The act of unloading spells into an opponent and waiting for my mana to quickly return, felt oddly familiar to shooting players in Fortnite. Mix this all together with a map that might be too large for 42 players creating a lot of downtimes, and you have a game that feels like it has taken too many ques from Fortnite.
Much like Fortnite, Spellbreak will often throw bots into matches. It is fairly easy to spot them because they don’t use the levitation ability to float in the air to dodge spells. Now I am not against Spellbreak using bots to pad out a lobby, but I feel the way they are used is pretty cynical. My first match in Spellbreak had me walking away from a champion. I was able to take down multiple opponents despite pulling up a menu screen that partly blocked my vision. I felt it was a little suspicious considering my next few games had skilled players capable of taking me down. I was able to pull a random Johnny off the street to see if he could repeat the effect. He also came in first place against players who didn’t seem capable of putting up a fight. I remembered the story of Fortnite adding bots in Chapter 2. Now, some might not find this crime egregious, I can’t help but have a sour taste in my mouth. Was Spellbreak worried if I was not crowned a champion in my first match, I would leave? Does Spellreak think that low of me? I would have helply suffered against skilled players rather than be lied to using Fortnite-styled bots.
I can hear some of you snickering. The Doomsayer just doesn’t like battle royale games, I hear you say. Well, Spellbreaker had an opportunity to get me into the genre but failed to utilize its unique premise. I love hurling spells around in games like League of Legends or Diablo III. Combing them correctly to do massive damage has always felt so skillful and satisfying, but I don’t feel like I am slinging spells in Spellbreak. I feel like I am holding guns that have been painted over to appear to be spells and magic. Spellbreak feels like one of those mods that replace spells in Skyrim with guns, but in this case, we are replacing Fortnite guns with spells. Spellbreak had every opportunity to set itself apart but kept coming back to Fortnite staples. If you are obsessed with the battle royale formula and are looking for something slightly different, this might hold you over until you return to your preferred battle royale. For me, Spellbreak does not have the magic to excite me.