Spellbreak, the new spell-slinging battle royale from Proletariat, Inc. has officially had over 2 million players during the first week of launch, but there are a lot of players who are still wondering what the game is, and if it's right for them.
Before anything else, Spellbreak is a battle royale, though the developers have hinted at a Team Deathmatch mode. While this mode was available during the open beta, it isn't in Spellbreak at launch and has no planned release date at the moment. For players who don't enjoy battle royale games, Spellbreak is likely going to be another miss.
That said, there are millions of players who love the battle royale genre, and for them, Spellbreak may be the new competitor for their time. The free-to-play game should be especially of interest, though, for players who've been enjoying Apex Legends.
Speallbreak Turns the Movement Up to 11
Over time in Apex Legends, the developers have needed to repeatedly nerf movement abilities and repositioning options for players. This has included more than doubling the cooldown of Pathfinder's (one of the most popular legends in the game) main movement abilities, the grappling hook. Apex Legends has also seen the repeated tweaking of Loba's teleporting tactical and Wraith's void run, making the abilities weaker and less consistent as movement tools.
For players who loved the movement of old Apex Legends, Spellbreak will be a welcome dose of mobility nostalgia. The movement options in the game are unmatched, with long-range teleportation, sudden dashes, and flight being accessible to all classes through runes. Additionally, certain classes like the Tempest have even more movement abilities at their disposal, meaning Spellbreak has dynamic and interesting fights where repositioning and smart movement are reign supreme. It's like every player is an un-nerfed Pathfinder.
Spellbreak Has A Long Time to Kill
There are lots of players who come back to Apex Legends again and again because fights last long enough to be dynamic and give the player time to react to sudden attacks. Many battle royale games have extremely punishing health systems where getting caught off guard means instant death, but Apex has always been more forgiving about that.
Spellbreak has a similar time to kill to Apex Legends if players can hit every shot, but everything in Spellbreak has travel time, and players are slippery targets. This results in knock-down-drag-out fights that are incredibly satisfying. Sneaking up on someone in Spellbreak might get players the first shot, but their victim is always going to have a legitimate chance to fight back and out-skill their stealthy assailant.
Spellbreak's Powerful Team Combos
One of the most satisfying things to do in Apex Legends is working with synergistic legends within a squad. Whether players are hunkering down as Wattson and Caustic, or hunting down with Bloodhound and Bangalore, the composition of Apex Legends' squads has always been a fun element that many other battle royales are missing.
Spellbreak goes a step further than even Apex Legends does with their synergies, as the magic players use react and change other spells they hit. This means a Toxicologist and a Pyromancer work together to cover the ground in deadly dragonfire, or a Tempest and a Conduit can combine to create massive electrified tornados. All of this leads to a fun term-work filled experience when players squad up. Even for players who prefer solo-play, Spellbreak's gauntlet system lets players master two elements, and though it won't be as potent as two main-hand users combining their powers, solo players can still summon devastating combo spells of their own.
Spellbreak isn't going to replace Apex Legends in every player's heart, but for some, the spell-slinging battle royale might be exactly what they need in a new game. With awesome fights, cool visuals, and an interesting spin on the genre, players should look into taking up wizardry sometime soon.
Spellbreak is available on Steam, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PS4.