Developer: Bolt Blaster Games
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), Linux
Genre: Action, Casual
Publisher: Bolt Blaster Games
The Spell Brigade is a survivors-like bullet hell. This game was developed and published by Bolt Blaster Games. The Spell Brigade is similar to Children of Morta and Gatekeeper: Infinity. The Spell Brigade is available for Windows and Linux. It’s currently in early access.
The Spell Brigade is an online co-op game where you can play up to four players. In the game, you team up as wizards who slay hordes of dark creatures. Progress through each run as difficulty increases, complete team-based objectives, unlock new upgrades for spells and create overpowered synergies. Beware that when playing in a team, friendly fire is on!
The Spell Brigade is a 1-4-player game where you can play online with others. We found that the multiplayer aspect of the game worked really nicely in the sense that it made dealing with hordes a lot easier. The only issue that we came upon was that when selecting upgradable cards, it would freeze for one of the players in the game and would need to restart the round. It is possible this is just a bug we encountered due to the game’s early stage, but besides that, there were no other issues. Finding online lobbies was relatively quick as well, where you could be placed with others easily. Having to play the game in multiplayer is not so difficult because everyone does their own thing and tries to build their own sets. It’s almost like an individual team basis.
The controls for this game are really easy to work with. So straightforward that the game can almost be played as an idle game. The game does not require you to shoot at enemies, which I felt took away from the gaming experience. As you only need to avoid enemies and select spells, there is not much of a combat aspect. I do wish that there was at least the ability to aim and shoot at enemies rather than automatic firing, which would make the game more fun to play.
The Spell Brigade features a semi-realistic cartoon art style that somewhat resembles that of League of Legends. The 2D and 3D graphics blend really well to create a hectic top-down view for players. The quirky enemy designs create horrific creatures that progressively get more and more terrifying. The game also features three distinct maps that can be unlocked, each with its own theme. The only thing I did not quite like was that the maps had the same enemy designs, but rather was hoping for variation based on the allocated biome. Spell effects and enemy attack animations make the game look a lot more realistic and create a hectic atmosphere once a swarm starts to build. I do like the addition of boulders, rocks, and walls in the different maps that make it easier for players to evade the swarms. Animations in the game are really cute as your tiny wizard runs around the map holding onto their spell book in their arms. The visuals for The Spell Brigade work nicely with the soundtrack as you hear endless amounts of shooting, levelling up, and running steps. The soundtrack is also really nice, where the main menu features a little rock n roll score whereas in the game you have a more lighthearted, tambourine score.
The Spell Brigade has been designed in a way to create a simple yet hectic bullet hell where players can jump into a round without having to worry too much about their spells. At first, it takes some practice/runs in order to figure out which spells can work together to become overpowered, but this makes it really fun for players to mess around with different synergies. The game also includes several unlockables and upgrades, such as carrying out quests, upgrading enchantments, unlocking other wizards who have higher stats, and even getting to unlock outfits for your wizards. Something I really enjoyed was the design for the 8 wizards that are currently available, each having unique masks and robes that truly make them stand out.
As for the gameplay for The Spell Brigade, it does get repetitive, as all you need to do is evade swarms of dark creatures whilst equipping upgrade spell cards every minute. The main premise is you control your wizards to run around as they shoot enemies to collect their mana and level up. I did like that the game included random events that would help you level up to get better upgrades. The events were quite unexpected, which made each run so much more fun. In addition to that, the end of the run was encountering a boss, and this made it so some players would play their spell upgrades smartly in order to defeat the boss. Then again, even with the three maps, the boss for each of them was the same. So, I would really like to see some variance in the enemies. It is a nice-going game where things can start to get more and more difficult, but not in a way that would make players rage. Players can strategize, which makes them wary of what they choose to upgrade in order to progress through runs quickly.
We were provided with codes to play with friends. Vroggo said the following: “Spell Brigade was unexpectedly more developed than I thought it would be in its early access phase. I liked the biome terrain and environmental hazards on each map; the character designs are well-put together, colourful, and unique; there are little to no issues with multiplayer (except some lag while playing with a friend); and the difficulty of the game softens as the game progresses by unlocking enhancements and rewards from challenges.
However, some improvements could be made to make the experience better. Elemental infusions should be more descriptive as to their effects, such as what happens when two of the same or different elemental infusions combine, or what’s the difference between acid and fire DoT effects? I also suggest there should be more variety in enemy/boss design according to the biome/map they’re in, and this could be as simple as a change of colour or an entirely different set of species. Lastly, relics don’t feel as special as they should be. I don’t find most of the effects largely impacting my build in unique ways, like the spell augmentations. Except for the armour effect, which really boosts the survivability rate.”
If you are looking for a hectic bullet hell game where you need to pick from several upgrades to create a powerful build, then this game is just for you. You can play this game either by yourself or with a party of up to 4 players. The game features several wizards to choose from, different maps, quirky cartoonish visuals, and a great selection of upgrades and spells to use. If The Spell Brigade sounds like a game for you, then be sure to check it out!
Overall: 6.5/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
