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stormcallgaming · 1 year

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🖋️ Tiger’s Review; Spellbreak

As of January 10th, 2023, Spellbreak is no longer available to play because the server has been shut down. I wasn’t able to “finish” this game because I didn’t have enough time to get the last trophy, but I played enough to voice my opinion on this game. So let’s get into it!

I first played this game in October of 2020, about a month after it was released on the PS4. God, it does not feel like I first played that long ago, it only feels like a year lol I won my very first match and got 4 trophies while doing so which felt insane to me. It was cool but it felt so… wrong. I’m TERRIBLE at pvp and I never win anything, so the fact that I won my FIRST match… it felt like I just slipped into the twilight zone okay. I actually hate pvp and battle royale games, they’re not my thing for multiple reasons, the main reason being that I don’t like people and these games make me SUPER anxious.

I do dabble in these games sometimes, but only in moderation.

When I heard that this game was closing soon, I was like, “Okay, I’ll give this game another try and collect some more trophies before the game falls into the cracks of history.” It’s nice to be like, “yeah I was there, I played that, I got some trophies from that game that’s no longer available.” It’s a nice feeling.

However… I failed to get the 100%, missing just one. damn. trophy. I failed at my goal and there’s only one reason for this – I gave up before I started. The server closed on the 10th of January and I returned to the game on the 4th of January. I told myself multiple times that there was no way in hell I could get all classes to level 14 before the game closed. Because of this, I didn’t spend as much time as I could have grinding. But to be honest, I was trying to play the best I could rather than just getting the xp for reaching the end of the match so I wasted so much time joining matches and dying soon after.

As it turns out… it was very doable. The game went on for for about 13 or so hours after the timer hit zero and I was almost there. I was just about to hit 14 on one class and then I had one more to do at level 8. If I had put in the work properly, I could have gotten it and I think that’s what pisses me off the most. I’ve always been a self-sabotager and seeing it work in real time is super frustrating and annoying. Now, that game will sit at 71% forever because the game is no longer playable. Let’s just say, I won’t be forgiving myself for this anytime soon…

Matchmaking was pretty slow, taking a minimum of 6 minutes to find a match. This might have been because the server was closing so people figured there was no point in playing. I always chose squad because it’s less stressful to me when I’m on a team, but I usually ended up alone anyway, which was more stressful because I was alone against full teams. Activity picked up as the timer ticked down and it was taking 2-4 minutes for a match.

Once I started to play again, I realized that it was actually kinda fun, like Apex but with magic instead of guns. It still felt weird as hell that I was actually doing really well. At first, anyway. Once the big hitters got online, I was lucky to last 10 minutes which was frustrating when I was trying to grind xp. I regret not playing this game more, but like I said, PVP isn’t my thing and I had other games that I was more interested in. I’m not entirely sure why they decided to close down, I heard they were bought out by Blizzard or something? Maybe they’ll bring it back one day, who knows.

The game wasn’t fun for long, though…

It’s very repetitive which, I know I know, it’s a battle royale, of course it’s repetitive. But there’s only one map and it got boring doing the same map over and over again. Especially since I was grinding, I was super fucking anxious while playing. I have an anxiety disorder so I’m anxious on a good day, but my heart was racing and I jumped every time I was attacked. I ran for my life, my whole body tense because all I wanted was to survive to the end so I could get the xp to level up. But goddamn, those people don’t play. They LITERALLY chased me across the map and wouldn’t stop.

Like yeah, I get it, the whole point is to kill other players. But is it really fun to chase someone across the map who isn’t even attacking you or fighting back? You passed how many people and loot on the way, yet you’re still focused on killing me? I won’t lie, along with being anxious as hell I was getting pissed. I didn’t care about winning or fighting, I just wanted to survive, but it was getting harder and harder and I don’t know why.

On the last day, I stayed awake for over 24 hours grinding this game. It was a bad decision because my anxiety levels were topping the charts and I almost had a panic attack more than a couple times. I was exhausted and frustrated and I just wanted to get the xp and move on. It may be stupid, but I can’t STAND when people keep trying to kill you even though you’re not fighting back. It happens a lot in open world games and it pisses me off more than anything. Like, congrats, you managed to kill someone repeatedly who didn’t even ATTEMPT to fight you off. Feel like a big man, now? It’s kinda shitty and it gets under my skin like nothing else. So, running off anxiety and lack of sleep along with the pressure of not knowing when the server would finally shut down and then dealing with one of my biggest pet peeves… it was not a good time at all.

As of writing this, it’s the early morning of the 11th. I’ve gotten some sleep, but I still haven’t fully recovered from my high anxiety levels. The best way I can describe it is… you know how in some games, weapons have heat levels? Use it too much and it overheats and takes time to cool down before you can use it again. It’s like that for me. If my anxiety gets too high, my body kinda… not really shuts down but stops functioning properly until I’ve “cooled off” and my anxiety levels have lowered. Usually takes a couple days, so I’m still dealing with that. And I don’t even have a trophy to show for it…

I did most of my matches in a squad because I feel less pressure in a team. But somehow, at the same time, I also feel more pressure lmao Like, I don’t want to be a burden to my team but I usually am. I’m always the first to die despite trying my best but I always gave my team the first pick of good loot if they were nearby. I survived a lot more on solo simply because I hid and ran away when I saw others – I know I’m a coward, okay. In a squad, though, I can’t just abandon my team when they rush head first at the enemy. Well, I mean technically I CAN, but I feel bad doing that. At the very least, I was happy to act as a punching bag for the enemy, making them focus on me while my teammates fought… or ran away and left me to die.

I met sooo many people in squad matches that would attack their own team, killing us or getting rid of our armor as soon as we put some on, people that would just stand there as we fought, doing nothing to help us only to swoop in once we were dead, kill everyone, and then run away without even reviving us. Like, WHY? What’s the point of playing a SQUAD match if you care nothing about your team and refuse to help them? It annoyed me so feckin’ much. I know these people exist in all MMOs but it’s just frustrating.

I honestly think I would have liked this game a lot more if there was a story mode to it. I know most games like this don’t have one, but I think it would’ve made the game better. Like, what’s the story behind the breakers? Where did these powerful gauntlets come from? What about those annoying guardian NPCs that always kill me when I’ve just landed and have no gear? Why are we fighting other breakers? I need some lore here, okay, I have too many questions!

There are 6 classes (gauntlets) to choose from – Pyromancer, Stoneshaper, Conduit, Toxicologist, Frostborn, and Tempest. And there’s also an overall mage level that increases no matter which class you play. Pyromancer is the first class I reached 14 on because it’s my favorite :)

Here’s a breakdown of each class according to my own experience.

My absolute favorite class. The gauntlet shoots fireballs at the enemy and the special is a wall of flame that does a decent chunk of damage. It also sets stuff on fire. If I had played the game more, this would have been my highest class after getting them all to 14.

One of the OP 3 classes, in my opinion. The main attack is punching the ground which sends a crack through the ground in front of you and it does quite a bit of damage. Not good against people who refuse to stay on the ground for more than 2 seconds, but this is the reason for most of my kills lol The special hurls a boulder and if you take a direct hit, it does so much damage. I’m not sure how it happened, but my character ended up getting two boulders to throw before it went on cooldown.

This can be an annoying one if you’re on the receiving end because it shocks you (obviously) and stuns you for a few seconds. You hurl bolts of electricity with your main attack and summon a storm in a small area with your ultimate ability.

Another of the OP 3 classes. The main attack is… I think 3 or 4 strips of toxic liquid that creates a puddle of toxic liquid on the ground where it lands and yes, it hurts, even if you stand in your own puddle. The ability is pretty OP, creating a cloud of toxic gas that does sooo much damage.

The last of the OP 3 and my least favorite class. The main attack is the OP part, creating a bow and arrow out of ice. If you pull it all the way back and hit someone with it, it’s a one shot kill 90% of the time and it’s ridiculous. However, it’s offset by the fact that your opponent is rarely ever still and it takes time to aim, so getting this one shot kill is rare. It also creates a line of ice beneath the area that you can slide across. If you stand on this ice created by the enemy, it will slow and freeze you. The ultimate is an ice storm that freezes the enemy, but it goes down where you’re standing. No aiming and no moving with you so it’s only really useful if the enemy is right on you, but that doesn’t happen often unless you’re running at them.

This one is pretty cool. The main attack is shooting these little wind shurikens at the enemy that made me feel like a ninja. The ultimate is a giant tornado that sucks you into it and it’s hard to get away from. I don’t actually know if it does damage, I never paid enough attention, just tried to get away from it.

Most of these abilities have to be manually aimed, though, which I guess offsets the fact that they are powerful and do a lot of damage. Most of mine missed because of this and the fact that most people move too much or don’t stay on the ground at all. There’s also elemental reactions that can make them more powerful. For example, if you shoot fire at the toxic cloud, it explodes. If you shoot toxic gas at the tornado, it turns into a toxic tornado. It’s a really cool mechanic that I wish I could have experimented with more.

One thing I did not like was the ability to hurt yourself and your teammates with your own abilities. When you’re in the heat of battle, it can be difficult to keep track of the enemy and your teammate and I always felt so guilty when I was the reason my teammate lost health or, worse, died.

There’s also a lot of other things that could turn the tide of battle. Along with the gauntlets that start at white (common), you can find upgraded versions of them along with runes and armor. Like most games, they go white, blue, purple, and orange (being legendary.) I can’t remember what blue and purple are, honestly.

The runes are also a game changer if you get the right ones. When I was just doing solo xp runs, it meant A LOT of running from the enemy. These are the most useful or fun ones in my opinion:

Invisibility: You go invisible (covered in purple on your own screen) which helps you with running away or sneaky attacks. You can use potions without breaking it, but if the opponent hits you with a random attack, it breaks it. I don’t know if dashing is also supposed to break it, but it did for me sometimes.

Flight: This is EASILY the most fun rune and it’s also good for running away. You shoot up into the air before shooting forward like feckin’ superman. Not only can you get away easily, you can easily outrun the coming storm. It’s also just really fun, did I mention that?

Featherfall: It shoots you up into the air and gives you a slow landing. Surprisingly good for running away and it’s also pretty because you get a trail of feathers.

Wolf’s Blood: Using this lets you see the nearby enemies in red. I only used this when in squads because it made me feel useful to them for the first time lmao

The worst rune, in my honest opinion, is that chronomaster(?) one. I never figured it out and it’s just annoying. When you use it, it creates this time distortion that activates after a few seconds, pulling you back to the point you used it. It always messed me up rather than helping me.

I really wish I could have gotten a pic of my stats before the server went down, but it went down in the middle of a match so I couldn’t get it. I did get a screenshot of my BEST match, though, and I’m super proud of it! 6 exiles in one match, I never thought I could pull that off haha

I will admit that this game is really feckin’ beautiful. The scenery is so nice and I wish I could have gotten more screenshots of it. I did grab this one, though. It’s one of my favorite areas with these maple(?) trees that are gorgeous.

It’s also a really small detail that I doubt anyone noticed, but the grass actually moves with the wind! I noticed it when I was hiding at the edge of the map where it’s most windy. It was quite beautiful if you ignore the SCREAMING WIND in your ear. It’s a nice detail that I’m glad they added.

I also want to give a shoutout to GEOR22_GR and BartholomeusM who helped me get the Stalwart Savior trophy. I was really stressing this because I found a bunch of people who said they were willing to help me but they never got around to it except for these two. I was getting more anxious as the time ticked down so I’m thankful to them for helping.

Another thing I wish there was more of was customization. Like, I wish you could customize how your character looks in regards to their hair, eyes, etc. You can buy costumes and stuff from the shop, but they’re expensive and it takes time to build up the coins needed to buy them.

The final thing I want to talk about is the names. I refuse to believe that each match was filled with actual people. I think most of them were just advanced bots used to fill half empty lobbies, but I can’t prove this. It’s mostly just the names and the fact that most of them would immediately game end as soon as the match started and most of them were ALWAYS in my matches. Here’s some of my favorite names that I came across and got a nice laugh from.

NowYouSeeDeadPeople (which I made a joke about because the first time I saw this name, he had been killed and I was like, “yeah I see dead people, it’s you” which I thought was funny but probably isn’t.) And, of course, IllegalSandwhichCombination which leaves me wondering which sandwhich combinations are deemed illegal. Also, I’m a bush (I was a bush a lot when earning xp. It worked only half the time.)

If you can read it, ItalianDressing. (I originally captured this photo to show off the wind moving the grass but then I realized you can’t feckin’ see that in a photo lmao)

I laughed so hard when I read that EvilToaster- killed HoudinisLeftShoe. Talk about the top 10 anime betrayals!

Don’t forget about PomeranianWarDog, I hear they are vicious as hell on the battlefield! They’ve seen some shit, man.

I am so sorry to TheFloorIsPizza. I didn’t want to do it to ya man, but it was an honor to fight you.

With that, I think I’ve said everything I have to say about this game. It was a fun experience and it’s a shame it got shut down. I have lots of regrets here, but that’s nothing new. I did manage to capture ALOT of videos about my matches which I’m still working on uploading to my YouTube channel. No commentary, but if you’d like to see them, you can check out the playlist!

I started this game on October 3rd, 2020. This game ended on January 10th, 2023.

My rating: ★★★★☆

#Game Reviews #spellbreak #mmo #fps #video games #games #game review #review #gaming #stormcallgaming

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