''Spellbreak'' was a

free-to-play "Free-to-play" ("F2P" or "FtP") video games are games that give players access to a significant portion of their content for free. The term "free-to-play business model" or simply, "free-to-play model", refers collectively to business models tha ...

, class-based

third-person shooter Third-person shooter (TPS) is a subgenre of 3D shooter games in which the gameplay consists primarily of shooting. It is closely related to first-person shooters, but with the player character visible on-screen during play. While 2D shoot 'em ...

video game A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...

developed by

Proletariat The proletariat (; ) is the social class of wage-earners, those members of a society whose possession of significant economic value is their labour power (their capacity to work). A member of such a class is a proletarian or a . Marxist ph ...

for

Microsoft Windows Windows is a Product lining, product line of Proprietary software, proprietary graphical user interface, graphical operating systems developed and marketed by Microsoft. It is grouped into families and subfamilies that cater to particular sec ...

PlayStation 4 The PlayStation 4 (PS4) is a home video game console developed by Sony Interactive Entertainment. Announced as the successor to the PlayStation 3 in February 2013, it was launched on November 15, 2013, in North America, November 29, 2013, in ...

Xbox One The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. Announced in May 2013, it is the successor to Xbox 360 and the third console in the Xbox#Consoles, Xbox series. It was first released in North America, parts of Europe, Austra ...

and

Nintendo Switch The is a video game console developed by Nintendo and released worldwide in most regions on March 3, 2017. Released in the middle of the Eighth generation of video game consoles, eighth generation of home consoles, the Switch succeeded the ...

, released on September 3, 2020. On June 28, 2022, it was announced that ''Spellbreak'' would shutdown in early 2023. It was shut down on January 10, 2023.

Gameplay

''Spellbreak'' was a projectile-based PvP shooter, however, unlike other shooters, it used gauntlets that fired

magical spell An incantation, spell, charm, enchantment, or bewitchery is a magical formula intended to trigger a magical effect on a person or objects. The formula can be spoken, sung, or chanted. An incantation can also be performed during ceremonial ritu ...

s in place of guns. Additionally, players could levitate and carry one 'Rune', giving access to abilities like flight, teleportation or invisibility. Players could choose from one of six elemental classes:

wind Wind is the natural movement of atmosphere of Earth, air or other gases relative to a planetary surface, planet's surface. Winds occur on a range of scales, from thunderstorm flows lasting tens of minutes, to local breezes generated by heatin ...

fire Fire is the rapid oxidation of a fuel in the exothermic chemical process of combustion, releasing heat, light, and various reaction Product (chemistry), products. Flames, the most visible portion of the fire, are produced in the combustion re ...

, ice, lightning,

stone In geology, rock (or stone) is any naturally occurring solid mass or aggregate of minerals or mineraloid matter. It is categorized by the minerals included, its Chemical compound, chemical composition, and the way in which it is formed. Rocks ...

and

toxic Toxicity is the degree to which a chemical substance or a particular mixture of substances can damage an organism. Toxicity can refer to the effect on a whole organism, such as an animal, bacterium, or plant, as well as the effect on a subst ...

, which granted in game benefits related to that element. Each player started with their class gauntlet permanently attached to them and could pick up one of the other five as a secondary. Gauntlets could deal a primary attack, called a spell, and a secondary attack, called a sorcery. Spells were limited by Mana which was an energy pool shared with levitation, while using a sorcery triggered a cooldown timer. Elements from different gauntlets could be combined to make spells more powerful, provide crowd control effects, or reduce others, depending on strategic desires. According to the developer the game also included

role-playing Role-playing or roleplaying is the changing of one's behaviour to assume a role, either unconsciously to fill a social role, or consciously to act out an adopted role. While the ''Oxford English Dictionary'' offers a definition of role-playing ...

and

roguelike Roguelike (or rogue-like) is a style of role-playing game traditionally characterized by a dungeon crawl through procedurally generated levels, turn-based gameplay, grid-based movement, and permanent death of the player character. Most ro ...

elements. Game modes included battle royale and Clash, a

team deathmatch Deathmatch, also known as free-for-all, is a gameplay mode integrated into many shooter games, including first-person shooter (FPS), and real-time strategy (RTS) video games, where the goal is to kill (or "frag") the other players' characters as ...

. With the release of Chapter 2 on April 8, 2021, Dominion, a 5v5 mode featuring control points would replace Clash.

Development

The core combat was inspired by old school shooters like '' Quake'' and ''

Unreal Tournament ''Unreal Tournament'' is a 1999 first-person shooter game developed by Epic Games and Digital Extremes. The second installment in the '' Unreal'' series, it was first published by GT Interactive in 1999 for Windows, and later released on the P ...

''. At the time the Battle Royale genre was and CEO Seth Sivak remembers thinking "was really a competitive roguelike for people that didn’t play roguelikes" wondering "Could we do a cool, interesting fantasy version of that and make it into something awesome? All the mean while finishing it up with in 2 years and with a team of 6.’" The setting was decided on after the team realized that most Battle Royale games were gun based and felt that they could produce a

fantasy Fantasy is a genre of speculative fiction that involves supernatural or Magic (supernatural), magical elements, often including Fictional universe, imaginary places and Legendary creature, creatures. The genre's roots lie in oral traditions, ...

themed version of the genre. According to executive producer Cardell Kerr the game was initially more "swords than sorcery" although the balance would eventually switch. The gameplay was influenced by such games as ''

'' and '' Quake'', while the visual design was influenced by such anime films such as '' Akira'' and ''

Princess Mononoke is a 1997 Japanese animated historical drama, historical fantasy film written and directed by Hayao Miyazaki. Set in the Muromachi period of Japanese history, the film follows Ashitaka, a young Emishi prince who journeys west to cure his curs ...

'' as well as the animated series '' Avatar: The Last Airbender''. Further inspiration for the visuals came from games with "gorgeous visual effects like 2D ''

Castlevania ''Castlevania'' (), known in Japan as is a gothic horror action-adventure video game series and media franchise created by Konami. The series is largely set in the castle of Count Dracula, the arch-enemy of the Belmont clan of vampire hunters. ...

s'', ''

League of Legends ''League of Legends'' (''LoL'', commonly referred to as ''League'', is a multiplayer online battle arena video game developed and published by Riot Games. Inspired by ''Defense of the Ancients'', a Mod (video games), custom map for ''Warcraf ...

'', and '' The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild''." Proletariat announced in late June 2022 that they would stop working on further updates for ''Spellbreak'' as they had been acquired by

Activision Blizzard Activision Blizzard, Inc. is an American video game holding company based in Santa Monica, California. Activision Blizzard currently includes three operating units: Activision, Blizzard Entertainment and King (company), King. Founded in July 2 ...

and were transitioning to incorporate into

Blizzard Entertainment Blizzard Entertainment, Inc. is an American video game developer and Video game publisher, publisher based in Irvine, California, and a subsidiary of Activision Blizzard. Originally founded in 1991, the company is best known for producing the h ...

's team that is in charge of developing ''

World of Warcraft ''World of Warcraft'' (''WoW'') is a 2004 massively multiplayer online role-playing (MMORPG) video game developed and published by Blizzard Entertainment for Windows and Mac OS X. Set in the '' Warcraft'' fantasy universe, ''World of War ...

''.

Reception

''Spellbreak'' received "generally positive" reviews for Microsoft Windows and Xbox One and "mixed or average" reviews for PlayStation 4 and Nintendo Switch, according to review aggregator

Metacritic Metacritic is an American website that aggregates reviews of films, television shows, music albums, video games, and formerly books. For each product, the scores from each review are averaged (a weighted average). Metacritic was created ...

References

External links

* {{Official website, https://playspellbreak.com/en 2020 video games Battle royale games Fantasy video games Free-to-play video games Inactive multiplayer online games PlayStation 4 games Unreal Engine 4 games Windows games Xbox One games Nintendo Switch games Video games developed in the United States Products and services discontinued in 2023