Magic. That's the takeaway word from Spellbreak's latest trailer, shown live at Gamescom Opening Night. Classic fantasy voiceover gave way to a Dragonforce-esque guitar solo to showcase the high-octane action involved in developer Proletariat, Inc.'s latest offering.
Spellbreak is described as "an epic fantasy action spellcasting game where players fight to become an all-powerful battlemage". That's right... it's another battle royale. Just this time with magic. The developer, Proletariat, Inc., hopes to make a splash in the crowded battle royale genre with their fantasy twist on the popular format.
The action-packed trailer gave some indication on how they hope to challenge titans such as Fortnite, Call of Duty: Warzone and Apex Legends. Hitherto battle royales have been mainly oriented around gunplay but Spellbreak looks to disrupt that trend with a spell-based battle system. Instead of landing into a map and adapting your loadout to the situation, Spellbreak introduces pre-selected classes into the mix. The class you choose affects what magic you can wield in-game and it seems like classic fantasy elements come into play. For example, Stoneshapers have the ability to use earth to their advantage whereas Conduits fight with lightning.
The Spellbreaker website gives some indication of the action on offer:
"Weave spectacular spell combinations, craft strategic builds, and master your environment as you dominate the Hollow Lands solo or with friends in a non-stop quest for survival."
However, there's still going to be classic battle royale mechanics to some extent as you can pick up gear throughout the game to boost your stats and give you the advantage over the rest of the lobby. Spellbreak will follow in the footsteps of the phenomenally successful battle royale behemoth Fortnite in being free-to-play, as confirmed by Proletariat Inc.
Spellbreak is due to launch on September 3 and is free-to-play on PC and console.
