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The Spell Brigade

93%Game Brain Score
gameplay, graphics
grinding, stability
93% User Score Based on 3,244 reviews

Platforms

PCPCSDSteam DeckWinWindowsLinLinux

About

"The Spell Brigade" is an online co-op survival game for 1-4 players where you and your wizard friends battle hordes of dark creatures and complete team-based objectives. With a friendly fire bullet hell feature, stepping on each other's toes can either lead to teammate's demise or a powerful revival. Master and upgrade your spells to create overpowered synergies and increase your chances of survival.

The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
The Spell Brigade screenshot
+8

93%
Audience ScoreBased on 3,244 reviews
gameplay100 positive mentions
grinding23 negative mentions

  • The game offers a unique co-op experience in the bullet hell genre, allowing players to team up and strategize together.
  • The spell infusion system adds depth and variety to gameplay, enabling players to create powerful combinations.
  • The developers are responsive to community feedback and regularly update the game, showing commitment to improving the overall experience.
  • Friendly fire can hinder cooperative gameplay, often leading players to avoid each other rather than work together.
  • The game currently lacks content, with limited enemy variety and only one boss across all maps, making runs feel repetitive.
  • Some spells and upgrades feel underwhelming or ineffective, leading to frustration in gameplay and limiting build diversity.
  • gameplay
    283 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The gameplay is characterized by a fun and addictive loop, particularly in cooperative play, where players can enjoy chaotic interactions enhanced by a friendly fire mechanic. While the mechanics are generally smooth and easy to grasp, some players find the gameplay can become repetitive and lack depth, with limited variety in spells and only one boss. Overall, the game shows promise, especially with frequent updates, but many hope for more content and improved mechanics to elevate the experience further.

    • “The gameplay loop is crazy fun with friends.”
    • “The game's fast-paced, roguelike elements mixed with its cooperative gameplay make it a blast, especially with friends.”
    • “Absolutely love this game, the art style is so cute and the gameplay feels very immersive.”
    • “To sum up, the gameplay is lackluster, with minimal sense of accomplishment and poor growth feedback, compounded by a lack of guaranteed rewards.”
    • “There’s literally one boss (across three worlds), and it's disappointingly simple with just one mechanic.”
    • “The gameplay itself feels repetitive, with each run feeling similar to the last.”
  • graphics
    176 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their unique and vibrant art style, which many players find charming and visually appealing. The visuals are described as smooth and polished, with a cartoonish aesthetic that enhances the gameplay experience, making it enjoyable and immersive. While some users note that the graphics are not the primary focus of the game, they still contribute significantly to its overall appeal, especially for a title in the survivor genre.

    • “The graphics are gorgeous, with a unique, vibrant art style that instantly draws you in.”
    • “Absolutely love this game, the art style is so cute and the gameplay feels very immersive.”
    • “The graphics are unique and visually appealing, adding charm and personality to the game world.”
    • “If you play single player it is just vampire survivors with slightly better graphics - not worth $10, in my opinion.”
    • “No, it's very generic; abilities don't stand out in any way, there's very little variety and the visuals are mediocre.”
    • “This is where gameplay is more important than aesthetics.”
  • music
    138 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The music in the game has received mixed reviews, with many players noting its repetitive nature and lack of variety, often leading to boredom during extended play sessions. While some appreciate the catchy and pleasant soundtrack, others criticize it for being too generic or not matching the game's atmosphere. Overall, players express a desire for more diverse tracks and unique music for different stages to enhance the gaming experience.

    • “Absolutely love this game, from the characters and their little backstories, to the OST (honestly have spent hours on the main menu just vibing to it).”
    • “The music, atmosphere, and color palette are all top-notch.”
    • “The soundtrack is great so far and hope we find that the rest of the maps get their own unique sounds to maintain their differences.”
    • “The music soundtrack gets old, and some of the spells are not as fun as others, but this should be easily fixed as the game is developed further in early access.”
    • “Listening to the same song on every map for dozens of minutes at a time is awful.”
    • “The music is very generic and sounds like simple stock music.”
  • story
    63 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's story aspect is largely criticized for its lack of depth and variety, with many players noting that there is no overarching narrative and only a limited number of repetitive quests across three similar levels. While some enjoy the quest system for providing direction, the absence of a compelling story and diverse challenges detracts from the overall experience, leading to calls for more content and engaging missions in future updates.

    • “Simply addicting and fun, with an engaging quest and leveling system that gives it plenty of replayability for the price of admission.”
    • “I like the quest system; it gives me a sense of direction and objective outside of surviving.”
    • “The quests to add more characters, costumes, and play areas keep it interesting.”
    • “No story.”
    • “With no real story as of the time of posting (2024-09-24), which could change in the coming future.”
    • “Same half dozen quests on all the maps.”
  • replayability
    45 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The game's replayability is a mixed bag, with some players finding it highly enjoyable and engaging due to randomized spell builds and unlockable content, while others criticize it for becoming repetitive and lacking diverse gameplay options. Many reviewers suggest that the limited number of unique maps and character playstyles diminishes long-term replay value, indicating a need for more varied content and game modes to enhance longevity. Overall, while some aspects contribute to replayability, significant improvements are needed to maintain player interest over time.

    • “Each run feels unique due to randomized spell builds, which adds to the replayability.”
    • “Simply addicting and fun, with an engaging quest and leveling system that gives it plenty of replayability for the price of admission.”
    • “If you're looking for a new game that's not too expensive, and that also has a lot of replayability from unlocking new upgrades, characters, and maps.”
    • “The game gets boring after a while and there's no replay value since the game is pretty much static after a certain point.”
    • “Game lacks real replayability.”
    • “The eight wizards also lack unique playstyles, differing only in starting spells and minor stat changes, which reduces replayability.”
  • humor
    39 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The humor in this game is largely derived from its chaotic co-op gameplay, where friendly fire leads to hilarious mishaps and unexpected team kills, creating a fun and often frustrating experience among friends. Players enjoy the absurdity of unique situations, such as negative movement speed and spell combinations that yield comical results, making it a perfect choice for lighthearted gaming sessions. Overall, the game successfully blends humor with cooperative play, resulting in memorable and laugh-out-loud moments.

    • “Go in, have fun with a friend or two, and try conquering hardcore with a right-only build and endless mode with friendly fire off. You are up for a very frustrating and funny game with your friends.”
    • “These wizards are funny little guys, and the friendly fire makes for a fun twist!”
    • “The co-op ranges from frustrating to hilarious, and while the game is still in its early stages and has a ways to go, there is quite some polish!”
  • grinding
    25 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Players generally find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mixed experience. While the initial unlocks are exciting, many feel that the later stages devolve into tedious grinding for upgrades and achievements, often leading to a sense of fleeting gratification. Suggestions for improvement include implementing more engaging unlock systems that require skill-based challenges rather than simply grinding, as well as addressing the balance of difficulty in higher levels to enhance replay value.

    • “You'll need a second life for grinding.”
    • “You're essentially enduring 20 minutes of grinding for a fleeting 5 minutes of gratification.”
    • “The game has a lot of potential, but right now the replay value is only grinding for the unlocks like other wizards and such, but some challenges are, as mentioned below, 100% RNG dependent, with the worst ones being the two cosmetic challenges that require 4 augments for a character's main weapon.”
    • “The HP and damage upgrades of the enemies are too grindy for me.”
  • stability
    12 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Overall, the game's stability is praised, with many users reporting minimal bugs and glitches, leading to an enjoyable experience. While a few players noted occasional minor issues, the optimization and content quality have improved since the demo, contributing to a solid and fun gameplay experience.

    • “No bugs, no glitches, just pure fun, and that's it.”
    • “Lots of content, good optimization, almost bug-free, and most importantly - fun.”
    • “So if your spell heals and freezes, congrats - you're healing your friend but now they can't move and will die shortly.”
    • “Little buggy sometimes, but besides that, better than the demo and bug fixes from the demo, so it's a very good start.”
    • “I haven’t encountered any graphical glitches; granted, I’m only a few hours in, but I don’t expect that to change much.”
  • character development
    10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The character development in the game is highly praised for its beautiful art and unique designs, which are considered standout features. Players appreciate the variety of unlockable outfits and weapons, enhancing the overall gameplay experience. The combination of appealing character aesthetics and engaging mechanics contributes significantly to the game's charm.

    • “One of the standout features is the character design.”
    • “Super beautiful art and great character designs drew me in.”
    • “I like all the weapons and especially love the character designs and outfits you can unlock, they're so cute!”
  • atmosphere
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its top-notch visuals, music, and color palette, contributing to an enjoyable vibe. However, some users feel that a lack of coherence detracts from the overall experience.

    • “The music, atmosphere, and color palette are all top-notch.”
    • “Amazing game, really enjoyed its vibe and atmosphere.”
    • “No atmosphere, no coherence.”
  • optimization
    8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The optimization of the game has been criticized for performance issues, particularly related to an fps lock and the default setting of "unlimited" fps, which some users find problematic. Many reviewers agree that these optimization concerns need to be addressed for the game to receive a more favorable evaluation.

    • “Fps cap or optimization fix is needed to prevent such issues, since the game defaults to 'unlimited' fps initially.”
    • “Performance issue – fps lock (not a huge issue but still, needs to be addressed).”
    • “Performance issue – FPS lock (not a huge issue but still, needs to be addressed).”
    • “FPS cap or optimization fix is needed to prevent such issues, since the game defaults to 'unlimited' FPS initially.”
    • “Might be a performance issue, no idea, but this absolutely needs to be fixed before I can give the game a positive review again.”
  • monetization
    6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    The monetization aspect of the game has received mixed reviews; while some players appreciate the absence of intrusive ads and pay-to-play mechanics, others feel that it ultimately devolves into a cash grab. Overall, it seems to deliver the experience it promises without excessive monetization tactics.

    • “Was a decent bullet hell survivor game, ended up as a cheap cash grab.”
    • “Just like the mind-numbing (in a good way) games I play on my mobile without all the annoying ads and pay-to-play nonsense.”
  • emotional
    2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative

    Reviewers emphasize that enhancing characters' emotional depth and their connection to the narrative could significantly increase player immersion, suggesting that a stronger emotional engagement would enrich the overall gaming experience.

    • “Giving characters more emotional depth and connecting them to a narrative could add an extra layer of immersion.”

Buy The Spell Brigade

14h Median play time
24h Average play time
10-47h Spent by most gamers
*Based on 10 analyzed playthroughs

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