The Spell Brigade Review — Fireballs for Friend and Foe

The Spell Brigade is a survivor-like bullet hell game where players take on the role of monster-hunting wizards, bringing in their own unique spells and amplifying them with powerful modifications to create devastating combos, earning gold and mastering their chosen wizard as they try to survive across a series of increasingly difficult maps, larger and larger hordes of monsters, and, of course, their very own spells.

If you’re familiar with the survivor-like genre, then I don’t really have to explain the gameplay in The Spell Brigade to you. Players aim to survive for a certain amount of time on their chosen map and difficulty setting, with more and more enemies spawning over the course of the match. Your chosen wizard has their own unique spell, which autocasts on a timer, and killing enemies allows you to pick up mana orbs which unlock more spells, passive buffs, or augmentations to spells you already have.

Something I often complain about in this genre is when a survivor-like fails to create a real, unique identity among the many spells and augmentations awarded throughout a game. Spells need to be unique and fun to use, and the buffs you pick up need to be more than simple incremental number bonuses to keep my interest. While The Spell Brigade does have its fair share of invisible number buffs in its rewards, I will say that most of the augmentations and buffs are pretty unique, often modifying the existing range of unique spells with fun effects like splitting a projectile on impact or causing your AoE damage to heal you and your allies.

That’s something you’re likely to notice quickly in The Spell Brigade, either by playing or simply through the game’s branding: it is intended to be played with multiple people, with up to four players per game. While the game is certainly a lot more fun in multiplayer, I spent most of my time playing solo, and it certainly does not cheapen the experience. If you can’t find friends to play with or you don’t want to play with strangers online, you can absolutely enjoy The Spell Brigade as a solo player without the experience being too hard or missing out on too much of the fun.

One aspect I really appreciate about the multiplayer playstyle is that friendly fire is enabled by default. While there is an unlockable option to disable it, you’re really missing out on the chaos that comes from four players with big AoE spells casting willy-nilly with no regard for their own safety or the safety of those around them. Getting hit head-on by a spear falling from the sky because you weren’t paying attention to where you were walking is silly, and while some players might find that the friendly fire makes the game unnecessarily more difficult, I think it was perfect when paired with the game’s overall vibe.

Said vibe is wizard, but like, funny wizards. While the hordes of enemies are outright terrifying, the entire game has a very warm, cartoonish style. The cast of unlockable wizards all wobble about with unique animations and fun character designs, and the whole thing has this sort of carefree attitude that makes it easier to vibe with the chaotic nature of the gameplay.

My favorite aspect of the gameplay has to be the way elemental augments are implemented in the many spells you can acquire. Improving a specific spell enough times gives you elemental imbuements, which apply specific status effects to enemies they hit. Said elements can then be combined, which not only combines their status effects but also gives them a new cosmetic flavor. I was thrilled the first time I combined fire and lightning into Plasma and watched my moonerangs apply burning chain lightning to everything around me.

While I did say the game can be played solo, some elements don’t feel designed with solo play in mind. Specifically, certain missions, such as cleaning up goo, which is a task that requires you to manually walk over a large area and remove debris from the floor in the process, feel like an outright chore to accomplish when you’re on your own. In this specific example, there is just too much ground to cover for one solo player to reliably get it done, especially with enemies around.

“Too much ground to cover” is also how I would describe the progression system as a solo player. While giving the game a sense of long-term progression is healthy, I felt like locking certain aspects, such as new powers or augments, behind the specific amount of progress the developers chose made trying to unlock them as a solo player incredibly grindy. Your opinion on this aspect may differ depending on how much you enjoy playing the game, but I definitely felt like it gave the game a sense of a lack of variety early on, as you really had to grind to unlock everything you can play with.

I really like The Spell Brigade. I enjoy the specific, friendly-fire-friendly approach it takes to cooperative gameplay, and the general way in which the game handles the survivor-like genre as a whole. There are elements I would change to make the experience more friendly for a solo player, but as it stands, I doubt you’d have a bad time giving this title a try, with friends, online, or on your own.

Try Hard Guides was provided a Steam code for this PC review of The Spell Brigade. Find more detailed looks at popular and upcoming titles on our Game Reviews page! The Spell Brigade is available on Steam.