The popularity of the auto-shooting genre doesn’t seem to be on the wane, with 2-3 typically launching weekly. With stiff competition in mind, it definitely helps to have a unique selling point or at least attempt to incorporate something new. Simply being a cheap download offering similar thrills to Vampire Survivors no longer cuts it. This is where Spellagis stumbles the most, being one of the most ordinary auto-shooters we’ve seen this year.
The screenshots on this page speak for themselves. This is a pixel art affair starring a variety of mages in coloured robes, fighting off the usual assortment of nondescript coloured blobs, snakes, ghosts, evil mages, and so forth. Waves last sixty seconds, and once wave 15 is beaten you’re deemed victorious and a new difficulty level unlocks – with 15 difficulty settings to beat and a wide range of mages with different stats to experiment with. To see everything will take a few hours, and there’s a screen full of permanent upgrades to invest in as well.
At the end of each wave, you’ll get to choose a perk, with the selection tied to the amount of gold acquired. Things start off simple, such as minor increases in range, speed and damage, along with the ability to regenerate health. Later waves have far more interesting perks, including robes and staffs with multiple enchantments, a bee familiar, glowing garlic-esque auras, and the ability to summon lightning. These more significant improvements are costly, so you’ll need to invest in ways to maximise the amount of gold acquired.
Due to the number of perks being relatively low, there isn’t much scope here to create unique builds. Even if you perform a reroll, chances are you’re going to end up with a similar selection to what was originally presented.
So far, so typical. And that’s the issue here – Spellagis doesn’t provide anything new or even try to do certain things differently. Although easy to navigate, the menus are as bland as they could possibly be. The music initially sounds inspired by Konami’s 8-bit Castlevania games but quickly descends into tuneless monotony. At the same time though, I’d hesitate to call Spellagis a bad game. The difficulty level is well balanced, making for an experience that rarely frustrates – the final wave is always hectic, with countless enemies spawning, yet will still be manageable if you’ve invested gold wisely.
Spellagis, then, is simply guilty of being a very typical example of the genre. Serviceable, but severely lacking in innovation. If somebody told me to close my eyes and imagine a pixel art auto-shooter starring cloaked mages, this is exactly what my mind would muster.
Spellagis is out 15th November on all formats. Published by eastasiasoft.