PROGRESSION AND COSMETICS
There’s more to a battle royale than just dumping
players onto an island. This genre goes hand-in-hand
with the live service model, adjusting the game’s design
to keep players playing for a long time. As a free-to-play
game, Spellbreak also wants to keep players paying for a
long time.
Spellbreak’s progression system didn’t grab me nearly
as strongly as its fundamental gameplay did. I didn’t
care about obvious quests such as “open 25 chests” or
“do 300 points of wind damage.” Your most meaningful
reward for leveling up your rank in each element is
access to new passive perks. Equip up to three talents:
Mind, Body, and Soul. To keep things balanced, you
always have six points to spend, and stronger talents are
more expensive. Stronger talents also come with
stronger weaknesses: extra inventory at the cost of
longer cooldowns, for example. So while you gain more
options the longer you play, you don’t necessarily
become objectively superior to rivals. That’s good for
balance, but it also means I occasionally forgot the
progression system even exists.
Your most
meaningful
reward for
leveling up
your rank in
each element
is access to
new passive
perks.