The Spell Brigade

If you have a few chums to play with, The Spell Brigade will quickly become your go-to multiplayer Survivors-like funfest for sure.

The Spell Brigade offers an interesting twist on the survivor-like genre. The more intricate map design combined with the quest system adds more strategy to runs, but the slow unlocking of these systems and the lack of enemy variety make the game sometimes feel repetitive. The safe choice to not deviate too much from genre staples also adds to this feeling. Multiplayer is fun, but the lack of synergy between players makes it feel like you are just playing next to each other instead of working together. The game can be used as a social experience when you and your friends love to play survivor-like games, but don’t expect any big changes to an already existing formula.

The Spell Brigade is a solid bullet hell, built on a classic foundation, enhanced with a few original mechanics that bring a welcome twist to the genre. Cooperative play is undoubtedly one of its greatest strengths, offering an unusual yet successful take on the bullet hell experience in multiplayer.

The Spell Brigade separates itself from the pack of Vampire Survivors-adjacent games by letting up to four players engage in unruly, wave-based chaos. However, the power climb is locked behind a steep grind that takes too long to feel rewarding and players may yearn for more varied content to keep them truly invested.

Though the core gameplay loop is a little too familiar at times, there’s no denying that this is still one of the best recent entries in a now crowded genre.

If you're going to copy the Vampire Survivors formula, remember what made it so good. The Spell Brigade somewhat misses that point.