Welcome back everyone to another review of an early access member of the Roguelike genre which seems to be the wheelhouse I’ve built for myself. The Last Spell from developer Ishtar Games (produced by The Arcade Crew, and Gamer Game) is a tactical RPG where the player must manage, build, and defend their bastion of humanity from an untenable horde of Lovecraftian like horrors. Currently in early access, and on sale on Steam at the moment of pen to paper, this game features an engaging soundtrack, crushing difficulty curves, and a plethora of replay-ability. As with my reviews you will receive my recommendation in the next paragraph, if you’d like to read my full review, please continue to the bottom.

Should you play this game?

If you enjoyed They Are Billions, Dark Souls, or Fire Emblem, I believe you would enjoy this game to some extent. I am just over 20 hours in and I can’t wait to continue my progress, to build on my skills and save my city. I mention They Are Billions because of the obvious zombie comparison, but also due to the difficulty curve and similar progression aspects. I also mention Dark Souls as the enemies you fight here will evoke the same response and again, the difficulty. Fire Emblem is a tactical turn-based fighter, which I do not hesitate to distinguish this game as. Right now, at $20, this game feels like a steal. Early Access, and with how active the developer Discord is, the future seems especially bright. Roguelikes, challenges, tower defense? This is for you. Worth the money and worth your time.

Full Review

The absolute best way I can describe The Last Spell is; a tactical, tower defense, rouge-like that fancies itself an RPG. It boasts an interesting progression system that slowly walks you through most of the core mechanics and an ever-growing list of buffs, benefits, and items you can add to your subsequent runs.    

You are thrust into the rot and ruin of LakeBurg, a small bastion surrounded on all sides by an eerie, everflowing fog. It’s purple too so I immediately think of Hendrix, and Prince’s Purple Rain.  You are regaled with a tale of Archmage Heronymous Teller, who’s obsession with mystical power and drive to end all wars obliterated most of the ruling royal family. A surviving king rough with vengeance retaliated and thus the world was covered in dark, purple annihilation. Mages, blamed for discovering such power, we’re exiled or eviscerated save for a few remaining who discovered The Last Spell. This spell, in its entirety, would remove all magic from this war-torn world. The creatures who live in the mist, however, have different plans. Plans to feed, to destroy, to stop this spell from casting. 

Enter you, the commander. Protect these mages, build your bastion, and allow The Last Spell to complete.  

Gameplay

You are thrust in the hallowed remains of a once proud town, inhabited by three randomly generated warriors and a few buildings bereft with squalor. Place your heroes, who all have their own strengths, weaknesses and backstories, and prepare for the oncoming hordes. The Last Spell is broken intro three phases; deployment, building, and defense. Equip, position, and prepare your heroes during the deployment phase. Build mines, shops, inns, and defenses during your building phase. And when nightfall descends, you must use everything at your disposal to protect your city from the never-ending hordes. Your units, often defined by the gear you equip them with, can be customized and leveled to your liking. Though the game will typically push you towards having a warrior, mage, and ranger, you may pick and choose at will. If you notice your warrior seems more suited to a bow, feel free to change his equipment. You may also teach your units new spells and abilities, the game gives you all the options you could desire. There are a ton of buildings, defenses, and more to unlock as you progress through the game. Each new option allowing a differing path or option or tool to utilize against the ongoing threats. Combat is incredibly easy to pick up but hard to master. Characters gain stacking buffs and traits as they level so be prepared to strategize your composition. Each level up also provides you reroll tokens so if you don’t see the stats or buffs you want, you do have a chance to change them. The randomness of this game never seemed unfair or punishing. The developers found a healthy amount is not overwhelming but forgiving.

Difficulty Concerns?

Full disclosure, my first mission, I got absolutely destroyed. To the point where I am wracking my pen on the editing board here deciding whether or not to cut this exact sentence. Wrecked, owned, the zombies tea-bagged me. I survived 23 minutes and 12 seconds, and I imagine most of that time was spent reading and figuring out how to move my characters around. 

Getting my first S rank on a night was such an excruciatingly beautiful experience. I felt accomplished, that I as a player had real agency to impact the outcome. This is where I realized that the tactical description of this game was absolutely correct. After each night, depending on your performance, will net you rewards. I received more materials, gold, and items based on how I did and that felt great. Each night also provides minor achievements that you can accomplish throughout. These will net you tainted essences, a core piece of major progression throughout the game. These achievements are also an interesting chase mechanic as I felt myself longing to complete as many as I could each night. ‘Cast 4 skills provided by torso items” will net you the ironclad bonus, 45 tainted essence. “Quantity over quality” is achieved when a hero damages 30 different enemies, congratulations on your 50 essence.

These little pieces of both progression and accomplishment, will push you forward through the meta.  There is also a second set of challenges that automatically unlock throughout runs. This celestial being of light will grant you favors based on various feats of strength. “Sell 50 items at the shop” will unlock the Shopkeeper’s Friend upgrade increasing the selling price of items. “Upgrade Lakeburg” will give you more innate walls. Everything you do in this game, even failing, especially failing, will net you some progression. Push you further through the nights of unholy horrors.

I failed a lot in this game. The difficulty curve is steep and unrelenting save for the progression you are constantly acquiring. But the beauty of it all is that you are constantly inching ever closer to success. I never felt that the game was unfair in its practices or hurdles, everything was presented to me at face value. I had to learn, and progress, you cannot succeed without both. Side note, I definitely killed my own people, buildings, and last spell casters with a spear. Not much more to say on it, just know my plight. 

An Atmosphere worth Experiencing

Every piece of this game is dripping in detail, character, and atmosphere. How easy it is to start a game and a couple hours disappear without realization. You immerse yourself, as the world engulfs you and brings you into its home. The developers clearly took time to flesh out the smallest details, to make sure the player understands and can operate in their world. Your characters are procedurally generated, but it feels more like you were given three random character sheets from a DND game. Your ranger may have giant’s blood and your mage may be a scoundrel but all of these minute details contribute to your overarching goal; survive.  

A note on the Music

Rémi “The Algorithm” Gallego composed a masterful score for The Last Spell. Every track oozes with mystical prowess, daring the player even further into the madness of the world. Even the audio in the main menu is an absolute banger. So much so that I went on to listen to the rest of his work, and let me say The Algorithm is amazing. HIs work so captures the dread, the horror, the hopelessness that you will experience. Check out my personal favorite track “Nocturnus”. It felt wrong not to include a section dedicated to the music in The Last Spell as it complements the game without overstepping and is perfectly set.

The Last Spell OST – Nocturnus – YouTube

The Last Word

With every subsequent failure, every crushing defeat, I never once felt discouraged in The Last Spell. And I think that highlights the true beauty of a game like this. A sweet spot in difficulty and player agency where you truly have something special on your hands. I honestly can’t wait to see what the developers end up with when they reach their full release. As it stands this early access title is worth every penny and if it sees a similar content track as others in this genre, then there is a lot to look forward to. I wish Ishtar Games good fortune in their release timeline and can’t wait to see the final product. Cheers.