There are all kinds of rogue-lite. More or less fast, more or less exciting and, in any case, this will mean that you will fail a bunch of times before you get there. Today, we're going to see The Last Spell, a turn-based tactical game that wants to be demanding and difficult. Here's what it's worth on PC...
Graphics & atmosphere
The game has a rather interesting graphic style and refers to old-school games. This will surely allow the most humble configs to run it without too much trouble, a choice that should delight many. The map will mainly show a city that you can protect with walls, defenses, but above all you will find abominations that will sweep over your city with an overexcited soundtrack that will have its little effect!
Just like the general graphics, the combat effects are reminiscent of old Final Fantasy and will reinforce this very nice old-fashioned side. We will therefore find a neat and pleasant product in its style, but not very original in the artistic direction.
History
Following magical acts that cost the lives of members of a royal family, many countries began to study and use purple magic. Alas! After a while, the consequences of these acts created abominations that invaded the kingdom. The mages have however discovered that it is possible to break all this magic with the last spell, which will save them from certain death... but can they do it in time?
Gameplay
There are three phases of gameplay, each of which will be important: preparation, deployment, defense. Each will be crucial as bad management can simply lead you to an abrupt and final end. The first wave will only require placements of three randomly generated heroes (with often strange stats and talents) and will only contain bonuses that will be unlocked for the map such as ancient walls for example, or additional mages.
Preparation
After the first wave, you will have the possibility of some interactions such as increasing the level of your characters (stats, talent), building defenses, buildings or even going to see the entities to buy/unlock bonuses. You will only be able to do these actions depending on your resources and the available slots in your city. It will be possible to loot buildings, demolish them and replace them with temples that can heal, with armories where blacksmiths will make equipment, etc...
However, this phase is crucial for the defense that will take place during the night, and the slightest mistake could cause you to lose many resources with misplaced buildings, or defenses that will hinder your characters rather than help them. Because while actions such as looting, healing heroes, replacing mana will require an action from the workers (4 at the beginning, but this number can increase later), the construction of buildings will only require gold, and defenses of building materials.
Character levels will be very interesting because you can increase two stats from a list offered with more or less rare choices. But you can also choose a talent per level that will prove really useful, such as extra exp, impure souls when you kill an enemy, or even increased offensive/defensive abilities... And we'll also take the opportunity to take what we can buy in order to equip our heroes in such a way that it best matches their talent/passive and what is expected of them.
You will also be able to see two entities that will sell you, against impure souls, improvements, while the other will allow you to unlock certain improvements against achievements. All this dynamic will be part of a circle of new beginnings as the difficulty will increase gradually...
Deployment and Defense
After your preparation, you will have to go through a quick phase which will ask you to place your heroes according to single or multiple zones where the very many enemies who will want to kill everything that moves will break out. Your heroes will have to use all their skills according to the action points available, the remaining mana, while managing the danger that the horde represents in front of them. This cycle is particularly hard to manage at the beginning and will require a lot of skill to find a balance that will allow you to hold on. Without it, you'll never be able to make it through the late nights, when the fog creeps dangerously close to your city, and your enemies will therefore be invisible before exiting.
Each hero will be able to take actions according to their talents, their passives, and their weapon sets (up to 2 possible). You will have access with each weapon set to specific skills which will have totally different effects depending on your situation. For example, the sword can make a rush which will cut the enemies in its path, while the tome will drop lightning which will spread to a large number of enemies, or even the hammer which will make an area around the enemy with a chance to stun... but don't forget that skills hit both enemies and allies in the area of effect.
Once the battle is over, when the enemies are defeated, then you get the long-awaited rewards: experience, items, impure souls, gold, materials. if you managed to survive and depending on the state of your city. Because the higher the panic (buildings destroyed, enemies in town, etc.), the lower your reward will be. The whole thing will be an endless cycle until you can save your city, and the next one, etc...
Summary
The Last Spell is a game with a simple appearance but full of small details that make it rich. This demanding rogue-lite will provide those who are brave enough for it many hours of gameplay, if they are not afraid of feeling frustrated at the thought of losing everything to an enemy that you had not seen. A really interesting title for those who like the style straight out of a French studio called Ishtar games.
