SPELLSPIRE Review for Xbox One

Spellspire, developed by 10tons, is a carton like, fantasy RPG, word game. The player is a small wizard who seeks to reach the top of a 100 floor tower. To do so you must first spell your way through a various amount of monsters. The gameplay and plot itself is very simple, but you will have to pour a good amount of time and brain power into it to complete it.

Gameplay – The player is taught the mechanics of the game on the first level, and the controls are not changed at all throughout the game. The basis of the game is to formulate words from the box of various letters at the bottom of the screen. The larger and more advanced the word is, the more points you get, the amount of points equaling the amount of damage the monster receives. So, the larger the word is, the more powerful the attack is, thus allowing you to defeat the more challenging monsters faced in the higher levels. While playing, it’s easy to pick letters and to bring back the previous word so that you can add on to it or save spelling time. The player is also introduced to a menu that allows you to choose your wand, robe, and hats which all have different abilities and upgrades. The monsters confronted have different attacks, damages, and weaknesses that the player must consider. New monsters are given cute introductions and help the player strategize before they attack. The extra items picked up such as potion, dictionaries to give big word spells, and damage scrolls are helpful but not considered overpowered. After a level is cleared a screen pulls up showing the stats of how many words were found, what your longest word was, and then what the longest unfound word was.

Storyline – It is a bit of a stretch to say this game has a storyline and is an RPG but it does follow a wizard through a tower and it allows for personal choice in what gear you wear. Regardless of the plot, the small bits of description/dialogue are enough to get a laugh from its ridiculousness. You may find yourself continuing the adventure so that you find new challenges and for the laughable description of new enemies. For sure, you will be curious of what lies at the top, thus the game does create a desire to continue playing.

Design – The game is very polished and feels connected throughout gameplay and various menus. The developers put care into keeping the game amusing and challenging without it becoming a spelling grind. The cartoony aspect of it is rather cute along with the design of the monsters, however I wish that the monsters didn’t share as much resemblance to one another and instead were more easily distinguishable. Despite that wish, there are a large number of monsters and it’s hard to ask for more variety when it’s not actually necessary. Another design choice that is really important is the sound. There is sound for enemies, spells, coins, wining, picking tiles and it would actually feel like it was missing something if anything was taking out. The sound and music is quite contagious and endearing, making it really important to the feel of the game. I do however think that the game would benefit if you could see more words that you missed out on, seeing as you’d benefit knowledge wise and because you could hopefully remember more words the next time. In my experience with certain letters given I generally spell the same things each time. In total, the design of the game is not missing anything, yet there are some additions that may make the game even more appealing.

The overall feel of this game is very good. It is thoroughly enjoyable by people who like word games and even for those who don’t normally. It’s worth checking out and you can play for free on the app store to test it out. If you enjoy it, it’s available for Xbox one for under $10. There is also a large amount of achievements to test your skill and to become another challenge if you wish. I rate this game a 9 out of 10.

Here is the Spellspire PC & Console Trailer:

Spellspire released today for PC (Steam) as well as PlayStation 4 and PS Vita. Spellspire will be launching on May 26th for Xbox One and is available for pre-order. It’s $9.99 USD, and the -15% pre-order discount will run as launch discount through June 1st.