Spellbreak

 Spellbreak launched!  I've been playing since alpha, and though I'm not an expert at the game, I love the magic themed combat and spell-casting.  My favourite class is Toxicologist and my strategy is mostly spamming click and flying erratically.

It's worked alright... here's my best performance of the day!

Early on, Spellbreak had a lot of in-game customization, which allowed you to spec out your character as the match progressed.  In the current version, that is all relegated to a pre-game loadout.  My guess is that they found that having too many choices in the midst of combat was an overload to most players, and that there is more fun in finding rare loot.

My least liked part of the beta was the interact key, but I believe it's been brought in line with the Fortnite standard.  All's good!  As an MMO player it's still a bit weird to not have the on-screen cooldown HUD customizable, but that's just a minor complaint for now.

Looking at the long-term viability of the game, I do hope that Spellbreak is able to find its audience.  The combat is much more esoteric and a harder sell than the shooting that is found in other battle royales.  As a consequence, I think the game will definitely be rewarding to high-skilled players.  But that may not be a large enough audience to sustain in the current free-to-play market.

The team, Proletariat, have spoken about additional game-modes. I think a shorter, 3 to 4 minute format would do well with FPS players who enjoy getting in and out of action quickly. The combat system in Spellbreak is tuned to near perfection-- it feels great to fly around and combo spells. Really, extending this game could work in any direction the team takes it in, as it's core is fun and can support even a co-op campaign experience or more competitive modes.

A major benefit to Spellbreak's strategy is that it had a simultaneous launch on consoles as well! Compared to BR titles like Battlerite Royale (which was limited to a PC release), Spellbreak has a leg up in getting more magic-loving casters involved.