The Last Spell review: turn-based roguelike meets zombie survival

After hours of strenuous gameplay, I finally did it — I cured The Last Spell’s first town of its violet smog and reinvigorated the remnants of civilization with some semblance of hope.

In developer Ishtar Games’ accursed fantasy world, an Archmage has decided they’ve had enough of incessant war, so they’ve developed a ritual of mass destruction to finally end it all. As the Commander, you’re trying to banish magic because the make-believe Oppenheimer’s spell covered the sky in a toxic mist and spawned massive hordes of murderous mutants. You are the leader NumerousThese brave men are destined to die as the magical seals they have created inflict death on the rest of the world.

Photo: Ishtar Games/The Arcade Crew by Polygon

The Last Spell takes the squad-centric gameplay of turn-based strategy games à la Fire Emblem and XCOM, and ramps it up to 10 by combining it with the massive hordes of These are Billions. Your heroes are not fighting against an equal-sized army. Instead, they face off with a swarm of bloodthirsty enemies. My heroes started out weak and scrawny during the initial nights. But as time went on, their strength and stamina increased, and they became zombie-killing machines that left behind traces of destruction. You can increase your heroes’ health, armor or damage, and give them perks to change their playstyle.

For survival against such many enemies, it is necessary that units or heroes can manage the masses. I’ve had a few runs in The Last Spell where I didn’t have a clear bulky body to tank the ongoing assault, or a crowd-control specialist who could whittle down a cluster’s health en masse. I used the leveling system to transform one of my mage shamans into a tank. They were able to upgrade their health, block skill, and also to swap out their damage-oriented gear with one that would allow them to survive.

Structurally, The Last Spell is split into two phases — daytime and nighttime. During the former, you use your resources to construct buildings, bolster your defenses, and upgrade your heroes’ gear to prepare for the ensuing undead army. You will need to protect the city’s center by defeating all monstrous crawlers. Then, you can continue the cycle until dawn. After all of the fiends are eliminated and the night is over, you’re introduced to the roguelite progression system, in which you can unlock passive abilities, stronger weapons, bulkier defenses, and new omens (buffs that you can set before a run to increase the strength of your Heroes and your Haven).

Photo: Ishtar Games/The Arcade Crew by Polygon

A legion of undead zombies invades the town every night. I am able to prepare defenses and position my heroes so that they are on the right side. To reduce the number of zombies in town, each hero is given a certain amount of actions points. To drop a meteor on the hostile cluster of stars or to slash and run through the enemy lines, spend some points. Although I tried to do everything I could to get rid of the plague, I believed that my mana would automatically regenerate after the sun rose. My pants were down the next night. In a game where the enemy forces are suffocating and overbearing, tanks are vital to controlling the crowd while mages propagate damage amongst the fiends — but without mana, the angry mob walked all over me with little to no resistance.

There are the usual resources of gold, material, and workers, but there is also a fourth, and it’s the most precious: your time. You can feel relief when a light beam breaks through the darkness of the universe. It takes a while before you realize how long it took. Five hours To finish the run. The Last Spell This requires more dedication and time than the typical roguelite. While that’s not inherently a bad thing — if it was five hours well spent, then it was five hours well spent — but the pacing Within These five hours were not without its share of bumps.

Essentially, you’re forced to exterminate the first few fodder waves only to meet the real champions of the undead army on later nights. At this point, you’ve spent three hours clearing the pawns only to be met with the queen, rooks, knights, bishops, and even more pawns. Each repeat will require you to spend hours picking your way through the night hoping to defeat the boss to advance to the next village. It’s been a blur of incredible medieval metal music and meticulous planning, sure. And it’s hard to complain about a time sink that is so satisfying, rewarding, and frequently thrilling. However, the possibility of a lengthy trek and not being able to move on may discourage less dedicated players.

Photo: Ishtar Games/The Arcade Crew by Polygon

I’m grateful, then, that Ishtar Games has provided so many options to make The Last Spell You will be more accessible on each run. You can add omens before you restart the game to boost your heroes or havens. However, it is possible to make the game more enjoyable by decreasing the enemies and increasing the price of the items. These omens are added The Last SpellThis is much easier and more time-efficient, yet just as fun.

While some runs required me to run for up to 25% of the day, the music and the strategic decision-making kept me captivated. Ishtar Games is a master at inducing a flow state and distorting time. They also balance the challenge of being approachable. It’s fun to play. The Last Spell means settling in for the long haul; but when the long haul is this thrilling, I’ll keep returning.

The Last Spell The game was available on Nintendo Switch and PlayStation 4 as well as PlayStation 5 and Windows PC on March 9. The Arcade Crew gave us a code to download the game before it was released. Vox Media is an affiliate partner. They do not affect editorial content. However, Vox Media might earn commissions for products bought via affiliate links. Find out more. additional information about Polygon’s ethics policy here.