Highlights
- The Last Spell offers deep mechanics for strategy gamers, with detailed character builds and complex effects like Contagion.
- Ishtar Games took an iterative approach to developing The Last Spell, focusing on experimentation and balance over time.
- The game avoids handholding, allowing players to explore and experiment with minimal tutorials, providing tooltips for detailed explanations.
The Last Spell has enjoyed a successful run throughout its Early Access and post-launch period, and there’s no surprise as to why: obliterating hordes of zombies with carefully customized character builds under a persistent roguelike progression system is an utterly captivating formula. Recently, that formula was further expanded upon with the release of the game’s first DLC, Dwarves of Runenberg, which introduced some all-new mechanics, a new map, and playable dwarves.
Game Rant recently sat down with The Last Spell designer and producer Benjamin Coquelle and Manon Bertin, producer of the Dwarves of Runenberg DLC to chat about the team’s process when developing this unique turn-based strategy indie game. In particular, they offered a set of “do’s and don’ts” that help guide their decision-making regarding game mechanics and player guidance.
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The Last Spell Always Looked For Deeper Mechanics To Try
Although The Last Spell may look like a straightforward zombie slaying strategy game on the surface with players swiftly deleting clumps of zombies each turn, the underlying systems are impressively deep and on par with the crunchiest turn-based RPGs. With dozens of effects like the DoT-spreading Contagion and a classless character-build system where weapons determine available skills, it’s clear that Ishtar Games looked at each of the game’s systems and considered ways to make them more interesting for the discerning strategy gamer. Coquelle says this approach to developing the game’s systems is central to all the studio’s projects.
I think a “do” that works for us is to always think of some deeper mechanic that a player can experiment with. That was a pillar for
The Last Spell
, and I think it’s a pillar for all our games where you can experiment with our mechanics.In “dos,” I think it’s important to be iterative. We developed
The Last Spell
over time through beta and Early Access. We didn’t start with a complete recipe. When we began working, we tested a lot of things and kept iterating over time, and that’s how we got
The Last Spell
as it is now.
Of course, with so many systems and mechanics at play, Bertin says it was important to be iterative when developing the Last Spell. It’s no coincidence that many of the best indie games have received countless patches and updates throughout their runs, and the work certainly pays off. Each update of The Last Spell has made the game more balanced, more strategically interesting, and better reflective of its player base.
The Last Spell Avoided Handholding
When discussing the “don’ts” regarding The Last Spell‘s development, Coquelle revealed that the team was reluctant to overly guide players with incessant handholding and tutorials. After all, the entire point of strategy games is for players to enjoy the satisfaction of a well-laid plan coming to fruition, and having a strategy game that offers too much in the way of hints or guidance would interfere with that core element.
As for “don’ts,” maybe something that is not very common in AAA games is that we don’t like to hold the player’s hand and tell them everything, we want them to explore and experiment. Our tutorials are very basic, but we do one important thing: we show everything. A mechanic is explained 100% in the tooltips.
But we will never tell the player, “Oh, you, you have to do that.” We prefer to show them that this mechanic works like that. You interpret and find a way to use it, rather than being told what to do. I think one of our “dos” is to always explain everything in tooltips. If you are wondering or asking yourself how something works in the game, you can just hover over something and it will explain to you how it works.
Instead, Ishtar Games ensured that none of the game’s systems are hidden from players. Much unlike Helldivers 2‘s game mechanics that have called for players to conduct scientific experiments to determine how things work, virtually every system and feature in The Last Spell is clearly explained through tooltips. It may not be an easy game to master, but The Last Spell gives players every tool they need to survive for at least a few nights of brutal roguelike zombie bashing.
The Last Spell is available on PC, PS4, PS5, and Nintendo Switch.