PGC London 19: Spell Slingers is bringing wormy action to mobile later this year
Sling it
When I was a younger man, the Worms games were something of an obsession. They were strategic without being too cumbersome, and action-packed without being frantic enough to make me toss my Amiga into a bin. They were good times; times that Spell Slingers is trying to recapture.
It's a game that owes a debt to Team 17's invertebrate blasters, but doesn't slavishly follow the template set down by those classics. Instead it chucks in some fresh takes, and ideas borrowed from other genres and games. It makes for an experience that's fresh and familiar at the same time, and we're excited to see what it has to offer when it lands.
Battles take place on destructible maps, viewed from the side, and they're turn-based. Rather than having a packed arsenal to choose from, you've got Hearthstone-style cards that cost energy to spend. You control your shots with an Angry Birds-style draggy twangy swipes, but there's a twist.
If you've got enough energy you can chain together cards. We see one of the little characters choose a jump and a fireball. Drag to jump and then, when you're airborne, you can drag on the same character again to slow down time and aim the fireball. It's a really interesting mechanic, and adds a couple of extra laters to the experience.
For one thing it gives you far more mobility than the shuffles and wiggles some people might be used to. And it also makes better use of the control system - letting skilful players make the most out of the tools that are given to them.
The addition of a card-collecting mechanic allows you to build up a deck of spells that fits your way of playing, and it allows for a progression system that's easy to follow. You can also unlock new characters to really customise your team.
Spell Slingers is looking set to shake up the action strategy game genre when it lands on mobile sometime this year. We will, of course, keep you updated as and when we get more info about the game.
