Spellspill: Magic Destruction Sandbox playtest

About Spellspill: Magic Destruction Sandbox

Hi, I'm the one person making Spellspill. It began as a small physics toy and slowly turned into a roguelite.

You play an overpowered mage trying to stop a rival mage and the army of magic creatures that follows them. You'll probably stop them. The places you fight in won't look the same afterwards: houses burn down, fields catch fire, streets flood, ponds freeze over, and the sheep and chickens run for their lives.

Your spells don't just hit enemies, they change the place you're fighting in. Fire spreads through dry grass and the wind pushes it along. Water flows and collects in puddles. Ice freezes a pond hard enough to walk on. Lightning travels through every bit of connected water. And it all works together: wind fans a fire, fire melts ice, and water puts out flames.

The enemies are full ragdolls. A strong hit, an explosion or a gust of wind sends them tumbling across the ground. They get back up, sometimes missing an arm, and keep coming.

The water is simulated. You can pull a pond dry, send a wave across the yard, or freeze the water and walk across it. You can also wait until the enemies wade in and hit the water with lightning, and everyone standing in it gets shocked.

Houses, sheds and scaffolds are built from boards, beams and tiles. Fire eats through them board by board until the roof comes down. You can also blast out a wall or set off a powder keg and drop the whole building on the enemies standing underneath.

Spellspill is a roguelite, so every run starts fresh. You follow the rival through six places, from an orchard and a cooper's yard to a waterworks, a granary, a market and finally the village square. The route branches, so each run takes a different path. Halfway there, a huge ram guards the granary, and the rival waits for you at the end. If you fall, you start a new run.

You'll face many kinds of enemies. Some run straight at you, some throw fire, frost or lightning from a distance, some shield their friends, and big rams break right through walls. How you deal with them is up to you. You can blast them head-on, or you can use the place itself: if they're standing in water, one lightning bolt hits them all, and if they're hiding in a wooden shed, you can set it on fire.

If you only have a few minutes, there's also a short mode with four fights.

After every fight you pick one of four upgrades, so your spells grow stronger as the run goes on. Your first pick decides how your basic bolt behaves: it splits, pierces or bounces. Beat the ram halfway through and the bolt evolves into something stronger. Along the way you'll find forges where you can tune or swap a spell, and quiet spots where you can heal. You can also bring Tavi, a young mage who fights at your side.

Early Access

The playtest starts in December 2026. Early Access launches in 2027 with the full roguelite run, the short four-fight mode, a tutorial for new players and 16 spells.

And yes, there's a level editor. You'll be able to build your own places with the same water, fire and breakable buildings, and play them. It's the first big thing I'm adding in Early Access, followed by more places, enemies, spells and upgrades, a Destruction mode, physics puzzles and full gamepad support.

For the full release I'd love to add new biomes, like snowy mountains and a desert, plus new bosses, online co-op so you can wreck a village with a friend, and a way to share your maps on the Workshop. I read the forums, so if you have ideas, tell me.

From the game's Steam page.