Swipe Casters is barely a game; it is an okay core mechanic slapped around in-app purchases, weird systems and one-note gameplay. The idea to trace glyphs in order to deal damage to enemies is fine, but when that's all there is to it, when all the game does is pile on more difficulty on the glyph tracing and when the upgrades feel pointless and not fun, it feels more like a tech demo than an actual game. I tried to have fun with it, but I left sorely disappointed.
The core concept of the game is you have a magic circle with a certain number of points. When you fight enemies you have to trace specific symbols into the circle before a time limit expires. That's pretty much all you do in the game, there is a 'special' move that has you slide between two specific points for bonus damage, but that's it. If you don't manage to trace a spell in time, you usually die in one hit from any enemy in the game. You're not penalized per se for making a mistake, but the time limit makes sure that if you fail once, you're going to get hit. There is no way to permanently increase that time or upgrade your rune circle. I really wish that you had more options for upgrades. Having specific circle points with bonuses and also be able to take more than one hit from enemies.
You can buy better armor using in-app currency or by grinding the game, but it raises your health from a ridiculous one to a paltry two. You also get coins from defeating enemies, which can only be used during the current run to get non-permanent upgrades that feel almost necessary to keep progressing. There is an upgrade for instance that gives you more time to draw your magic circle, why wouldn't you want it? Is the game balanced around you having all that time? After a while the spells have seven or eight points to draw from, and it becomes real easy to lose.
If there was more meat around the bone, Swipe Casters could be a cool game; That being said, all enemies do the same (kill you in one hit), all spells do the same, the upgrade system is flaky and the core gameplay is barely enough as-is. I think my favorite part was the iOS native pop-up when I tried to exit a level saying 'Leave?'. I guess I will, Swipe Casters, I guess I will.
