Into the Breach (2018)

Into the Breach had everything that I love in video-games: Mechs, giant monsters, turn tactics, TRUE tactics (your moves matter), innovative gameplay... and from the FTL creators, the very best rogue-like in my opinion. But then... when you play it... It seems everybody has the same reaction; It's good, and that's it. It feels something is missing, and now, maybe I know why:

In the beginning you just lack options. Having mechs are cool and the decisions feel critical from the start, but... they don't do much. You just really get options later on, but then the game, "ok, that's it. Here's a very hard mission, good luck."

You know when you're in FTL, or many other games, and you see your arsenal proudly? It feels ITB ends one step too short. Now you have the tools but... you don't really feel happy about'em. They don't chain into crazy combos, everything, although a little better, it's still very muted.

Which is also how I feel about the game feel. Everything is just so lifeless. With mechs, I want to go forward and do awesome things, but everyone is so tamed. The sound effects, although competent, don't have the punch. The graphics are nice, but just not enough. FTL is also not very a beautiful game, but everything feels much more "punchy"; Firing lasers, shooting missiles, getting shot... It feels intense. But in ITB the monsters just get bored after a while and go away.

And that's all a shame. I remember when it was released, everybody expected to receive FTL treatment; free DLC and adjustments. There's an awesome game in ITB, it's just one step too short. But then again... it just didn't. ITB was left unchanged. "Well, that's it".

Therefore, in short, great mechanics, but lukewarm execution. If you like tactics game you'll like it, but just like it.

(For the sake of marking it as "played", I consider it complete as "I've finished several runs on Easy mode and have no wish to keep playing it regularly on the near future).

A little fun game that does its objective of bringing fun and does it really well. The mechanics are interesting, it is fun to play, and Normal mode is stupidly hard and I'm not going to try it again ever.

However, while I've had fun doing several runs and trying different squads, the lack of true random elements starts bringing the game down after the first run. The missions offered are pretty much the same every game, with the only difference being the placement of enemies and the decisions the AI takes, and the surprise element falls apart once you've seen every kind of challenge the game has to offer, something that happens sooner rather than later.

Additionally, on higher difficulties, the game just increases the number of enemies per round, practically making sure that you WILL lose buildings because there's no way you can attack each enemy each round, specially on the first missions when you don't have any special weapons. This pretty much ensures that each round is a loss of resources and makes it frustrating to play instead of challenging.

I do like the gameplay, but after playing now-and-then for 10 hours, I do think it has given everything it has to give for now.

I played quite a bit of FTL when it was released and fell in love with it. When I saw that Subset Games were releasing this title, it was a no brainer for me.

One thing about rogue-like/lite games that often don't have a well-defined mechanic is the permadeath. Some of these titles have a vague concept that seems tacked on and in truth doesn't matter because the point is to enjoy the game. For example, Rogue Legacy is one of my favorite games in this genre, and the death mechanic there is that your descendants are going through the same cursed castle generation after generation. Sure it works, but the idea of hundreds of descended warriors progressing through the same cursed castle is just enough to give the game cohesion. Again, that's not the point of Rogue Legacy, it's just fun to play, and that's what matters.

In Into the Breach, you command a squad of time-traveling "mech" pilots whose mission is to stop the threat of an insect species similar to the enemy in Starship Troopers. In each game, your squad travels back in time through a time breach in an attempt to stop the threat before humanity is destroyed. Each time the game ends, only one of the members of your squad can return to their timeline and retain their character progress. The remaining two squad members are different in each game, and you unlock new pilots as you progress. In addition to varying squad members, you can unlock new variations of mechs to choose from, and certain combinations of mechs and pilots work better than others. I could go on about how this mechanic works, but that's the idea and why I like it so much.

Beyond how the death mechanic works, the gameplay is fun, engaging, and challenging. You cannot just buy the biggest gun and power through the enemies. This game is a bit like SciFi chess with fewer pieces and more destruction. Reading the description of a mechs capabilities, you may think it sounds like a weak or useless ability while it's actually a mechanic that is the cornerstone of your squad.

Mission success in this game can reward you with a tremendous feeling of accomplishment. However, sometimes you can make one tiny mistake in a match that results in a game over. Times such as these are when the game will humble you and make you rethink how to approach your tactics.

If you're looking for a fantastic strategy game or a fresh take on the rogue genre, check this one out. You likely will not regret your purchase.

Into the Breach presents an addictive, satisfying turn-based strategy challenge and proceeds to dive it into the ground with frustrating roguelite elements. That said, what is here is promising and unique.

Far into the future, humanity fights giant monsters called the Vek on a series of islands. You are a pilot sent back in time to stop the Vek and preserve the timeline. You have a squad of three mechs and a variety of pilots, with achievements that unlock new squads and pilots for runs.

The strategy is intriguing. During a turn, Vek enemies will unearth and threaten to attack set areas, usually cities and fellow squad members. The player may then attack and push enemies into each other, other squad members, or environmental hazards to gain extra damage and strategy. On the easier difficulties this is a pretty fun challenge, with a variety of tactics (freezing, flames, more pushing) that makes playing as each squad fairly rewarding. The player may strategize which areas they proceed to obtain with upgrades such as weapons, pilots, overall grid health (e.g. if this runs out, you lose) and reputation that can be spent on even more upgrades after an island is completed. It's fairly flexible and allows you to beat islands in whatever order you please.

This sounds like a really great set of concepts executed well, but the gap between easy and "Normal" is a chasm where the randomly generated portions of the game really start to show their claws. Players will barely be able to scratch by with damaged cities, dead pilots, and just barely pushing the enemy out of the way, where only luck and sheer perfection can win. The player can undo moves and undo an entire turn of mistakes, but only once. The idea that the player is stuck with their mistakes fairly often on intensely challenging areas grows immensely frustrating quickly, and when the player only has pilots and squads to choose from the repeated efforts to achieve strategic perfection become incredibly tedious to all but roguelite fans.

Into the Breach has a great system that thanks to an easier difficulty can be fun and enjoyable. The roguelite elements, however, ensure that the player will stress and agonize over every mistake and repeated timeline to mental exhaustion.