Into the excellent

Firstly thanks to the guys over at Subset Games for supplying a review code, that won’t in any way affect my review though as we always stay impartial. That being said let’s dive into the breach, shall we?

Intro

Into the Breach is the second game by Subset Games, a two-man team consisting of Justin Ma & Matthew Davis. The duo found success with FTL: Faster Than Light, reviewing incredibly well on Steam. Into The Breach sticks with the sci-fi theme. In the distant future, the earth is under attack from the Vek, an advanced race of monsters who want to destroy what’s left of the human race. Standing in their way, giant mechs piloted by you. If you fail, up opens a time breach and you start again. You get to keep a pilot though, and the chosen pilot keeps their mech and experience, but the rest is lost.

Gameplay

Gameplay revolves around using your Mechs to complete different challenges and tasks on a chessboard style map. To add a little more complexity, there are surviving humans hiding in tower blocks and small settlements. Your main objective at all times is to protect them at all costs. If a tower block is destroyed you will lose power, lose all your power and the game is over and into the breach, you go. Along with protecting the remaining humans, you also have additional tasks on each map. These include protecting a train, capturing an upgrade, killing all Vek and so on. If you manage to complete the additional tasks you receive power to replenish your power grid, orbs to upgrade your mechs and island points that count as rep. After finishing all mission on that island you can trade in your rep to receive better weapons, upgrade orbs etc, and then onto the next island.

The main gameplay loop is trying to survive as long as possible and upgrade your mechs as much as possible to make your playthrough easier. The feeling of squashing a Vek’s ugly face against a mountainside for the crows to eat is great also. It’s the typical roguelike gameplay loop, but Into The Breach makes it feel fresh and exciting. There’s always so much on the line, and if you’re not concentrating at all times, you can easily lose your power grid and along with it all your progress on that island. As your progress through the islands, you face new Vek in an increasingly harder difficulty of missions. Into the Breach also adds a difficulty level setting, and you can change it every time you enter the breach. It’s a little touch but it’s a welcome one.

Overall the gameplay of Into The Breach is a perfect mixture of fast paced quick battles with a larger objective at hand at all times. It fits perfectly on Nintendo Switch as you can pick it up and play a map or two and then put it in rest mode for a while. If you have an hour or two, put it into the dock and play on your TV in the comfort of your favourite chair. Into The Breach is very addicting, I found myself playing it in bed while watching football, waiting for dinner to cook etc, and I can see myself playing it for the foreseeable future too. The replay-ability here is incredible. I love Into The Breach so much if it ever releases on PS4, it will be a day one purchase.

Story

Into the Breach mixes Godzilla & Pacific Rim’s best parts into a dystopian world. Though there’s not much in the way of storytelling, you always want to save the people on each map, even if it’s only for the cheering and compliments they give you after each battle. The story isn’t the main reason you play Into The Breach though, it’s purely for the gameplay and charming design. And for that reason I will sum it up with this, you don’t watch porn for the story, and this applies to Into the Breach. That’s not a bad point, and for me, it’s a nice selling point. Games of old like Mega Man didn’t lean on a story, they were massively successful because of the incredible gameplay, Into the Breach is the same.

Graphics

First up graphics. My god, this game looks beautiful. It’s a simple pixel-based design appeals to me so much. It ticks the nostalgia box while also looking modern. Something that a lot of games struggle with. The Vek design is simply incredible. With so many monster films and games nowadays is hard to get a fresh looking design, but Subset has nailed the design of the Vek. From flying bugs that want to munch your face off to an acid scorpion who wants to melt your armour before skewering your pilot like a kebab.

Each level is varied in some way, be it mountains, slowly eroding ground that sinks after each turn, to forests that if set on fire will damage the units on that square. The game always strikes the balance of fresh and familiar. It’s a beautifully crafted world with amazing mech & enemy design. Justin & Matthew have nailed everything.

Music & sound

The music is a mix of a dystopian world and science fiction, blending perfectly into an underscore that fits each map perfectly. It works incredibly well to slowly build tension as more Vek appear each turn and the battles intensify. Composer Ben Prunty has nailed exactly what Into the Breach is all about.

The sound design is simplistic but impactful. The sound of missiles being plowing into monsters faces to the screaming of Vek as they splatter into several pieces. The sound fits perfectly into the blend of dramatic rescues and high-intensity butt clenching moments. It never takes anything away from the music, if anything it adds to the score with undertones of splatters and screams.

Conclusion

Into the Breach has been a game on my radar for a while, and when it came to Switch, I knew it was the perfect time to plunge into the breach for myself. I’m not the biggest fan of strategy based games, but Into the Breach helps players new to the genre with difficulty settings & a rewarding gameplay loop. Without realising it I was getting better and better at the turn-based strategy and it felt more and more rewarding as you tick more objectives off and upgrade your mechs. For those who like punishment, the harder settings are crushing. It has everything for everyone. A perfect blend of gameplay, music and level design, Into the Breach, is a must buy for anyone who loves the genre or people like me who are interested in the genre, but haven’t taken the plunge just yet.