Into the Breach
Management has run out of minions to throw against the hostile alien bugs. Unfortunately, that just leaves Alex Wiltshire as our last line of defence…
Management has run out of minions to throw against the hostile alien bugs. Unfortunately, that just leaves Alex Wiltshire as our last line of defence.
Surely this is where it ends? One bug is attacking the train being defended. Another is about to destroy an apartment building. And for every building lost, a Power Grid point is lost. We’ve only one left and once it’s gone, the Vek win.
If you’ve played FTL, you’ll remember the clammy-palmed panic it’d conjure as you’d face another seemingly no-win situation. Into the Breach will bring that feeling right back, and it’s wonderful. It’s a turnbased tactics game in which your squad of three mechs is pitted against a swarm of ground-dwelling bugs, the Vek. Each level is played out across just five turns on an eight by eight grid, and your ultimate goal is survive, to build up the strength of your mechs and to make it to the final denouement, in which you finish off the Vek for good.
Its party trick is that you get to see the moves the Vek will make on their turn. Tactics games are, at their core, puzzle games, but while most involve a good deal of luck and guesswork, Into the Breach’s tactics are tight and controlled because you know the exact results of your every move. You know what the Vek will be attacking, for what damage and in what order. And that evens the odds, even while you’re almost always outnumbered.
Kill them dead… or maybe not
You also have amazing weapons on your side. Thinning the Vek’s numbers is always a good idea, but they’re not always about killing, since most can also move them, relocating their attacks. You can make them attack each other or push them into bug-killing water. There are always options, but you’re rarely sure you’re making the best ones. This is why, despite each battle taking place on just 64 tiles and across five short turns, it’s easy to routinely spend 30 minutes on them, agonising over choices.
Each campaign run takes place across four themed islands. Each island features a set of levels from which you’ll choose four to battle on before playing the fifth one to protect your HQ from a final assault, and each level has different objectives. You might need to protect a coal plant or speeding train, or kill at least seven enemies. If you succeed, they’ll grant certain rewards, either Power Grid points, Reactor Cores, or Reputation, a currency you’ll spend on weapons and other gear to equip your mechs.
You don’t lose the game if you fail objectives – only if you lose all your Power Grid – so you’ll constantly be weighing up the pros of one move against the cons of another. When push comes to shove, is it better defend the coal plant to win a Reputation point but leave your Combat Mech open to an attack? Or is it better that it survives the level? This is a game of hard choices.
After completing your second island, you have the option to go for the final battle, or you can fight on the other two islands to gather more gear, but the challenge scales with how far you get. You’ll also play with a mind to unlocking new squads of mechs by completing special achievements. The squads each have a different focus and is a joy to learn, and each battle a new test of your skills. The challenge never stops changing.