Step into the I

N the search for a great game to play, you sometimes have to dig beneath the crust of big releases.

For every dud the big studios throw millions at to market at you, there’s a real indie gem waiting to be discovered.

And that’s the case with Into The Breach.

To be fair, the title’s developers, Subset Games, already have pedigree when it comes to sleeper hits.

The studio’s 2012 release, FTL: Faster Than Light, saw gamers tying to keep a spaceship in flight under increasingly stressful and difficult conditions.

It was tough, but annoyingly addictive, and it’s from that same formula that Subset has created another winner.

At first glance Into The Breach is nothing special. It’s a turn-based strategy game which sees the action play out on a tiny 8 x 8 grid.

At your command are three mechs – huge assault vehicles – which you must move deftly around the gaming area to defeat an invading army of similarly oversized bugs (Vek).

Think Pacific Rim with a touch of Starship Troopers played out on a chess board.

On the surface it seems so straightforward, even its graphics are kind of beautiful in their simplicity – but that belies the true nature of the beast.

Different mechs feature different weapons and abilities, making the tactical combat surprisingly deep