INTO THE BREACH

Tom: Into The Breach shows that you can create tactical intrigue without forcefeeding the player a 100-page manual. This game gives you an eight-by-eight grid, a few enemy types, squads of cool mechs with different attacks, and… that’s it. It even tells you what’s going to happen next turn, and it’s still a fascinating tactics game. It’s elegantly designed and accessible enough to appeal to people that might not think of themselves as strategy gamers. Battles feel like emergent puzzles rather than serious tests of martial skill, but it’s still quite hard, particularly when parts of the arena start flooding, or collapsing away completely. Evan: When you unlock a new set of mechs it feels like ripping open a new set of Pacific Rim action figures, a trio of robots that form a unique fighting style. The Flame Behemoths torch everything. The Rusting Hulks use smoke to disable enemies. The Steel Judoka are all about setting up sweet suplex combos. And upgrading these bots almost always feels like a tough choice between survivability or movement, between attack power and utility. Into the Breach’s dedication to less-is-more design makes this possible. Samuel: Like FTL, Into The Breach is a fantastic modern form of strategy game that’s engaging and easy to pick up without being too complicated. Plus you can play it in tiny chunks. That’s exactly the kind of strategy game I want in 2018. Wes: One of Into the Breach’s brilliant decisions was putting the focus of each mission on saving civilians, rather than your own mechs. It has me doing maths: Should I put one of my units in the line of fire to take a hit? If they die, losing some of the special abilities they’ve accrued by leveling up, is that worth the trade-off of protecting the energy meter? A single civilian loss can feel devastating, but this sets the tone for the whole game. It’s about surviving, not killing every enemy unit you can, and lasting long enough for the Vek to retreat had me pumping my fists in victory. Phil: That you can see what your enemy is going to do before they take their turn is everything. There are no surprises, just precise, accurate information detailing exactly how screwed you are. It’s great if you can finish a turn without any buildings being destroyed, but it’s rarely enough. You also have to avoid taking too much damage and, if you ever want to upgrade your squad, complete a bonus objective. But you have a chance to turn things to your advantage. To push a bug into the path of another enemy’s attack. To take damage in order to save a valuable building. To not kill an enemy, but instead move them so they’ll block reinforcements on the next turn. Into the Breach is constantly putting you in impossible-seeming situations, but also gives you the time, information, and tools to think your way back out.

IntoTheBreach is a fantastic modern form of strategy game