Brilliant, damn, haha, aaaaarggg. My emotional progression in "Into the Breach"
2.3.2018
Translation: machine translated
Frustration and joy have rarely been so close together as in "Into the Breach". The tactical game from the makers of "FTL" demands a lot from you, but also rewards you accordingly.
"Faster Than Light", or "FTL" for short, is one of my absolute favourite games. The turn-based sci-fi game with pixelated spaceships and a sensational soundtrack kept me hooked for hours. It goes without saying that I wouldn't miss out on the sequel from two-man studio Subset Games. "Into The Breach" has been available on Steam since Tuesday. I was completely hooked again - even if a few things are missing to complete it.
Something old and something new
If you've played "FTL", you'll recognise a lot of things. It starts with the beautiful 8-bit visuals and the atmospheric music, which was once again composed by Ben Prunty. "Into the Breach" is also set in the future, but no longer in space, but on solid ground. On a chessboard-like playing field, you try to survive five rounds in turn-based battles with three mechanical units. Your opponents are giant alien monsters called Vek with nasty abilities.
A turn consists of a movement and an action such as attacking or repairing. You move around the 8x8 board and try to destroy opponents or prevent them from destroying civilian buildings. These are the equivalent of the reactor in "FTL". You lose energy with every building that is destroyed. If it drops to zero, the game is over and you start all over again (rogue-like). There are also optional tasks such as protecting a power station, killing a certain number of enemies or recovering an escape pod. The bonus objectives are extremely important, as they reward you with new energy or upgrade points. You can invest the latter in new abilities or weapons for your pilots and their mechs.
Tactical mobbing
Much of the tactics are based on pushing units around. All units and enemies have different abilities. One of the first mechs (you will unlock new ones later) punches its enemies. They fall back one square. If there is an obstacle such as an enemy (or a friend), it also takes damage. This can stack up over several squares. Another ranged unit shoots missiles that push away all surrounding units except the one hit. Your enemies have the same tricks up their sleeves. Sometimes they shoot two squares away, sometimes they pin you to the ground, sometimes they shoot bombs. As the game is turn-based, you (theoretically) have enough time to react and dodge attacks. Because the opponents always announce their moves.
You don't have to defeat all opponents to win a level. In principle, it is enough to survive five rounds with at least one mech. Two out of three pilots will be dead. If they have already gained a lot of experience, this hurts. In the event of a game over, you can at least save one pilot thanks to the time machine.
So far so good. The basic principle of "Into the Breach" is quickly understood. However, with every new move, every new map and every new opponent, new mechanics are added. Especially at the beginning, you will often get upset because you have forgotten something again. You'll rejoice at the destruction of a crawling creature, only to die seconds later when the carcass explodes. Or you dodge an attack only to see the building behind you destroyed. Environmental effects such as storms, floods and air raids also need to be taken into account.
The further you progress in the game, the more complex it becomes. You often have to think very carefully about how to defuse a situation. Fortunately, you can undo movements as long as you have not yet attacked. You can even restart an entire move once per game. Although a battle only consists of five rounds, every encounter is a bit of a puzzle. Correct positioning is the be-all and end-all of "Into the Breach". It is immensely satisfying when you turn a hopeless situation in your favour after all. It's at least as annoying when you've overlooked another small detail and everything goes down the drain as a result.
"Awesome, ahh fuck, haha great, neeeeiiiin"
"Into the Breach" is a rollercoaster of emotions. The game offers an extremely wide range of tactical possibilities; the many different, freely combinable units allow countless ways to play. However, as it is based on the rogue-like game principle, you will often be doing the same thing. There are a surprising number of optional objectives, but at some point you'll know them all anyway.
What I missed most compared to "FTL" was the exploration. In "FTL", every space jump is exciting because you never know what to expect. Every defeated spaceship harbours interesting loot and you regularly come across stranded astronauts or respond to calls for help. This is almost non-existent in "Into the Breach". You choose an island, which consists of various missions. From time to time there are rescue capsules with pilots, weapons or upgrade elements. And that's it. So there are fewer surprises and rewards.
However, I was captivated by "Into the Breach" right from the start. The mix of tactics and role-playing is simply brilliant, offers a lot of depth and is absolutely addictive. Tip: Put all throwable items out of reach.
The game is available for PC and will soon be ported to Linux and Mac.
Philipp Rüegg
Senior Editor
Philipp.Rueegg@digitecgalaxus.chBeing the game and gadget geek that I am, working at digitec and Galaxus makes me feel like a kid in a candy shop – but it does take its toll on my wallet. I enjoy tinkering with my PC in Tim Taylor fashion and talking about games on my podcast http://www.onemorelevel.ch. To satisfy my need for speed, I get on my full suspension mountain bike and set out to find some nice trails. My thirst for culture is quenched by deep conversations over a couple of cold ones at the mostly frustrating games of FC Winterthur.
