**Spoiler free**

Overview: Into The Breach is a roguelike turn-based game that plays as a strategy puzzler on a grid. Though a single run only takes a sitting, the gameplay loop and the easy accessibility has kept me playing for over 60 hours. The game relies heavily on the roguelike formula, with little in the way of progress carrying over each run. If you like roguelikes, then this is a solid game that I recommend, though your mileage may vary.

Gameplay: The goal is to progress through different islands with procedurally generated levels to get to the final island and destroy the Vek hive. Each level will have a randomly generated map with certain objectives drawn from a pool. The objectives and terrain are preview-able before selecting the level. Each completed level will unlock adjacent levels. You won’t be able to play all levels on an island, requiring you to decide which rewards are worth trying to get. The idea of choosing playthrough order is present throughout, from the levels to the islands themselves. You also have the option of doing 2, 3, or 4 island playthroughs per run, which will obviously change your playtime.

You choose a mech squad before your run, and the more in-game achievements you accomplish, the more points you get to unlock other squads. Each squad has a unique set of starting load outs, and will drastically change your play style from squad to squad. This helps give the game more content, because even though a run (and so technically the game) can be completed in a couple of hours, playing through with each squad brings its own challenges, and therefore feels like individual chapters in the “campaign”. There are about 10 squads you can unlock, so that’s a lot more content than just the initial 2 hours or so.

Upgrading your mechs and pilots, and managing your health, play as the main focus between levels. Your health and upgrades do not reset between islands. This is actually a fairly significant side of the game that you will constantly have on your mind as you determine which level to play and which actions to prioritize, weighing between short term and long term gains.

Each level is turn-based, and will have you reacting to enemy movements and actions, since your turn is last. Each one is therefore set up like a randomly-generated puzzle. You may be able to “put out every fire”, or you might have to make some tough decisions about what needs to be sacrificed for other priorities. I found this to be adequately influenced by the difficulty setting.

Difficulty will play a big role in how successful you are at eliminating threats, avoiding disaster, and completing goals for rewards. There’s Easy, Normal, and Hard, and each gives a relatively appropriate challenge. Once you learn the game, Easy will ultimately let you wipe the board clean. But even Normal will start making you work for an optimal victory.

Each run is essentially separate from previous runs. The only “upgrade” you keep is a pilot you had on the previous run. So very little transfers from run to run. You will upgrade your mech and pilots, but only one pilot has the option to remain for the next run. It took me a while to get used to this since I don’t play a lot of roguelikes. But in the end, it makes sense for the replayability of this game. If your mechs stayed upgraded, for example, I think it would remove the core fun-factor.

Replayability: The combination of different squads, procedurally generated levels, and turns that feel like unique puzzles helps give this game replayability, if you enjoy the gameplay loop. And while you’re still unlocking squads you have even more incentive. Terrain can play a very important role in your turn strategy, which means the procedurally generated levels contribute that much more to replayability. I also found trying to get 100% steam achievements in this game complimented the gameplay loop very well.

However, even though I’ve been talking about replayability, your replay value will vary depending on how much you like the gameplay loop. If you don’t enjoy it enough, this game might only last you a run or two. The game’s replay value comes from enjoying the core experience, and therefore enjoying the repetitive playthroughs for slightly altered challenges. Though the game randomizes the experience, it still FEELS like the same thing. This could be good or bad.

User Interface: The user interface feels in sync with the pixelated graphical style. Information boxes are blocky and off on the sides of the screen, leaving the playing field clean and uncluttered with information.

Though there are hotkeys, I found it way simpler to just use the mouse and click the interface. It’s very intuitive to play this way.

I would have preferred if there was a permanent way to keep turn order visible. However, the only way to see turn order is to hold the ALT key. This would have been better as a toggle.

Atmosphere: The world building is pretty minimal, but once you’re playing you get the idea pretty quickly. Some insect-like invaders have been destroying civilization, and it’s up to mercenaries with mechs (you) to stop them. The story and characters are clearly not the focus, and are just there to contextualize the gameplay. So you won’t be getting emotionally attached to anyone or anything.

The art style is clearly pixelated, and each unit has 4 frames of animation. So it’s simple, but it feels polished. It does a good job reducing ideas into little sprites and effects.

The SFX are fairly minimal, and reserved for text and movement/actions. I don’t recall any noticeable ambient tracks on any island.

The music is also fitting. It’s kind of repetitive, but it didn’t get annoying for me. There’s nothing more off-putting to a game’s replayability than a bad soundtrack. Here the score is driven by (I think) plucking electric guitars, with some string, piano, and some kind of spatial synth or something. It has kind of a dystopian sound without being too depressing. So it gets the job done. It probably would have been nice to have more variety though.

One specific element that I liked was the idea of rescuing civilians. Even though civilian lives are merely of secondary consequence, when I first beat a level, I felt good that I saved these people. They only show up as little text boxes over the apartment buildings, but even just that little bit gave it a more personal vibe. It made me aware of how little "saving civilians" is used as a goal or mechanic in games in general...So it’s a refreshing idea, even if it’s only tacked on.

Overall I had a feeling of fighting off aliens and trying to save humanity the first few playthroughs. But after a while, much of the atmosphere became background noise as I focused on solving puzzles and challenges. It certainly creates a mood, and I think the dystopian theme works well to support the gameplay. But it’s also not the most impactful or transportive.

Conclusion: Into The Breach has a lot going for it if you enjoy roguelikes. The runs are short enough where if you die, you don’t end up losing too much progress or time. It’s a fun solid strategy game with a good amount of content for replayability. But it does have a specific core fun-factor and core “feeling”, and if you don’t connect with it, it’s going to be a much shorter game. Overall, definitely recommend.

[h1]Into The Breach Review[/h1] [i]**Spoiler free**[/i] [u]Overview:[/u] Into The Breach is a roguelike turn-based game that plays as a strategy puzzler on a grid. Though a single run only takes a sitting, the gameplay loop and the easy accessibility has kept me playing for over 60 hours. The game relies heavily on the roguelike formula, with little in the way of progress carrying over each run. If you like roguelikes, then this is a solid game that I recommend, though your mileage may vary. [u]Gameplay:[/u] The goal is to progress through different islands with procedurally generated levels to get to the final island and destroy the Vek hive. Each level will have a randomly generated map with certain objectives drawn from a pool. The objectives and terrain are preview-able before selecting the level. Each completed level will unlock adjacent levels. You won’t be able to play all levels on an island, requiring you to decide which rewards are worth trying to get. The idea of choosing playthrough order is present throughout, from the levels to the islands themselves. You also have the option of doing 2, 3, or 4 island playthroughs per run, which will obviously change your playtime. You choose a mech squad before your run, and the more in-game achievements you accomplish, the more points you get to unlock other squads. Each squad has a unique set of starting load outs, and will drastically change your play style from squad to squad. This helps give the game more content, because even though a run (and so technically the game) can be completed in a couple of hours, playing through with each squad brings its own challenges, and therefore feels like individual chapters in the “campaign”. There are about 10 squads you can unlock, so that’s a lot more content than just the initial 2 hours or so. Upgrading your mechs and pilots, and managing your health, play as the main focus between levels. Your health and upgrades do not reset between islands. This is actually a fairly significant side of the game that you will constantly have on your mind as you determine which level to play and which actions to prioritize, weighing between short term and long term gains. Each level is turn-based, and will have you [i]reacting[/i] to enemy movements and actions, since your turn is last. Each one is therefore set up like a randomly-generated puzzle. You may be able to “put out every fire”, or you might have to make some tough decisions about what needs to be sacrificed for other priorities. I found this to be adequately influenced by the difficulty setting. Difficulty will play a big role in how successful you are at eliminating threats, avoiding disaster, and completing goals for rewards. There’s Easy, Normal, and Hard, and each gives a relatively appropriate challenge. Once you learn the game, Easy will ultimately let you wipe the board clean. But even Normal will start making you work for an optimal victory. Each run is essentially separate from previous runs. The only “upgrade” you keep is a pilot you had on the previous run. So very little transfers from run to run. You will upgrade your mech and pilots, but only one pilot has the option to remain for the next run. It took me a while to get used to this since I don’t play a lot of roguelikes. But in the end, it makes sense for the replayability of this game. If your mechs stayed upgraded, for example, I think it would remove the core fun-factor. [u]Replayability:[/u] The combination of different squads, procedurally generated levels, and turns that feel like unique puzzles helps give this game replayability, if you enjoy the gameplay loop. And while you’re still unlocking squads you have even more incentive. Terrain can play a very important role in your turn strategy, which means the procedurally generated levels contribute that much more to replayability. I also found trying to get 100% steam achievements in this game complimented the gameplay loop very well. However, even though I’ve been talking about replayability, your replay value will vary depending on how much you like the gameplay loop. If you don’t enjoy it enough, this game might only last you a run or two. The game’s replay value comes from enjoying the core experience, and therefore enjoying the repetitive playthroughs for slightly altered challenges. Though the game randomizes the experience, it still [b]FEELS[/b] like the same thing. This could be good or bad. [u]User Interface:[/u] The user interface feels in sync with the pixelated graphical style. Information boxes are blocky and off on the sides of the screen, leaving the playing field clean and uncluttered with information. Though there are hotkeys, I found it way simpler to just use the mouse and click the interface. It’s very intuitive to play this way. I would have preferred if there was a permanent way to keep turn order visible. However, the only way to see turn order is to hold the ALT key. This would have been better as a toggle. [u]Atmosphere:[/u] The world building is pretty minimal, but once you’re playing you get the idea pretty quickly. Some insect-like invaders have been destroying civilization, and it’s up to mercenaries with mechs (you) to stop them. The story and characters are clearly not the focus, and are just there to contextualize the gameplay. So you won’t be getting emotionally attached to anyone or anything. The art style is clearly pixelated, and each unit has 4 frames of animation. So it’s simple, but it feels polished. It does a good job reducing ideas into little sprites and effects. The SFX are fairly minimal, and reserved for text and movement/actions. I don’t recall any noticeable ambient tracks on any island. The music is also fitting. It’s kind of repetitive, but it didn’t get annoying for me. There’s nothing more off-putting to a game’s replayability than a bad soundtrack. Here the score is driven by (I think) plucking electric guitars, with some string, piano, and some kind of spatial synth or something. It has kind of a dystopian sound without being too depressing. So it gets the job done. It probably would have been nice to have more variety though. One specific element that I liked was the idea of rescuing civilians. Even though civilian lives are merely of secondary consequence, when I first beat a level, I felt good that I saved these people. They only show up as little text boxes over the apartment buildings, but even just that little bit gave it a more personal vibe. It made me aware of how little "saving civilians" is used as a goal or mechanic in games in general...So it’s a refreshing idea, even if it’s only tacked on. Overall I had a feeling of fighting off aliens and trying to save humanity the first few playthroughs. But after a while, much of the atmosphere became background noise as I focused on solving puzzles and challenges. It certainly creates a mood, and I think the dystopian theme works well to support the gameplay. But it’s also not the most impactful or transportive. [u]Conclusion:[/u] Into The Breach has a lot going for it if you enjoy roguelikes. The runs are short enough where if you die, you don’t end up losing too much progress or time. It’s a fun solid strategy game with a good amount of content for replayability. But it does have a specific core fun-factor and core “feeling”, and if you don’t connect with it, it’s going to be a much shorter game. Overall, definitely recommend.