Man, I feel like an idiot :D Before picking up this game, I had no idea this was a roguelite. Yeah I know, how can you not know but I usually refrain from reading up too much on a game I'm even slightly interested in. I knew this was a grid-based tactical game with mechs including stellar pixel-art, great music and interesting worldbuilding.

Well, I was right.

What I didn't know was that Subset Games have created one of the most addicting and fun roguelites out there. They basically developed a game as complex as Chess (yeah yeah, let me exaggerate a little^^), put a post-apocalyptic, hyper-capitalist mecha spin on it and put everything into a super addicting game loop. If you're like me, you're gonna spend hours customizing your team, planning moves and figuring out the best strategies to reach your mission goals. The game is dangerous that way, it's a real time-sinker :D

It's a bit of a pity that the game has so little to offer in terms of story. Don't get me wrong, the writing is good when it comes to worldbuilding. It can be very on the nose but also has its subtle moments that I came to appreciate. However, the "plot" is barely existent and you don't really form any relationships to characters...which is probably for the better since they are all going to die anyway :D But anyway, I can't help but feel that there was potential for more in this regard. I see this game in my mind that uses the gameplay, art, and worldbuilding of Into the Breach but in a linear, more story-oriented game. This is not that game. It's still a banger though.

Flaws in tactics games are uniquely frustrating, as doomed combats tick towards an hour or mechanical layers are obfuscated in menus. A sleek, punchy SRPG is a pipe dream. Into the Breach is the only game to achieve this. It compares more easily to Chess than to its contemporaries, combats more like puzzles where you can Queen's Gambit your mechs on the ceiling. There is always a solution, if you think hard enough. This is an astonishing feat of balance. In their GDC talk, a developer describes how they reworked the story layer repeatedly before stripping it out almost entirely. A game that understands itself this deeply is the result of creativity tempered to be unbreakable. That design is the heartbeat of Into the Breach, on high and low levels, the looping turns inside combats inside campaigns. It could beat forever.

Chess, but for killing monsters with awesome robots.

Probably the most returned to game I've ever played. It is fun, accessible but challenging, and keeps you wanting to complete every achievement – completing specific wins and unlocking bonus squads.

The design is beautiful, the soundtrack is perfect. Such a great game.

An interesting follow up from Subset Games. The Kaiju themed 3-piece chess match with waves of enemies and environmental mechanics, combined with individual stage-specific challenges makes for a fun and varied experience. The different mecha teams, each of which have their own tactical approach and offer different action combos adds to that.

Replayability is at the core of the game, but the formula gets fairly repetitive fast. The different islands have their unique gimmicks, but in an already challenging game it tends to feel like the mechanics get overwhelming in short order.

I never found the pilot system particularly engaging, especially since I rarely feel like I have that much control over who lives or dies when everything goes wrong. Equally I don't feel like I get to experiment with the shop very much. Maybe I just tend towards playing it safer, but even then I've not completed the game, only reached the 5th island at which point the complexity ramps up a bit too much and I get overwhelmed.

That said it's a very solidly designed game, with a unique theme, cool concept, and interesting gameplay. It's a tightly wound but compact clock that is fun to go back to once in a while, but I rarely ever feel compelled to endure long enough to unpack all of what it has to offer.