Thank you for this gem

General discussion about the game.
Rusted
Posts: 9
Joined: Fri Jul 27, 2018 5:21 am

Thank you for this gem

Postby Rusted » Fri Jul 27, 2018 6:35 pm

Hello Subset games,

I bought Into the Breach a while ago from GoG after watching a streamer fail at it on ... well, his stream.

Since then I played for over 100+ hours and it easily became my favorite game of the year. I do admit I am not a big gamer anymore, but with the generous selection of games at my disposal I keep finding myself returning to Into the Breach for an other round, especially after a hard day's numbing work. It's also pretty much the first game I completed every achievement for, to be honest.

So, I kept asking myself what makes this game so incredibly fun and addictive, at least for me...

The idea.
Is great. It's smart too, because it weaves into the gameplay. Hitting a reset button or worse, abandoning a timeline means dooming the world you are meant to save. Planning ahead and assessing the situation becomes crucial, unless you enjoy messing up and get used to the frustration. Fighting giant bugs that may or may not come from the earth itself with giant mechanized units, reminds me of Blue Gender, a pretty violent anime series from the late nineties (where people sorely lacked time travel to fix their share of planet spanning insect infestation). On hard difficulty, as it is meant to be played, this makes for some downright dramatic sequences where you juggle with saving people, keeping pilots alive, completing bonus objective, killing the Vek in a chain of actions resembling to an elaborate dynamic puzzle, which proves to be the very core of ...

The gameplay.
Is Polished. With one of the most intuitive UI's I have ever seen, the game gives you all the information you need to optimally use up your main resource every turn: mech actions. Maneuvering and attacking, killing or displacing the Vek is done with 3 units capable of moving and attacking once (Not considering Silica). This is a rogue like turn based tactics game... a very strange combination, but which simply works keeping the game fresh even after several play-throughs. Patience, tactfulness, threat assessment are rewarded, impatience and hurrying are penalized (most of the time with hundreds of people, points-?- lost and the game ending with the world being conquered by giant insects). I can't stress out the importance of the UI that is capable of relaying all the information on the screen. And oh boy, can it get crowded with all the enemy actions, with the map layout which is morphed by plenty of different hazards and buildings, and with all the obstacle placements which under a less intuitive UI would be combining into an absolute cacophony, utter chaos. Variety is at its best, with different types of veks, tilesets and mechs. Their combination forces a decent player to pay attention to the constantly changing battle-board conditions and adapt to them. For an example... Killing off all the enemies in the early turns of a battle, can prompt the surfacing of 5-6 Veks next turn. Unless you blocked their entry, you may find yourself in a nasty situation with Hornets or Leapers attacking out of your reach locations or Spiders blocking multiple Mechs with a single well placed cocoon. Is it chess? Yes, if you consider moving on a 8x8 large grid, then it's chess. Is it an intricate puzzle game? Maybe. A very polished title, with great immersion, keeping you at the edge of your seat and cussing if you messed up your positioning a turn before, misjudging...

The Difficulty.
Strikes a careful balance. The AI is difficult, but not infallible. And it should be like that, otherwise, I am pretty sure playing on Hard would prove to be a nightmare. Balancing the AI for a single player game is no easy task. It takes into consideration general balance, player skill, map layout and hundreds of other aspects which aren't too obvious to the consumer at first glance, but if they get it wrong it's glaring. It's clear the game was balanced over and over again, content was cut, content was added until it reached its current state. It's unbelievable that you could combine the randomness and punishing nature of a rogue like with the static, calculable, logical elements of a tactical/puzzle game. I love it. I found no glaring issues and I can't understand people who play it on easy and complain it's too easy, other playing it on hard and complaining it's too hard, nor do I understand how can't you finish a game on normal difficulty with 7 power grid bars. I made a tiny mod, actually reducing the number to 5 and going down to just 3, just because I want to finish the game at least once with full grid health (damn it, I only managed to reduce the damage to a single building lost). Just be patient and progress. Fail, loose, return and learn. It fits with the idea of the entire game (or rogue likes). Entire timelines perish in order for you to become a better commander and eventually win consistently. If you find it repetitive and boring, this game is not for you. Also, I've seen people complain that it's not FTL. And yes, it is not. It's called Into the Breach and it's a completely new and different game to FTL. It's not FTL2, it doesn't have to have the same mechanics. Appreciate the work put into (THE BREACH) this wonderful game, all the care, all the variety and also stop for a moment to appreciate...

The music.
An engaging score from Ben Prunty, with one of the most addicting guitar riffs ever. I still find myself whistling along to The Blast Garden, or be moved by the Old War Machines track. The music is inspiring and instead of hiding timidly in the background it doesn't shy away to let itself heard. You are right Subset games, strategy game music shouldn't be quiet. Total Annihilation got it right, too. :D

In conclusion,
Tl, dr; I love this game, it's a gem. Buy it if you like turn based tactical rogue likes. I gifted it to friends and I can't wait for the Advanced Edition.

Good luck and keep up the good work Subset games!
theVenerable
Posts: 2
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:04 pm

Re: Thank you for this gem

Postby theVenerable » Sun Aug 19, 2018 4:23 pm

I've not been this impressed by a game in a long time.
How can a game be so easy to pick up, but have such depth and diversity in its gameplay?
And how hard must it be to create such a game with so many tactics, variables and outcomes?

I tried FTL, but did not find it so easy to just pick up and play enjoyably.
This game though I pretty much dove straight in and enjoyed it from the off.

Even for people like me - I'm also a very picky gamer, and can't be bothered to play most games in my collection for more than a few minutes - this game is an utter hit.

Masterpiece!