Into the Breach
The remnants of human civilization are threatened by gigantic creatures breeding beneath the earth. You must control powerful mechs from the future to hold off this alien threat. Each attempt to save the world presents a new randomly generated challenge in this turn-based strategy game from the makers of FTL. Defend the Cities: Civilian buildings power your mechs. Defend them from the Vek and watch your fire! Perfect Your Strategy: All enemy attacks are telegraphed in minimalistic, turn-based combat. Analyze your opponent's attack and come up with the perfect counter every turn. Build the Ultimate Mech: Find powerful new weapons and unique pilots as you battle the Vek infestation across Corporate-Nation islands. Another Chance: Failure is not an option. When you are defeated, send help back through time to save another timeline!
Game Discussion
Steam User 80
CONS
Game's full of bugs.
PROS
You can fix them with big guns and badass robots.
Steam User 21
I think Into The Breach is one of the greatest games ever made.
If I had to quickly summarize this game, I would say that it takes all of the good tropes of turn-based tactics games, then it improves upon them even further, and then it assembles them all together to create a pure, potent form.
-----
Bad:
- From a UI perspective, I didn't think that the process of installing and allocating reactor cores was very intuitive at first, but I figured it out soon enough.
- I think the game could do a better job of explaining how the "Undo" button works - i.e. that you can't undo the moving of a mech after another mech has completed an attack action. This is probably obvious in retrospect but I think a clearer explanation would be nice for smooth-brains like me.
Good:
- Every battle takes place on a small 8x8 grid, and that means that there are no "boring" turns. From the very start of the battle, your units are almost always within striking distance of the enemy, and vice versa. For example, you never have to spend several turns just to reposition your mech to a better position (like in Advance Wars). On almost every turn, you move your mech AND you do something "cool"; that could be attacking an enemy, blocking an enemy spawn, freezing an enemy, etc.
- You know exactly what the enemies are going to do on their turn. This means that your turns are always informed. You're never guessing or making lame decisions (e.g. "uhhh, maybe I'll do this in case the enemy does this idk lol"). You're always coming up with clever tactics and having "aha" moments that make your brain feel big and wrinkly.
- Every battle is only 4-turns long. This might seem stupid at first, but it's actually a nice limit. Each turn is significant. I think it helps to prevent the battles from becoming a snorefest. I've had some battles that end with no enemies on the map because I'm blocking their spawn with my mechs. If the turn limit were longer than 4 turns, these "battles" would become boring very quickly.
- The game is highly replayable. Your battles require you to control a squad consisting of 3 mechs, and there are 14 different squads in total for you to choose from. Each mech in each squad has a unique ability. The new abilities of each squad you unlock are forcing you to come up with new tactics. All of the squads are fun to play. Apparently there are over 200 maps, and there are lots of different enemies. This game feels very dense in terms of content and game mechanics.
- If you buy this game, you will very quickly discover whether you like it or not (most definitely within the 2-hour Steam refund limit - probably within like 15-20 minutes). This game is like 10 bucks on sale and at most like 20 bucks.
-----
If you like turn-based tactics games (e.g. Advance Wars, XCOM, Wildermyth, Mario+Rabbids), you should play this one.
If you didn't like Faster Than Light (the other game made by this company), I would still suggest that you check this one out.
If you're a smooth-brain (e.g. me) and want to feel like a wrinkly-brain (e.g. Albert Einstein, Euclid, Jimmy Neutron), you should play this one.
9.8/10
-----
BONUS BEGINNER TIPS SECTION THAT NO ONE ASKED FOR BUT MAY HELP YOU ENJOY THE GAME MORE QUICKLY IF YOU JUST BOUGHT IT (lol)
- Don't expect to kill every enemy in every battle. 98 percent of my battles end with 2 to 4 enemies still left on the map.
- Try to prioritize the health of your grid over the health of your mechs.
I could give some more tips but I'll leave them unsaid so that you can have your own "aha" moments that make this game so great.
Steam User 25
In the roughly 40 years of video gaming experience, Into The Breach has been one of my favourite 'lunch break' games. It's easy to get into, game sessions are about 20-30 minutes each, and there are lots of in-game challenges to meet.
Basically, it's a turn-based strategy game with puzzle-like elements. You control squads of 3 mechs, each with different abilities. As you gain 'gold', you get to unlock more squads. Each mech can be upgraded with energy cores, which in turn power different passive, reactive, and active abilities that can be slotted as you gain the gear. The maps are all about the same, with some variations on what you need to do. However, be aware there are mods out there that can change the look and feel of the game content.
Yes, it can get a bit repetitive, but as I mentioned, this is a coffee/lunch break type of game. It's not Civ VI, or WH40k Space Wolves, or C&C Generals. It's not meant to be played for hours. It's meant to be played every now and then while you munch on your sandwich and sip some tea.
Overall, I give this game a solid "A" for fun factor and replayability. On a side note, my hours here don't really reflect how much I've played this, as I originally own a copy of it on Nintendo Switch and have played that for at least three dozen hours over five years, before finding it here on Steam.
Updated 20241005: there is a negative review, where the player stated power cores are obscenely rare. Talk about not knowing how to play the game without saying they don't know how to play the game! If you are not awarded power cores throughout an island level, you can buy them by spending reputation after one island is completed. I can buy 2-4 power cores per island, on top of the 1-3 I get from time pods. They are at worst, uncommon.
Steam User 15
things i love about this game
-you feel like a genius when you realize that a turn you thought was impossible to pull off actually has a solution
-every peice of information presented to you as a player matters, and needs to be considered, every mechanic is impactful, every choice matters, unlike other tactics games there is no bean counting or ribbon features here.
-its fast quick to pick up and put down, i turned off turn based strategy games like divinity original sin because every combat felt like to big a investement of time and brainpower. but here combats are perfect little bites of gameplay.
Steam User 16
It's like chess with mechs.
Excellent good turn-based strategy with light roguelike elements! Every run will be different from the previous one and every squad has it's strengths and weaknesses.
Story is not that important, save the world from an alien threat (bugs), reminiscent of XCOM.
The gameplay is where this game shines. Always play to your squad's and mech's strengths, it's really well designed when you do.
I played this game a few years back, completed it and shelved it. Even back then the game was a great experience, but after the advanced edition update, which was FREE, I went back in and enjoyed the new pilots and squads they have added.
If you like turn-based strategy games don't miss this one!
Steam User 17
I played this game a while a go, i really dont have time for reviews but!! the depth of this game is ..out of this world. After i read about some updates , i replayed it. And i think it deservers my review.
You start with a group of mechs, familiarize and learn and discover (very important here) the synergies of them versus any possible setup and position of enemies. At some point you are so op and you have learnt to use the advantages and even the disadvantages of your 3 mechs at 100%. You see those first 3 as gods that can solve everything! Then you clear the game and ...
you choose another group of mechs. You see them as lame, non-intuitive for quite few fights, you believe your other 3 were so amazing and good...until your brain (literally) learns and discovers the synergies of these 3 new mechs to solve and counter all possible setups and positions of enemies.
It is an amazing game that really trains you and retrains you to the group of mechs and how to get the 100% of them. Your only enemy is really your brain where you get so accustomed with a group of mechs that in order to learn the new ones , you have to unwind and learn the game from a new perspective.
Only really few games have this replayability and the people behind the mech composition , skills and synergies deserve our mental/iq respect . Seriously amazing work :)
Steam User 13
I found this game frustrating and didn't play it for a solid amount of time. I recently got more into strategy/tactical games and decided to give this another shot. Never considered it a 'bad game', just a game that had a very high learning curve. It punishes impatience and I found that one of the reasons I didn't have a good time before was because I wasn't willing to make the sacrifices this game will require you to make (within the game).
With that said, even with (or maybe because of) the risks that you are forced into taking, you get into some of the most satisfying maneuvers (doing things like knocking an enemy into their own explosive spawn) and the most devastating losses. I think the dichotomy between the two makes this game constantly an anxiety-filled/on edge experience. But if you can push through that and kinda just stand back, take some time each turn to consider your options, it's an incredibly rewarding game. (even with the very few hours i have in it). I don't know if i'm going to be able to unlock some of the later squads available, but for the price I don't think it particularly matters.
Recommend.