Into the Breach is a game about the accumulation of small decisions, good or bad. It’s a game that never lets you forget your past runs, especially your failures. Into the Breach is made.

A roguelike tactics game about duffing up bugs with mechs.Expect to pay: $15Developer: Subset GamesPublisher: Subset GamesReviewed on: Intel i5-6600K / Nvidia GeForce 1070 / 16gb RAMMultiplayer: NoneLink:Surely this is where it’ll end. One bug is attacking the train I’m meant to be defending. Another is about to destroy an apartment building. And for every building I lose, I lose another Power Grid point. I’ve only one left and once it’s gone, the Vek win.If you’ve played FTL, you’ll remember the very particular kind of clammy-palmed panic it’d conjure as you’d face another seemingly no-win situation. Into the Breach will bring that feeling right back, and it’s wonderful. Developed by the same team, Subset Games, Into the Breach is FTL’s long-awaited follow up.

It’s built on the same building blocks of roguelike progression, intricate interplays of abilities, and slow, knuckle-gnawing tension, but it also couldn’t be a more different kind of game.Now, my Lightning Mech could run up to the bug attacking the train and lightning whip it to death. But the attack will chain into the adjacent train and destroy it, too. Every move I try either fails to deal with both bugs or destroys the train. This is impossible. It’s over.Into the Breach is a turn-based tactics game in which your squad of three mechs is pitted against a swarm of ground-dwelling bugs, the Vek.

Each level is played out across just five turns on an 8x8 grid, and your ultimate goal is survive, to build up the strength of your mechs, and to make it to the final denouement, in which you finish off the Vek for good.Into the Breach’s tactics are tight and controlled because you know the exact results of your every move.Its party trick is that you get to see the moves the Vek will make on their turn. Tactics games are, at their core, puzzle games, but while most involve a good deal of luck and guesswork, Into the Breach’s tactics are tight and controlled because you know the exact results of your every move. You know what the Vek will be attacking, for what damage and in what order.

And that evens the odds, even while you’re almost always outnumbered.You also have amazing weapons on your side. Thinning the Vek’s numbers is always a good idea, but they’re not always about killing, since most can also move them, relocating their attacks. If you’re clever, you can make them attack each other or push them into bug-killing water.

There are always many options, but you’re rarely sure you’re making the best ones. This is why, despite each battle taking place on just 64 tiles and across five short turns, I routinely spend 30 minutes on them, agonising over my choices.

You will, too.Wait. What if my Hook Mech pulls the bug attacking the city with its grapple? OK, the city’s still in danger because the bug charges in a straight line, but now it’s sitting a tile away from the bug attacking the train, and I’m a genius. I move my Boulder Mech in and lob a rock between them, pushing both away so both attacks will hit nothing. We’ll live another day.One of Into the Breach’s greatest strengths is that while its tactics are exacting and complex, its strategy involves a good deal of choice and variety. Each campaign run takes place across four themed islands. Each island features a set of levels from which you’ll choose four to battle on before playing the fifth one to protect your HQ from a final assault, and each level has different objectives.

You might need to protect a coal plant or speeding train, to kill at least seven enemies, or to destroy a dam. If you succeed, they’ll grant certain rewards, either Power Grid points, Reactor Cores (which power up your mechs’ abilities and weapons), or Reputation, a currency you’ll spend on weapons and other gear to equip your mechs for the run. You don’t lose the game if you fail objectives—only if you lose all your Power Grid—so you’ll constantly be weighing up the pros of one move against the cons of another. When push comes to shove, is it better defend the coal plant in order to win a Reputation point but leave your Combat Mech open to an attack? Or is it better that it definitely survives the level? The Power Grid ultimately defines your fate, so keeping it healthy is top priority, but looking after your mechs is a close second: when destroyed, their pilot is killed, replaced in the next battle by an AI which can’t earn XP and therefore won’t earn extra HP, movement and other abilities. But if you don’t earn better gear, you probably won’t survive the stiffer challenge of later levels.

This is a game of hard choices.Each squad is a joy to learn, each battle a new test of your skills. The challenge never stops changing.After completing your second island, you have the option to go for the final battle, or you can fight on the other two islands to gather more gear, but the challenge scales with how far you get. Into the Breach is easier to finish than FTL, but it’s designed as a score-attack game, with medals awarded for how many islands you liberated before winning, your final score defined by the number of lives you saved. But you’ll also play with a mind to unlocking new squads of mechs by completing special achievements.

The squads each have a different focus, so the Rusting Hulks tend to deploy attack-cancelling smoke, while the Hazardous Mechs deal big damage but get damaged back. Each squad is a joy to learn, each battle a new test of your skills. The challenge never stops changing.For those who loved FTL for its thoughtful and clever design, it’s all here, too. But Into the Breach is a much tighter, more focused game. While there are plenty of weapons to experiment with, pilots with differing abilities to unlock, and level gimmicks to get your head around, you’ll have a very good idea of its breadth in your first run. For some, Into the Breach might lack a sense of mystery and expansiveness, but for me, it’s more than enough to fuel a hundred hours or more of the most consistently rewarding tactics I’ve played in many years.

Whether it’s in times of stress or comfort, most people have a list of their go-to stories and sources for entertainment. Be it a favorite book, film, game, or locale, there’s a joy of deeper and renewed discovery in the familiar. I have a number of books and movies that I make the effort to return to every year, but as my annual list grows, it becomes vastly more difficult to get through the list as years go by; even more so as adult life takes over.There’s a game that I simply can’t help but return to at least once a month, Faster Than Light, even after its six years of existence.Developed by Subset Games, the randomly generated space exploration and combat simulator puts you in the seat of an interstellar ship desperately trying to outrun a fleet of rebel ships. Through their adventures, players encounter and recruit a diverse crew of aliens, each one with uniquely strategic advantages and disadvantages. The randomness introduced makes each playthrough entirely different, forcing players to keep on their toes, constantly adjusting plans and developing new strategies.

But by far, the best part of the game is the ability to drop in and drop out as desired. Each play session could be as short as a single mission, lasting roughly sixty-seconds, or a full campaign that could last an hour, depending on your success. It’s a quick and easy way to get a pixel-art gaming fix.But if Faster Than Light is a pixelated Firefly simulator, Subset Games’ newest release, Into The Breach, can best be described as kaiju Advance Wars. Played on a virtual chessboard, players control three kaiju sized mechs in a turn-based showdown against the Vek, an insect like race of kaiju that are threatening life as we know it.

Your mechs and pilots are from the future, giving them knowledge of exactly how the Vex plan to attack. It’s up to you and the pilots to alter the timeline and save Earth from destruction.When first starting a new game, players only have the option to pick the Rift Walkers loadout and the default pilot. It’s a limiting opening, but a well rounded way to start game mechanics and experimenting with different strategies. At the mech selection screen, players will notice other grayed-out loudouts that can be purchased with in-game currency at a later point in time.

Currency can be earned by completing Squad Achievements, which are specific challenges designed for each mech loadout. Completing one of these challenges earns the player one gold that can be put toward permanent unlocks.

For example, the Rift Walkers achievement, Watery Grave, asks players to drown three Vek in a single battle. Each one of these challenges requires forward thinking, and on the occasion, specific equipment, but making Squad Achievements the primary goal while playing will pay off quickly.Each battle takes place on an 8×8 grid, mimicking a standard chess board. At the round open, players will be given a portion of the board where they can choose to place their three mech units. Once players select their starting tiles, the battle begins. Opening with the enemy turn, Vek units will move around the board, targeting either mechs or cities that power the time machine keeping you and your team in the past. Acting as your team’s health, the power grid meter in the upper left will delete one segment for each city lost. If the power grid is depleted, you lose the ability to sustain the current timeline and your game is over.

With careful planning, this outcome can be easily avoided.Even though the Vek move first, they do not attack during the same turn. Instead, the Vek move into position and telegraph their upcoming attack actions, granting the player the opportunity to plan their moves and attacks. During this time, players can directly attack Vek to decrease their health, use push moves to force Vek into water (or other hazards) where they’ll drown instantly, repair mechs, or shield a city from an enemy projectile with your own unit. Despite having prior knowledge of enemy movement, Into The Breach, is not a walk in the park, but as good ol’ G.I Joe used to say, “Knowing, is half that battle.”The challenge of Into The Breach comes from the constant need to balance the long game against the short one. Do you damage your mech and risk losing your pilot and all of the skills they’ve learned, or do you allow your power grid to take another hit, reducing priceless energy? The difficulty doubles when you take into consideration that many of your attacks will deal collateral damage.Should you fail by losing your entire power grid or all of your mechs, that timeline is terminated and you’ll be forced to begin again.

In the case where the game ends as a result of a depleted power grid, any remaining pilots will attempt to evacuate the timeline and return home. But as a result of your depleted power, only one can return; forcing players to choose only one of their surviving pilots to live on.Thankfully, each completed mission, or region on the map, will grant essential rewards.

Indicated by symbols on each location, players will earn reputation (denoted by stars), energy restored to their power grid (denoted by a lightning bolt), or a reactor core (mech upgrade). However, each of these rewards are earned only by completing specific objectives while on the mission. Simply completing the mission is not enough to earn bonuses.The game is comprised of four main islands, followed by a smaller one where the final battle takes place. Players can choose to complete islands in any order they desire. Once an island has been selected, players will progress through it, completing one region at a time. After completing the several regions, the local Vek leader will emerge, closing remaining regions, and beginning a boss scenario.

If players are able to survive the Vek leader, they are granted the opportunity to exchange reputation for valuable power-ups before moving onto the next island.Each new island will introduce unique terrain types that will provide players with new strategic options necessary to succeed. Like the ice that will wear down as characters occupy tiles until it breaks, dropping Vek into an icy bath below.

Or the caustic A.C.I.D that weakens defense, nearly doubling damage to those afflicted.Into The Breach is a fantastic game for any one who considers themselves a strategist, or simply wants a quick drop-in drop-out experience. It is most certainly a difficult game, but difficulty settings will provide relief for players who don’t want to be annihilated. The wide array of playable characters and enemies keep the game fresh and give players unparalleled variety. In classic Subset Games fashion, detailed pixel art makes otherwise simple visuals, a real treat. As of right now, Into The Breach is being offered at $14.99 on Steam and is worth every cent.