Into the Breach
This is a turn based small-scale strategy game from the makers of FTL. You control 3 mechs on a series of 8x8 maps against the Vek (bugs) with various objectives on each map such as "block Vek from spawning" & "protect the train". There are a wide range of mechs, pilots and weapons you can use to control the battlefield. It's really refreshing to play something like this on a smaller scale where you have to work to the strength of your mechs, combine skills and plan the next move to make the Vek attack themselves instead of you. There's loads of depth and a very rewarding experience for careful planning.
Pros
- I'm updating this review as they've just released the Advanced Edition, for free, 4 years after release. This adds even more mechs, maps, weapons and objectives to play breathing new life into an already amazing game
- There's a huge amount of content to experiement with here. There are pre-made squads where the mechs play to each other's strengths, or there are randomised play-throughs where you just do the best you can with a roll of the dice
- The small scale of each mission makes it really approachable. I don't have to remember what was going on in a 20 hour game, I can just get straight back into a map that might take 10 minutes on it's own
- Music by Ben Prunty
- Combat is extremely satisfying. Managing to plan out your moves and just about save each building for that turn with exactly the number of moves you have feels like a big achievement
- Very well balanced (but brutally difficult)
- Lots of replayability
- Highly customiseable graphics options for scaling the whole game or just the UI for larger monitors
- Missions often have surprise things that pop up to keep it interesting, such as Time Pods landing that can give you equipment, pilots and reactor power if you collect them
- The UI clearly shows you what will happen and when. Fire damage, then environmental damage, then which enemies will take their turn in order. This makes control of the battlefield even clearer, and you can plan your moves around things like "fire damage is going to happen first, so I don't have to worry about this guy"
- You can inspect units to see their abilities, health and movement
- You can undo moves for free, which helps with planning. Once you start taking combat actions, you're locked in
- You have a choice over which missions you take next. This can be useful for a number of reasons - like if you need more power, or value reputation more. Or if you've taken a battering and need an easier mission. Or if you're playing as a very low-damage squad and you want to avoid missions that make you kill large numbers of Vek
- They managed to distil the essence of larger strategy effectively down to a very small scale, where the board completely changes with every move
- Achievements for each squad give you ideas of how to play them
- You can choose any difficulty, and all the achievements and unlocks are the same. No penalty for playing it in a more forgiving way
Cons
- Although the game gives you a high degree of control over the battlefield and in general, explains everything very well, there are some mechanics that are hidden or can be unintuitive (example)
- While I totally understand that the idea of installing reactor cores is permanent, you get very few of them - and your weapons can change significantly between islands. I'd prefer to be able to uninstall them and move them between mechs as needed
- I wish there was a difficulty level between Easy and Normal. On Easy, I barely have to think at all. It's satisfying but a little too easy. On normal it can take me 10 minutes to plan one move and still end up dying on the second island. I start having the same problem I have with XCOM; I don't like not being able to win cleanly. On normal, sometimes it's impossible to take a turn without losing a building. I'd never play hard mode.
- Luck can be a factor. Some upgrades and pilots are way better than others, and some are only good for certain team compositions. You get offered a random selection of weapons at the end of each island, so upgrades are far apart and not always useful