Into The Breach First Impressions

I loved FTL: Faster Than Light. So when the developers announced they were making a new tactics game I was insanely excited. But now that it’s been released, was it worth it? How good is the tactics aspect of it? Is the replayability just as great as that of FTL? Spoiler alert, it’s everything I wanted.

Let’s start with the biggest aspect of this type of game, the replayability. Coming from FTL, you would expect some of a random aspect to each stage and each enemy. Into The Breach delivers on all that and more. Where FTL provides different ships, crew, and weapons, Into The Breach gives you a team of 3 mechs that offer something different to the team, along with a pilot for each and specialized weapons for each. There are a total of 8 premade squads of 3 mechs, but you can also customize your squad or get random mechs for the squad.

The customization is the teams keeps each round interesting especially when each mech introduces a different strategy to how you handle an encounter. Moreover, each encounter has a random assortment of objectives and enemies are unpredictable to the point that each encounter feels different even if the objectives are similar to a past run.

Tactics in the game are great. You are only given 3 units with very specific abilities to handle the encounter. You would need to plan each move carefully to reduce damage to civilian cities or other key structures and also your mechs and additional objectives. One mech could have the ability to knock back enemies, another could place smoke to stop enemies, or your mech could even drag enemies toward it. Each mech adds a different layer of strategy to the encounter and sometimes your mechs might not even be the best suited for the encounter but you’ll just have to make it work anyway. The game does offer an “undo move” button if you moved a mech to a not so advantageous space and there is even a “Reset Turn” button that can be used once per encounter in case things really go south. There’s a lot of depth to the strategies you can develop with the various mechs and maps, so definitely take your time and figure out what works best even if it means a building taking a hit.

Was the game worth it? It definitely was. It provides the replayability that FTL was known for and it creates some excellent situations to flex your mental fortitude. It’s a great game for quick sessions as each turn lasts about 4 turns and you can easily save and come back to where you were later. Let me know how you like it! Which mechs are your favorite?