Into the Breach is a simple indie turn-based tactical combat roguelike from the makers of FTL, where you pit giant mechs against giant bugs. Well, simple in the same way chess is simple - the basic mechanics of seeing what the enemies are going to do and using your turn to damage or move them so they don’t damage you and your buildings are simple to learn and hard to master.
I’ve already written a bit about it in this post which talks about how you can play it on mobile as part of a Netflix subscription, if you like games where you can take your time to think of the perfect move then this is probably your cup of tea. Also since I first played it they’ve added a big free expansion including a difficulty called “unfair”, so that’s what’s keeping me busy at the moment.
I played this on Switch a few years ago and whilst I totally loved it, I got to the final round once and got my backside handed to me so hard that I’ve never gone back. Which is a problem I should rectify because the games loop is so damn good. The art is phenomenal too, not bad for a team that largely consists of just a few people.
FTL had the same issue. I save-scummed my way to the final boss after 20 hours of repeated failure…only to get curb-stomped. It would appear that I’ll never learn.
I find FTL can be a right bitch and very hard…yet I keep going back for more!
The final battle is definitely the hardest part, but I’d say it’s way less hard than FTL’s final boss. You could coast through FTL and then find out your ship just couldn’t compete with the flagship, whereas if you’ve got some good pilots and upgrades and a full grid then the final battle is usually doable.
Try and unlock some other squads by doing the achievements (the first couple of squads are actually relatively difficult, I think), make sure you’ve got some good abilities on your saved pilot, choose easier missions (in my opinion getting the perfect bonus is more important than risking it for an extra star), and remember there’s no shame in setting the difficulty to “easy” until you get the hang of things!
That’s the thing, I’m absolutely certain I went with ‘Easy’ as my difficulty setting. I’m just awful at these sorts of games. That being said, I’ve seen it cheap on Steam and might end up grabbing it when it next goes on sale.
I think it’s currently half price, there’s a link in my original post. It’s definitely brutal to start with, but that’s always the way with roguelikes! I’d say go in with a target in mind (such as completing a specific achievement or unlocking a new character) and eventually you’ll get the hang of it :)