If you enjoy turn-based strategy games and roguelikes, and you haven’t played Into the Breach yet, I implore you to put down every other game you’re playing (yes, even Balatro) and do so. Built by Subset Games, the masterminds behind the also-excellent FTL: Faster Than Light, Into the Breach is a truly masterful piece of design: part puzzle, part tactics, part mechs, and 100% pure satisfaction, it ranks among greats like Slay the Spire, Dead Cells, and Hades as one of the best in the business. Boasting a 94% Steam rating, and at a huge discount right now thanks to a Steam sale, don’t just take my word for it – give it a try.
Like many of the best roguelike games, each run of Into The Breach feels distinct from the last. You’ll pick from a selection of mech squads, each with their own specialized units that makes each team feel like a completely different experience from the rest. Your job is to defend the remnants of humanity from a terrifying alien threat brewing up from beneath the very earth itself.
Each battle takes place on a small grid, and the hook is that you’ll see each turn exactly what the enemy plans to do. Your task, then, is simply to figure out the best way to respond. Hopefully, that means demolishing every bug that stands in your way and readying up for the next wave to arrive. Ideally, it means using their own attacks against them as you drag, punch, or hurl enemy bugs into the path of their cooperator’s incoming attacks.
Realistically, however, it often means resigning yourself to putting your own mechs in harm’s way; being prepared to take that devastating blow yourself so that the civilian complex nearby can stay in one piece for another day. Into the Breach is a game about making tough choice after tough choice – but when you pull it off, it’s one of the most fundamentally fulfilling feelings I’ve ever experienced playing any game.
As mentioned, the squads at your disposal are what really make Into the Breach tick. The Rift Walkers bring standard cannons and artillery to the field, but they’re just the start. Blitzkrieg pulls enemies and its own mechs alike into close proximity so it can chain devastating pulses of lightning across an entire army. The Zenith Guard utilize powerful lasers, manually shielding vulnerable targets from potential devastation, while the Arachnoids can create additional units to swarm your foes.
With 14 squads at your disposal and the ability to build custom teams by cherry-picking mechs from across the full roster, that’s a huge amount of replayability, and you can try it out cheaply right now thanks to a new Steam sale.
Into the Breach is on sale for 50% off on Steam until Sunday March 3. You don’t have long to get it, then – so don’t miss out on that chance to grab a copy if my enthusiasm has tickled your fancy. Expect to pay $7.49/£5.69, down from its usual price of $14.99/£11.39.
If that’s not enough head-scratching for you, be sure to ponder even more of the best turn-based strategy games on PC in 2024. We’ve also rounded up the best indie games to ensure you haven’t let any real winners slip by.
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