4/5 ★ – nate_mckeever's review of Into the Breach.

Into the Breach is one of those games that’s found it’s way onto my evergreen list. I’ll probably keep coming back to it every few months just because the gameplay loop is so stinking good. On its surface this is a grid-based turn-based game; but when you really dig into it, you realize that it’s just as much a puzzle game as anything else with an incredibly deep system underneath it all. Each run tasks the player with defending the world (4 main islands each with 8 distinct zones) from the Vek (basically Kaiju) invaders with a squad of 3 mech defenders. In each scenario, the player is given 5 turns to not only survive but also accomplish different tasks for additional resources (protect specific structures, defeat a particular Vek, etc). The gameplay is more often than not more about crowd control than actually killing Vek, keeping them away from civilian structures. Fail states can be triggered by losing all your mechs or the Vek destroying your power grid- at that point, you can send one of your pilots back in time (keeping all of their progress and experience) to try and save a different timeline, essentially resetting the map and giving the player new scenario challenges. Sound like a lot? That’s because it is, lol. But the quick rounds and gameplay do a great job of letting you experiment and explore the mechanical depth. Don’t be fooled, this is not a casual experience and there’s a lot of meat on the bones to chew on. The game demands that you think through your moves and be intentional. And while it’s not super accessible- I found it to be incredibly satisfying once I gripped up on the gameplay. This is a strong should play in my book, but I recognize that it’s not for everyone, so take that into consideration.