Compact Review: Into the breach

What is a compact review: 

A compact review is a quick summary of games I want to discuss. To summarize my ideas as compactly as possible, we look at a concept called "Design Value." I mean by design values is that what game developers wanted the player to feel? If they succeed, how? Or if they failed, why? To explain how they fail or succeed, we dig into the aspects of games such as mechanics, art, narrative, and how they support each other or not support the "soul" design value of the game.

Design Value: 

We did explain the meaning of design value, but to fully understand the concept we can look at a quote from the "Game, Design and Play" book: "Most simply stated, design values are the qualities and characteristics a game's designer wants to embody in the game and its play experience. Design values help designers identify what kind of play experience they want to create and articulate some of the parts that will help their game generate that experience." As we can understand from the quote, design value is the spirit of the game's experience.

So what is the design value of the breach?

When you play for a while, you realize that you are not trying to be a hero, you're making calculations about what is the most reasonable choice: sacrificing people and saving your unit for future fights, or sacrificing your unit for the star and upgrading the other unit. This choice, and more, lead you to the design value spirit of the game.

The design value of Into the Breach is racing with an impossibility. You're a time traveler that tries to save the world over and over again. With every try, you learn and progress, but the game never loses the possibility of killing your crew. Because all mechanics serve the design value, which is 3 units of soldiers trying to save the world from monsters, but it feels real and grounded.

Every little detail matters to win to save the world. This spirit of the game immerses you in the atmosphere so much that you lose track of time.

So, what mechanics help and how do they provide this experience to the gamer?

Mechanics and System:

When you first see Into the Breach, you may think this is a classic turn-based combat game, but if you play for some time, you'll realize that the game's units and their abilities are rich and well thought out. The game gives you 3 units, and if you progress in the game, you can unlock new units. Most units have a push ability. When you hit a hive monster, you damage them and push them 1 or 2 tiles, depending on which unit you hit with. This push works so well because your main objective is not to kill all monsters - if you just want to progress in the game, you just need to survive with at least one grid level. The push helps you to maintain the situation - you can't kill all hive monsters, but you can maintain the damage and survive. You plan your attacks wisely, and all actions have their costs.

Let's give an example of the thinking structure in a single turn in Into the Breach. First, you look where the hive monsters will attack - you, your houses, or your objectives such as power plants or supply batteries. Then you look at the tile map, where you can strike, where you can't, and consider events like air attacks or earthquakes. Then you think of a combo with your unit that takes the best possible damage and protects the people and objectives in the turn. Maybe you can hit with the mech and push the enemy 2 tiles, then bomb with the tank, or you can push with the mech again but not bomb with the tank because it blocks the tile where the enemy will spawn. Or, for the mission, you might sacrifice your mech to protect the coal plant, or you might sacrifice people for your unit's pilot to level up for other missions.

As you can see from the examples, the game feels simple, but at the same time complex, because there are not too many mechanics, but all mechanics serve the design value. When all of them merge in the gameplay, they create a dynamic that is special for this game. For the dynamics to work properly, there needs to be good objective design. Let's dive into that.

Objective Design:

We can divide objectives into two categories. The first is a necessity for passing the level, called the "Grid," which represents the buildings where people live. Players can avoid all objectives on the level, but in one circumstance, their grid must be not zero for the end of the level's turn number. This gives players flexibility about their strategy - they can sacrifice the objectives to stay alive, or they can sacrifice one objective to succeed in another.

The second objective type is optional for the player. These are like side missions in other games. These missions have various objectives, such as protecting a train until it crosses other lines on the level, saving a tank crew from the level, or protecting a coal plant. However, the rewards for these objectives are different from others.

There are two rewards for optional objectives. The first is a star, which is used to buy grid levels or skills for your units. The second is a grid level point that adds to your grid level. You can choose a mission from the main HQ. If you are low on grid level, you can choose a mission whose objectives give you a grid point.

These objectives help you to really think about what is most important to you - a grid point or star for your crew, or if it is worth the danger to your crew to save the grid or save your units for other levels. The list goes on. All of this is that there is one main objective - to save some humans and be alive - and the rest is up to the player's choices and sacrifices.

Conclusion:

Into The Breach feels grounded and solid thanks to all aspects of the game serving the design value. The developers know what they intend for the player to feel and they deliver with mechanics that create dynamics and an objective design that supports freedom of choice for the player.