App Profile: Into the Breach

Ethan A. D.

Rating: 5/5

This was my first foray into Netflix gaming content and I could not be more pleased. This game easy to play and yet is strategically complex. The variety of units and enemies make each battle a lesson in adapting tactics on the fly, especially as the mission demands become more challenging. I’ve played everything from FF tactics to Fire Emblem to XCom, and after decades, it’s a pleasure to find that this has something new to offer. The core upgrade feature is so fun bc it’s totally reversible, as it should be switching parts on mechs, and the use of “timelines” in battle & out of makes you invested in actually not trying to just go for perfection through repeated attempts/save file manipulation, but through sticking to saving the timeline & forgoing perfection for the best you can pull from yourself. Also this game makes it super easy to just drop what you’re doing and comeback to it later. Suffice it to say, I highly recommend. Well done, studio, and I hope Netflix continues to find strategy games & games in general of this quality, not just reskinned candy crush or whatever. Substantial games, like this one, last the test of time and bear revisiting over years.

Ysillo

Rating: 5/5

This turn based strategy rogue-like game manages to walk a tight rope of keeping elements streamlined and approachable while also having there be a lot of variety and depth. The game can be challenging but very satisfying when you have a good character or team build and manage successful maneuvers and combinations of attacks and abilities. And I am a fan of the pixel art and the little details they put into it like the subtle character portrait animations. I think it’s got a good premise and interesting world reminiscent of “Pacific Rim” meets “Edge of Tomorrow”. Though the story is concise, with no lengthy cutscenes they keep you in the action, and even with fairly sparse dialogue manage to give you a sense of the personality of the characters. There are dozens of unlockable mechs with different gameplay styles, several unlockable pilots with different attributes, and a bunch of weapons and tools you can swap out with the constraint that each mech can only assign two weapons or tools at a time. This game is definitely worth your while, though I will warn that the challenge on some runs can feel brutal.

hhvddgj

Rating: 5/5

The game’s rules are simple enough, so it isn’t tough to master, and the boards are all well thought out puzzles. The range of difficulty is huge, and there are other adds, as well. It doesn’t take exceptionally long to run through, but there is a giant variety of ways to play and a good bit of randomization, so I’ve run through dozens of times without getting bored. Even now that I’ve gotten almost all of the achievements, I still roll back to this game fairly often to do it again. Like FFT, It’s a turn-based strategy where each player/figure has its own specialties. Where a lot of those games get really bogged down in overcomplication and menu-juggling, this is clean and easy without a ton of prep work between boards. Just the right balance of simple and challenging that makes it worth getting. Well done.