Into the Breach uses time travel to make permadeath even more meaningful | Into the Breach

Sep 27, 2020 This feature was originally published in 2018 and has been lightly re-edited.

Roguelikes hold a fairly sizable niche in the PC gaming world today, and for good reason. Partially characterised by permadeath - meaning there are no mid-game saves - roguelikes challenge you to think carefully about every move you make, lest you die and get sent back to the beginning of your adventure.

This aspect of roguelikes has been creeping into other genres, such as the platformer with Spelunky, and tactical strategy games as seen in XCOM's Ironman mode. But Into the Breach is, arguably, the best implementation of permadeath in recent memory.

In Into the Breach, you play as a squad of mech pilots who travel between timelines to fight the Vek, an insectile alien species overrunning the vestiges of humanity. Fights play out on a grid-based battlefield where you must defend the civilian cities that power your mechs. On every turn, the enemy moves and telegraphs where it is about to attack, forcing you to react.

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