Breachway

About

"Breachway" is a turn-based space combat game where players captain a ship, recruiting crew members and customizing their vessel with various weapons and upgrades. Each decision affects the deck of cards associated with the ship, determining abilities and strategies in battles against the galaxy's many factions. Maintaining crew morale and completing missions will be crucial for success in this engaging, tactical experience.

Genres & Tags

Play Modes

Single-Player Play through the game's story or campaign solo

81%

Audience ScoreBased on 992 reviews

gameplay99 positive mentions

optimization4 negative mentions

Breachway combines elements of FTL and Slay the Spire, offering a unique deckbuilding experience in a space setting.
The game features engaging combat mechanics and a variety of ship systems that encourage strategic planning.
The developers are actively listening to player feedback and making regular updates to improve balance and fix bugs.

The game currently lacks content, with only two sectors available, leading to repetitive gameplay.
Balancing issues exist, particularly with enemy difficulty spikes and the effectiveness of certain cards and ships.
Some players have experienced bugs and crashes that hinder the overall gameplay experience.

gameplay
274 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
36%
63%
1%
The gameplay of the game is a mix of engaging mechanics and strategic depth, drawing comparisons to titles like FTL and Slay the Spire. While many players appreciate the unique card-based system and resource management, they also note that some mechanics can be unintuitive and overly complex, leading to a steep learning curve. Overall, the core gameplay loop is enjoyable and promising, but it requires further balancing and polish to enhance the experience.
- “The gameplay is quite good, and I like the space setting.”
- “The game's mechanics are easy to learn but offer deep strategic layers, encouraging players to think several moves ahead.”
- “Core gameplay loop is a blast, will only get better.”
- “However, beware: there’s a significant lack of balance across the board, and the mechanics feel overly complex.”
- “The game has too many overlapping mechanics, and most feel underdeveloped.”
- “The player ships are very unbalanced, with at least one ship completely unable to defend itself, except with rubbish hacking mechanics that rarely do anything of note.”
graphics
118 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
61%
36%
3%
The graphics of the game have received widespread praise for their appealing aesthetic, detailed spaceship designs, and immersive atmosphere, often compared to popular titles like "Slay the Spire" and "FTL." While many players appreciate the vibrant visuals and satisfying animations, some have noted performance issues, including lag and high GPU usage, suggesting that further optimization is needed. Overall, the game's art style and visual presentation contribute significantly to the enjoyment and thematic experience, despite some critiques regarding UI polish and technical performance.
- “The graphics are fun and the customization on ships was a happy surprise.”
- “The game has a very nice atmosphere, with great visuals, gameplay, and sound design.”
- “Specifically, the combat, visuals, character art, and audio are of high quality and provide an immersive experience.”
- “It was playable but laggy until the most recent update; the game crashes whenever you defeat an enemy and also affects my graphic driver for some weird reason, in some cases causing it to restart.”
- “Performance needs optimization; there are frequent 'loading' framerate hangups and high GPU usage (with mainly a single graphics quality setting to offset it, ranging from ~80% usage on ultra to ~10% on low using a 3070 GPU). Some effects cause localized screen shake that cannot be disabled, enough that it causes me discomfort.”
- “There's a lot of work in graphic and 3D models, which are really unnecessary for this kind of game.”
story
73 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
78%
4%
The game's story is generally perceived as minimalistic and underdeveloped, with many players expressing a desire for more narrative depth and variety in quests. While the initial premise shows potential, the current content feels incomplete, leading to a sense of abruptness and lack of engagement with the characters and plot. Overall, players hope for future expansions to enhance the storytelling experience as the game progresses through early access.
- “I'd love to see more lore, because I'm interested in the story that's there so far!”
- “The universe caught my attention enough to start hunting around for backstory on the factions, and I enjoy the crew members enough to make me hungry to know them more.”
- “I can't wait to see if the relationships develop and how (by themselves? my actions? general story needs?) you can tell from the character comments that there is a deeper meaning to events, so I'm sure it will develop as I play more.”
- “The story is a bit bare-bones, and additional narrative content would make each journey feel more meaningful.”
- “The storyline is very minimalistic, and the game doesn’t focus on it – the combat system is clearly the main attraction here.”
- “The plot is almost nonexistent; currently, the game ends inconclusively after sector 2 (which is similar to sector 1, just has a different boss).”
music
42 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
67%
26%
7%
The music in the game has received a mixed but generally positive reception, with many praising its ability to enhance immersion and complement the game's aesthetic. While some find the soundtrack to be generic or unobtrusive, others describe it as excellent and fitting for the vibe, with standout moments that elevate gameplay experiences. Overall, the music and sound effects are considered solid, contributing to the game's beautiful visuals and enjoyable atmosphere.
- “The music, voice acting, and graphics are all beautiful.”
- “For a project of this scale, the soundtrack is excellent.”
- “The soundtrack is amazing, the battles are fun, and the visual ship damage system gives your ship a scar after every close fight.”
- “Don't even get me started on the awful call center hold style music.”
- “The music is, importantly, unobtrusive (if a little plain; see Ixion's soundtrack for an exceptional sci-fi game OST).”
- “I would like to see more music tracks added and some of the weapon sound effects made heavier.”
replayability
26 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
38%
12%
Overall, the game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players praise its balance of luck and skill, noting it as highly replayable and fun, others feel it lacks depth due to limited content and only a few playable ships. Many reviewers suggest that increased customization options and additional content are necessary to enhance replay value, especially in comparison to more established titles like "Slay the Spire." Despite its current limitations, the game still offers enjoyable experiences that can keep players engaged for hours.
- “With its balance of luck and skill, Breachway offers replayability, making it ideal for both casual and competitive players looking for a dynamic card game experience.”
- “Thanks for making such an interesting and infinitely replayable game - it's refreshing and will remain on my playlist for some time to come.”
- “It plays really well, and while the early access release didn't provide as much content (devs said that it's their priority), it still offers a fair amount of fun - it has a high amount of replayability, which means there are many hours of fun to have here even in its current state.”
- “It's kinda short (only 2 levels right now) and doesn't have the replayability of something like Slay the Spire, but it's a fun early access game.”
- “More content is needed for better replay value (events, ship parts, map variation, etc.), but the core concept of building mini-decks represented by ship parts is a fun one.”
- “However, having spent around 1000 hours playing rogue-like card games, I have to say the replayability of the current version is pretty low.”
optimization
22 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
14%
68%
18%
The game's optimization has received mixed reviews, with players noting significant performance issues such as frequent loading delays, high GPU usage, and stuttering, particularly on high-end PCs. While some aspects of gameplay allow for effective card setup without traditional upgrades, the overall experience is hampered by these technical shortcomings, leading to discomfort for some users. Many reviewers express hope for future improvements, acknowledging the game's enjoyable foundation despite its current optimization challenges.
- “This makes it fairly easy to build an optimized card setup.”
- “In FTL, focusing on shield upgrades and weapon optimization was key, but here, for example, you can win without them at all, and this setup doesn’t feel worse than other ship systems.”
- “There is a need for additional content, balance passes, and performance improvements, but that's to be expected, and the base is already so enjoyable. I am sure the devs are working hard to flesh out the rest of the game.”
- “Performance needs optimization; there are frequent loading framerate hangups and high GPU usage (with mainly a single graphics quality setting to offset it, ranging from ~80% usage on ultra to ~10% on low using a 3070 GPU). Some effects cause localized screen shake that cannot be disabled, enough that it causes me discomfort.”
- “For me, on a high-end PC, the game keeps stuttering constantly and there's no VSync option.”
- “Like the stuttering lag when transitioning between your turn and the enemy turn.”
stability
11 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
18%
82%
The game is plagued by significant stability issues, with frequent bugs causing crashes and forcing players to restart, often resulting in lost progress. Many users report being unable to progress due to unresponsive gameplay, leading to frustration and a reluctance to continue playing. Overall, the current state of the game is deemed unplayable by several reviewers.
- “My system is i7 6700k + GTX 1080 @ 1080p high, close to the recommended system requirements, and it runs great, so I think the system requirements are accurate.”
- “Prologue is buggy and very often leaves you hanging with no options to move, so you are forced to end the task to close the game.”
- “It's still unbalanced, buggy, and some events punish the player for no reason, with no resort.”
- “Very buggy - already crashed once and then lost random buttons, restarted and lost progress... ugh.”
grinding
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
20%
80%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be tedious and overly time-consuming, with many expressing that the need to repeatedly upgrade items and explore optional paths detracts from the overall enjoyment. While some appreciate the depth of the metaprogression system, others feel it is designed to artificially extend gameplay without meaningful rewards, leading to a frustrating experience. Overall, the consensus is that the game could benefit from a more engaging and less grind-heavy approach.
- “The most optimal play is to buy tons of fuel and explore every optional side path, which honestly is pretty boring and grindy.”
- “Please make it more enjoyable; the tutorial was fun and interesting, but the actual gameplay feels too grindy.”
- “To progress, you have to upgrade something x100, so this is an intentional design to increase player time in the game grinding out upgrades over hundreds of runs for no real reason other than to make players grind upgrades that may or very likely do not improve the run they are playing.”
atmosphere
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The atmosphere of Breachway is highly praised for its unique take on space gameplay, reminiscent of FTL but with fresh elements. Reviewers highlight the impressive visuals, sound design, and engaging ship combat mechanics, all contributing to a captivating and immersive experience. Overall, the game's atmosphere is described as vibrant and well-executed, enhancing the overall enjoyment.
- “The game has a very nice atmosphere, with great visuals, gameplay, and sound design.”
- “The ship combat mechanics hit a nice sweet spot of complexity, and the vibe and graphics are all well done and atmospheric.”
- “Love the visuals, love the space game atmosphere.”
humor
8 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
Users express a mix of frustration and humor regarding the game's difficulty and mechanics, particularly highlighting the overwhelming superiority of the arbalest ship compared to others. The irony of investing 40 hours without defeating the final bosses adds a layer of dark humor to their experience, though some find it more exasperating than amusing. Overall, the humor seems to stem from the game's challenges and unexpected outcomes rather than intentional comedic elements.
- “The funny thing is, in the 40 hours I played this game, I never beat the 2nd boss yet that's the end of the game?”
- “I think that's hilarious considering how similar it is to FTL.”
- “The arbalest (your base ship) is so much better than the alternatives it's not funny.”
monetization
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The monetization of the game is viewed positively, with players feeling that it is not a cash grab and that the developers are genuinely passionate about delivering a quality experience for their investment.