Breathedge

Traveling through space with your Grandfather’s corpse and his immortal pet chicken, to deliver his remains to a giant space funeral should not be that difficult.

69%Game Brain Score

humor, story

grinding, stability

71% User Score Based on 6,071 reviews

Critic Score 66%Based on 16 reviews

Platforms

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About

Breathedge is a single player and multiplayer open world role playing game with a science fiction theme. It was developed by RedRuins Softworks and was released on February 25, 2021. It received mostly positive reviews from both critics and players.

Survive in outer space! Together with your immortal chicken, discover the truth behind your sudden spaceship crash. Craft tools, pilot vehicles, and even control space stations to survive and explore the wreckage. A massive space hearse suffers a wreck in the deep space, leaving the area filled with debris, coffins, dead passengers and yourself. Survive in this interstellar dump, uncover a glob…

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71%

Audience ScoreBased on 6,071 reviews

humor2.9k positive mentions

grinding549 negative mentions

Unique blend of dark humor and survival mechanics in a space setting.
Engaging story with witty narration and numerous pop culture references.
Beautiful graphics and immersive open space environments.

Tedious gameplay caused by slow movement, limited oxygen, and frequent backtracking.
Poor quality-of-life features such as small inventory, low tool durability, and inadequate storage options.
Humor often seen as childish, repetitive, or annoying, detracting from overall experience.

humor
2,975 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
97%
3%
The humor in the game is a defining feature that resonates well with those who appreciate dark, absurd, and self-aware comedy, often compared to styles like Borderlands or Portal. However, it is highly polarizing; while many find the comedy clever, witty, and consistently amusing, others consider it juvenile, repetitive, and overwhelming, with frequent fourth-wall breaks and crude jokes that can detract from immersion and gameplay enjoyment. Overall, the humor heavily influences the game's reception, making it a must for fans of offbeat, satirical humor but a likely turnoff for players preferring subtlety or a more serious tone.
- “The humor of the game really carries it. Its subtle at times but quite a few times it had me laughing. Over the entire game, the humor was present. Other times it was brutally funny.”
- “From the very first seconds and continuing on, there is so much quality humor in this game that I honestly can't think of a single other game that is this funny. It has a sense of humor not unlike Journey to the Savage Planet, and it's visually appealing.”
- “The humor is fantastic, and the spoofs on other properties are some of my favorite I have ever seen. I enjoyed much of the humor, gave me a slight "space quest" vibe.”
- “First and foremost, the most fatal flaw is the never-ending, not funny 'humor' the game bombards you with every damn second of the game!”
- “Too many forced and unfunny jokes, including repetitive fourth wall breaks that lose their charm quickly and fail to land as intended humor.”
- “It really feels like the work was stopped halfway, the developers left, and then the CEO's 13-year-old nephew took over, filling it with unfunny immature jokes as content.”
story
1,601 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
29%
66%
5%
The game features a humorous, satirical, and quirky story centered around space survival, blending dark comedy with absurd plot twists and strong pop culture references. While the early chapters combine survival and exploration well with engaging storytelling, the later parts shift to a more linear, story-driven experience which some find tedious and repetitive, marked by fetch quests and diminished gameplay mechanics. Overall, the story is praised for its originality and humor but criticized for pacing issues, inconsistent tone, and a somewhat incomplete feeling, though it remains the main draw that sustains player interest.
- “The game’s story is one of its most distinguishing features. The narrative unfolds through various logs, conversations, and environmental storytelling that keeps the player engaged, often surprising with twists and a good dose of satire aimed at space exploration clichés and corporate greed.”
- “The story is great and stupid and all over the place in the best way. Each milestone in the story feels like a huge achievement.”
- “Behind all the jokes and gags, this game tells one hell of a compelling story that hits all the right notes.”
- “Terrible choice in humor, little story progression after hours and hours, not fun being insulted constantly by the narrator, bad inventory management system.”
- “The story itself is an absurd mess that takes great care not to transport any meaning or moral (that's in the humor), to a point where I couldn't find myself caring one way or another about how the story ended.”
- “The last third of this game is complete garbage - all of the crafting, survival, and exploration mechanics are just thrown away as you are forced into a linear sequence of space stations that you explore on foot, mostly running mission marker to mission marker.”
gameplay
1,411 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
28%
61%
11%
Breathedge offers a gameplay experience similar to Subnautica, combining survival mechanics like oxygen management, crafting, base building, and exploration set in space. While the early game presents a tense and engaging survival loop with a unique humor and solid core mechanics, many players find the gameplay becomes tedious due to excessive backtracking, punishing durability systems, and a sudden shift to more linear, story-driven segments that abandon earlier mechanics. The game's self-aware humor and satire of genre tropes may amuse some but often detracts from the gameplay experience, making it feel artificially prolonged and frustrating for others.
- “The survival mechanics of needing oxygen, water and food are what give the game its rhythm.”
- “Gameplay revolves around the cycle of exploring around your life pod to gather resources, returning to craft upgrades that allow you to explore farther out for longer periods of time.”
- “The playable area is interesting and rewarding to explore, there's a real sense of progression and improvement and you progress in a way that isn't overly hamfisted, the survival mechanics are balanced to require attention but not quite to the point of being a chore, you don't need to grind excessively to move forward.”
- “The gameplay loop closely resembles the gameplay of subnautica. however, because breathedge is hell-bent on convincing the player that all of their actions are meaningless, the gameplay becomes tedious, and because resource gathering tools in breathedge are essentially one-excursion-use, the game becomes too tedious.”
- “The game mechanics are clumsy and lazy, forcing the player to constantly reform tools and backtrack over long distances........ over and over and over again!”
- “The gameplay itself is solid, the visuals are stunning and if that was the end of it, i would recommend the game. But it was completely let down by its terrible, unfunny humor, endless word salad descriptions, annoying side characters, unoriginal story and broken building mechanics.”
grinding
563 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
1%
1%
98%
Grinding in the game is widely described as tedious, repetitive, and slow, with frequent backtracking due to limited oxygen and low tool durability exacerbating the resource gathering grind. Many reviewers found the progression bogged down by excessive busywork, unrewarding crafting, and slow movement, which combined to drain enjoyment despite some appreciation for the humor and story. While the early stages can feel grindy yet manageable, the mid to late-game often devolves into a monotonous fetch quest and resource farming slog, making it difficult to stay engaged without patience for such mechanics.
- “Survival game where you collect materials (not very grindy) to create tools that help you advance in a funny story.”
- “It's not too grindy for a survival game and progression is fair in my opinion, graphics are great and don't even get me started on all the beautiful references put in there.”
- “The world is beautiful, exploration is fun, crafting is not too grindy and simple enough.”
- “Breathedge is one of the most tedious games I've ever played, constantly running out of oxygen after what feels like 10 seconds or less of exploring, being forced to farm materials to craft some useless junk or something that is intended as a joke to waste your time just so that you can progress, constantly being forced to go back and forth over and over due to lack of oxygen while trying to farm materials.”
- “The first half of the game is tedious to say the least, you don't have a lot of oxygen, you don't move fast, your tools have very low durability and you cannot repair them, you don't get to build a base, you don't get to have a vehicle and there is practically no places to refill your oxygen when you're out of your safe zone unless you yourself start spreading stations around so a lot of back and forth constantly.”
- “The resource grind pans 90% of the run time but they somehow made resource grinding even more tedious by the fact you have to manage oxygen and have a specific tool that gathers one resource for every damn item and they break after about 10 uses!!”
graphics
562 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
65%
33%
2%
The game features stunning, polished graphics with a unique retro-futuristic and pseudo-Soviet sci-fi art style that many players find visually captivating and atmospheric. The visuals are consistently praised for their quality, lighting effects, and immersive space environments, often compared favorably to higher-budget titles. However, some note occasional graphical glitches or optimization hiccups, but overall the graphics significantly enhance the game's distinctive humor and setting.
- “Graphically, the game’s art direction is sharp, with crisp textures and great lighting effects for a space survival game.”
- “The graphics are gorgeous with each region managing to have its own feel despite the fact that you're in space which means biomes aren't a thing.”
- “The visuals are excellent: think Bioshock meets Firewatch, with a bit of atompunk thrown in for good measure.”
- “Buggy graphics and glitchy interface, extremely boring gameplay loop, mind-numbingly annoying music, and the devs couldn't even manage achievements on Steam; the game feels abandoned.”
- “Yes, quite a few: the first two of four chapters are great, but once you start base building, there are graphical glitches, and after finishing your base, it becomes basically useless.”
- “Do not buy the game; it crashes for no reason regardless of graphics settings.”
music
257 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
49%
47%
4%
The music in the game is widely praised for its atmospheric, calming, and fitting retro-futuristic style that enhances the sense of isolation and humor, with standout tracks and a quirky radio selection. However, many players find the soundtrack limited and repetitive over time, often wishing for more variety and the ability to listen to music while in bases or outside the ship. Overall, the music contributes significantly to the game's immersive and comedic vibe, despite occasional technical or design shortcomings.
- “The game has a cool retro-futuristic pseudo-Soviet art style and a pretty nice soundtrack to boot, and the fundamentals of the crafting system and initial gameplay loop work fine.”
- “The sound design is similarly effective, mixing ambient space sounds with a quirky soundtrack and well-voiced characters that enhance the immersive and often comedic experience.”
- “It was a surprise to me that given this is a parody, the music of this game is top notch and is never tiresome; even the background music is something you can stop to listen to for hours.”
- “Same three music tracks get annoying after 5 minutes.”
- “I found myself turning the music off pretty early in the run because it is the same track every time you leave the ship and same panic music when you start to lose oxygen, even when you're 5 feet from the ship entrance.”
- “The music, which gives the game its charming atmosphere, is not even possible inside the base and being inside the base just feels like… dead space.”
atmosphere
145 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
63%
31%
6%
The atmosphere of the game is widely praised for its stunning visuals, immersive sci-fi outer space setting, and a unique blend of humor that balances loneliness and danger, creating a compelling and memorable experience. However, some players feel that the constant comedic tone and pacing issues undermine the game's potential for creating a tense or dramatic survival atmosphere. Overall, it offers a distinctive, quirky, and often charming ambiance that stands out in the space exploration genre, though it may not appeal to those seeking a serious or deeply atmospheric survival game.
- “The protagonist’s deadpan commentary and the eccentric, sometimes absurd characters you meet create a refreshing atmosphere that balances the loneliness and danger of space survival.”
- “The atmosphere is incredible, sure it's funny, but just go out of your wrecked ship, and feel the void of space, filled with beautiful music.”
- “The atmosphere created (no pun intended) is great.”
- “Failing to deliver on an atmosphere of high pressure due to its relentless insistence on being a comedy, and lacking a lot of atmospheric effects, there's very little drama to the setting despite its dramatic nature.”
- “The music, which gives the game its charming atmosphere, is not even possible inside the base and being inside the base just feels like... dead space.”
- “The constant (and I mean constant!) no-effort humor rips away any chance of establishing an atmosphere.”
stability
83 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
16%
1%
83%
Stability reviews are mixed, with many users reporting frequent bugs, glitches, crashes, freezing, and occasional loss of progress, especially in later stages or on specific hardware. However, some players praise the game for being well-optimized, relatively polished for an early access title, and running smoothly without major issues. Controller support and certain gameplay mechanics also suffer from notable stability problems.
- “Runs great on my 8-year-old Intel i7-8700K with RTX 3080 Ti in WQHD resolution.”
- “My playthrough was completely bug free; it's a very well-polished experience for early access.”
- “For an early release, I am amazed at how polished and bug free the first chapter was.”
- “Practically unplayable on controller, kept switching to mouse and keyboard moving the mouse to the right in the inventory when I wasn't touching anything; playing on a laptop so there's no reason for that. Buggy as hell, I tried to make the in-game debugging station but it just took the resources and didn't make the item, so I gave up on the game after 3 reloads.”
- “Even if I were to overlook the various glitches and bugs this game has that cause you to need to reload saves and make you lose items, including items phasing out of existence when dropped, and a button scheme that makes it easy to accidentally drop items by making the drop button a button commonly used to close menus in other games... the game is not fun.”
- “Game was good at first but slowly the fun started to dwindle. Do not build a game in which you have to manually save when you know your game may be full of glitches. This game has crashed on me 4 times and my progress has been cut back so many times.”
optimization
74 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
39%
47%
14%
Optimization reviews are generally positive, highlighting smooth performance, solid frame rates, and minimal bugs even on mid-tier hardware, with many noting the game runs well despite high graphical settings. Some users mention occasional stuttering or lag on less powerful systems and note that optimization could improve further, particularly for large bases or weaker PCs. Overall, the game is considered well-optimized for an early access title, delivering a fluid and stable experience.
- “The game runs smoothly, even in larger areas, with only the occasional stutter during certain transitions and player deaths.”
- “It's technically perfect so far: good performance, no bugs at all.”
- “I will also say I'm impressed, it's very well optimized, runs smooth, even when you have a mountain of garbage laying on your floor.”
- “What I got instead was a game that forced me to explore for even the most basic resources, constant unoptimized lag and rubberbanding (how? It's an offline game!), and the game literally telling me intermittently how "unironically" bad it is through jokes.”
- “Seems to seriously lack any optimization for different systems.”
- “Cons: the game is not optimized.”
replayability
41 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
17%
63%
20%
Replayability in the game is generally seen as limited due to its linear story progression, scarce content variety, and reliance on humor that diminishes upon repetition. While some appreciate the sandbox elements and base-building potential, most reviewers agree that once the main storyline is completed, there is little incentive to replay, though future updates and additional content could improve this aspect. Overall, replay value currently ranges from low to moderate, with many advising to wait for further development.
- “The game is visually appealing and offers considerable replay value, with the ability to build your own space station and furnish it with the various items discovered during your exploration.”
- “The infinitely replayable survival-exploration from Minecraft mixed with the stylization, gorgeous modeling, and environmental work from Prey are the foundation for this game.”
- “The replayability doesn't seem to be there yet, as it's a very linear progression throughout the early access release, but if they add more items with base building and long-term goals that provide something to work for, they are going to have an absolute gem in this title!”
- “The things I disliked about the game were: the limited number of internal space station modules that could be built within the space station modules, some resources were scarce compared to others, the limited replayability once the story line had been played, the lack of customization ability for the shuttles (interiors and exteriors), the lack of scanners and repair tools within the game.”
- “No replay value, not a lot of fun, not as funny as it thinks it is, generally irritating due to how much promise it could have delivered on and, due to laziness, just did not.”
- “Due to the tons of dialogue and the way the story is forced on you, there is literally no replay value to the game.”
emotional
23 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The emotional experience of Breathedge is highly polarizing, with some players finding it heartwarming and genuinely funny, while others feel disconnected, frustrated, or even disturbed by the game's tone and content. Despite moments of humor and emotional impact, many criticize the lack of meaningful story progression, insensitive character representation, and gameplay bugs, which undermine emotional engagement. Overall, the game elicits strong reactions but struggles to consistently deliver a fulfilling emotional experience.
- “It's one of the most heartwarming survival games I've ever played.”
- “I laughed so I cried in several places and the end had me laughing so hard I woke up those I am living with.”
- “There are many games that say it but none of them have ever made me feel it like Breathedge.”
monetization
10 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Users critique the game's monetization for overpromising content through heavy advertising that doesn't match the actual in-game experience, leading to disappointment over limited updates and perceived cash grab tactics. The marketing is praised for its effectiveness but contrasted with the lack of delivered content and update support.
- “Update: no updates for half a year.. somehow it feels this is going to be another cash grab abandonware game...”
- “My gripes are with the lack of content despite advertising a lot more than there actually is.”
- “I rarely ever leave reviews because most games speak for themselves with advertisements and hype and their price, but I had only heard of this through jacksepticeye and I'm pretty sure I would never have heard of it otherwise.”
character development
4 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
75%
25%
The game offers strong character development, particularly in its open-world exploration phase where progression is emphasized. Its character designs are exaggerated yet well-crafted, complementing the tone with humor and visual appeal, making for an engaging and enjoyable experience.
- “The first half is all open world exploration, where progression and personal character development are prioritized.”
- “I would recommend this to anyone who likes to have a good time with backstory, character development and random space chickens.”
- “The game’s visual style complements its tone well, combining realistic textures and lighting with exaggerated character designs and humorous visual gags.”