Brick By Brick

Oh boy, this was not to my tastes. First off the performance is atrocious. Either it's incredibly badly optimized or it's mining crypto using the GPU. Barely had ~100 FPS (not that it needs more) with my 7700x and 7900XTX, saw a 50% GPU usage while the fans were crying. The controls are sluggish, it feels like a seconds input delay. It also feels impossible to avoid being hit (git gud?) because the enemy projectiles either go straight for you or are actually circling/homing. The UI is messy. I saw no rogue-lite progression of any sort during the few rounds I did. Soundtrack ran dry after like 10 minutes, very repetitive. A previous game from this dev called MatchR was pretty fun, so I was really disappointed in this. I've asked for a refund.

I'm not huge on Breakout games, but they're fun to stop by with once in a while. Brick by Brick is a seemingly fairly simple roguelite rendition of balls vs bricks, that gets the basic feel right (including a little momentum transfer), and adds a few extra wrinkles to the standard mix. It's mouse-based with a single active ability, so suitable for single-handed play, but one can make it work on controller via Steam Input and a mouse-region analog config, if you're mouse adverse (I'd suggest trackball as a better choice here, though). On the roguelite side, it's fairly straight on stacking passives and stat upgrades over your run. Your starting character sets your active ability, and some upgrades will alter/augment it, but you don't replace it or get more active options. Upgrades come with a passive and/or "element" points that add to their respective elements, which apply three levels of added bonuses at certain thresholds. Cross-run progression seems to be unlocking new starting characters and higher difficulty runs. Can't say yet whether there are particular run variations aside from your upgrade/build opportunities, but the initial, basic run seems to offer the same levels in the same order, which does get repetitive if one plays in longer bursts. There's a lot of room for variation if runs with varying shapes and enemy mixes unlock once you've cleared the basic run. On the Breakout side, you have "enemies" instead of bricks (the color and small icon in the middle tells you what kind of enemy), and enemies take some actions as you fight them. Your character rides in the middle of your paddle, and needs to avoid enemy attacks as you play, so you have a curious element of dodging on top of trying to hit the right position/motion for sending your ball back (or grabbing falling coins/pickups). This requires constant active attention, because the attacks target you: you cannot simply position for rebound, or you will find you've trapped yourself with an attack you have to eat. There's definitely a friction between catching and avoiding that takes a little getting used to, but attacks are clearly telegraphed, and healing is available to help make up for some errors. Enemy actions and attacks can get a little weird, too, rather than just being simple linear shots, so that also adds some things to deal with. Overall, it's a fun little arcade game that will throw some things at you, and brings some meat and variation to a traditionally fairly static space. [i](Key gifted to [url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/44920281/8cade]8cade - The Infinite Arcade[/url] via Steam's Curator Connect)[/i]

This is a really fun take on the genre. The elemental powers are varied and build upon each other well, although the visuals can get pretty crazy. Thankfully, there are lines drawn for enemy projectiles, which help a lot. Enemies/bricks have different behaviors, which are a mix of interesting and infuriating (in a good way). The shops and upgrades between levels refreshingly offer opportunities for building power or staying alive (mostly the latter for me). Play feel and the interface are really solid. Trying this made me wonder how some of the other brick breaking games on Steam are, so I tried Strikey Sisters, Wizorb, and Shatter, and while those are all good games, this is the one I want to play most. It's more than worthy of its $5 price point.

First, you choose a character, each with their own unique power, companion, and elemental affinity. At the beginning, only two characters are available, while the rest must be unlocked by earning achievements. Most unlock naturally as you play, though some require extra effort. The gameplay is similar to a brick-breaking game. You control a paddle at the bottom of the screen and bounce a ball toward objects that need to be destroyed. Each hit fills your power meter, which can be activated at the press of a button. The effect depends on the character you selected. Instead of bricks, the game features enemies. They behave much like standard bricks, except they shoot at you. Different enemies have distinct attack patterns, and some require learning and anticipation because their behavior isn’t straightforward. This makes keeping the ball from falling much more difficult, as you’ll often take damage while trying to save it. Still, it’s better to sacrifice half a heart to save the ball than to let it hit the bottom, which costs you a full heart. The game becomes more manageable as you complete stages. Once all “bricks” are destroyed, you choose a companion from three random options. Companions provide perks and have affinities toward two elements. Your starting companion already matches your elemental affinity, but you’ll need to collect more to fully fill the affinity bar and strengthen them. That said, it’s sometimes smarter to prioritize the best perks over affinity bonuses. For example, some companions grant a chance for enemies to drop health, while others can cause lightning strikes with each hit. Luck plays a role, as some companions are stronger than others. Occasionally, you might find a rare rainbow companion with significantly better perks. One example adds a turret that shoots at enemies when certain conditions are met. The game’s currency is gems, which are awarded at the end of each stage based on your performance. Gems can be spent in a shop that occasionally appears instead of the companion selection screen. There, you can purchase items to equip. You can carry up to three items, and each can be upgraded a maximum of three times. Some items boost specific affinities, while others have a chance to trigger effects such as burning enemies on hit or dealing critical damage. To upgrade items, you must obtain the third possible reward after completing a stage. At that point, you choose between healing three hearts, upgrading one of your equipped items, or gaining additional affinity. The type of upcoming reward is shown on a bar at the top of the screen. After several regular stages, you face a boss stage. The structure is similar, but the boss is a larger enemy with more health and unique firing patterns. Defeating it grants a final reward: a tarot card with powerful, unique perks, such as upgrading all your items or improving healing. Your goal is to complete a full run by clearing all stages. The concept is enjoyable at first, but over time it becomes frustrating. The biggest issue is how frequently you get hit, sometimes twice in quick succession because the invincibility period after taking damage is very short. It’s also common to misjudge enemy bullets and accidentally collide with one using the lower part of your character when you think it’s safe to move the paddle. Rare rewards dropped by defeated enemies can help, but some are situational. For instance, one fires projectiles straight ahead, but it becomes useless if you need to reposition to catch the ball. Another helpful reward temporarily creates two large rocks that block the gap at the bottom of the screen. However, if the ball slips through an opening and below the rocks, your perfect run will meet a disastrous end because the ball will get stuck and keep taking damage until you lose all hearts. Another challenge is the variety of enemy projectiles. Some are easy to avoid, but others follow patterns that make getting hit almost unavoidable. Enemies always fire at your current position, so if you find a good angle to bounce the ball through a column of enemies, you must either take a hit or disrupt your trajectory. Either choice can send the ball flying in an unpredictable direction and potentially into the hole, costing you yet another heart. Unfortunately, there’s also one final issue: each time the damage number shows up, there’s a noticeable slowdown. So when you have a handful damage numbers from all the perks, the game almost freezes and messes up your movement, and even makes your computer work overtime like it has to manage some major title with the best graphics. If you play a few runs, you will eventually unlock a character with a nice power that makes the ball pass through every enemy. This makes it much easier to break them fast, which also increases the chance of rewards. And if you also get lucky with a companion, like the one that attacks adjacent enemies with each hit, you might even get to the end of the run. However, there’s no big reward at the end, and beating new runs only unlocks modifiers to make it even more difficult to win.

Brick by Brick is a really fun take on the classic Breakout style. It’s fast, chaotic, and the roguelite + elemental builds keep every run feeling different. Unlocking heroes, stacking upgrades, and finding strong combos is super satisfying. There’s a ton to unlock so it lasts a long time, and for the price it’s honestly a great deal.

Un bon petit jeux pour 5 boules ! Un casse brique roquelite, avec un contenu assez gros. ou les blocs attaquent et les améliorations permettent de booster ses capacités, ses drops ou sa defense. Au fur et a mesure des amélioration, ça part dans un délire visuel ou ça explose partout et on prends plaisir a voir les synergies des amélioration opérer. Quand on a bien pris en main le concept, on se retrouve dans un état de flow bien plaisant . Il y a quand même quelques défaut , Fait pour la souris ça exclu quand même des joueurs (j'ai partagé une config Steam deck en "twin stick "avec les trackpad ça passe super bien !) Les blocks pourraient avoir plus de styles ils se ressemblent trop et on a du mal à les différencier Pour l'instant j'ai juste gratté la surface mais en vrai , je m'attendais pas a autant de replay value, Nice !