Surface Breaker

Surface Breaker wears it's inspiration proudly and explores the concepts further. For the classic digging games with blocks to defend a home base Surface Breaker runs smoothly, plays nicely and seems to have enough variety in upgrades and options to keep it going. The best part was unlocking the missions which add all kinds of fun and strange permutations to the forumla. moving way faster but having extreme bounce off objects as you mine opened a new style of play where I was deliberate leaving blocks in place to bounce off and gain more distance. I would have liked to see more story elements in there. Who am I? why am I breaking the surface? What are the strange monsters? For the price point, an easy pick up for a good weekend of fun.

[h1]は？１面しかないの？[/h1] ランダム生成とはいえ難易度変更のみで一つのマップしかない。 デモ版でやったので楽しかったが、デモ版と同じマップで難易度と実績で敵が出ないモードとかが選べるだけ。 これで１０００円取ろうなんてひどすぎる。

Fantastic, minimal, mining and defense game. Easy to learn controls and systems to manage, and a few difficulty options and modifiers too.

From the developers point video and comments, I wasn't sure what exactly I was stepping into, but honestly its a neat little game. I never played Dome Keeper which was the inspiration behind this, but I found this one pretty good. I played through the main Rogue Mode, but haven't tried some of the Mission Mode options yet. From what I saw saw though, those can def add a bit of a twist to the game to offer some additional content. Game itself felt pretty smooth, and I personally like the art style, but I can see how it can be repetitive for some. I think there's some updates that could be put out that could enhance the game. Adding some effects when destroying enemies and maybe more intense music during combat scene could help players to really get engaged. I think bringing it down to $4.99 and pushing it from a more "retro" style angle, could help this game and change the expectation a bit. Overall though I think its worth giving it a go.

Surface Breaker is a Core Keeper style game, with a nifty little 1-bit graphic style. The basic loop is that you explore and mine a world to upgrade your ship, and every so often you need to return home to defend it against waves of monsters. As you explore the world you'll find the keys to escape and win the game. With 2 wins under my belt, I feel ready to review it. The core loop is pretty good and I do like how streamlined the game is. I expected a long time investment in each run, but instead each map can be completed in 45 minutes reliably for me. The bite-sized design was really fun and with multiple "Mission Modes" and a "Roguelike Mode with unlockable modifiers"... there's plenty to play with. There are a few minor complaints I'd have for what I've played so far. - The knockback from mining is a frustratingly large, which makes mining more tedious than it needs to be. - The "Artifact" probably needs a visual update. It looked liked some sort of warp portal or feeding station, and I took FAR too long to figure out how to use it. - I wish the gun could be moved using the keyboard. The mouse gets a bit confused sometimes of whether clockwise or counterclockwise is faster and this leads to frustration. - I do suspect some of the Mission Modes may need tweaks to be fun. Some, such as "You can't level up mining" seem like they'll be ridiculously annoying. The damage numbers are far too small by default and it'll extend the match far too long without sufficient enjoyment. Overall, I do enjoy what's here. Visually, its actually far more alive than you'd expect from the art style. The controls are smooth and fast. The core objectives are a really good balance between exploration and playtime. If I was to say there was things I'd like to see more of, it'd mostly be "Game-Changing" upgrades. There's a touch of it with missiles and drones with limited uses, but the majority do still feel like "Increase X stat by Y%". Despite running only a few times, I do feel like I've seen the limit to meaningful variation already and there's room to expand. I'd love to see more things like converting your drones to combat-ready, or having a laser tool that lets you mine at a distance. What about stealing enemy health with you gun, or automated defenses so you don't need to rush home? So, I like what is here and I'd like to see MORE of it.

I had an hour of fun with it, wouldn't buy at full price, but the gameplay loop is good. I would make sure to turn vsync on, for some reason my computer didn't like it if vsync was off.

Bit of an overview, because i wasn't sure what the objective was and did a few waves of enemies despite the fact i could have ended the round sooner. Your little guy needs to clear and mine the map - various kinds of resources abound inside boxes you crack to be able to farm. Quickly upgrade your dome (your base) health and your turret speed as this is key to surviving. There seems to be random drops of upgrades in 4? areas on the map which let you gain special abilities, and what they are seems to vary by round. On one round i didn't get the turret for example. Someplace on the map is something i'll call a "temple" and elsewhere on the map are 3 orbs which you need to find to open the "temple". Once you do, and this took me a while to work out, it will release a gem you can take back to your ship which triggers the end of round countdown, so make sure your base is full health before you bring it back. Quite like the concept and the simple art style. Music is perfectly fine. I suspect there might be a couple of bugs - that or i don't understand some game logic. Often times i could not teleport or select the upgrade with the tab button - but perhaps there is a game state I'm not sure about. I also had some graphic glitches where some areas just rendered black when the enemy waves come in. I did play on an intel arc laptop and found despite the simple art style its ran quite noisy! But i'll give it another go tomorrow