I Could Sure Use A Break From Reality
HIGH Addictive gameplay loop, fast action, slick controls.
LOW Backtracking. Some major gameplay elements need better explanations.
WTF If I time travel, shouldn’t my tech be shockingly over/underpowered based on where I go?
Is there anything less satisfying than defeating an enormous mob or particularly fearsome boss, only to see a bunch of trash scatter out from the death throes, instead of the lovely loot one was expecting? What if there were a game that understood the plight of players plagued by terrible loot and allowed players to say “No thank you, I’d prefer something else.” What if it also allowed players to alter enemies on the fly or rewrite dialogue, allowing the narrative to progress in a different direction?
Dream no more, fellow gamers, for it now exists in the form of the new space flight ARPG/SHMUP called Reality Break.
The game tells the story of an unsuccessful mercenary pilot escaping from raiders by the skin of their teeth. With their ship damaged and funds at a minimum, our hero limps to a local starbase where a friend awaits with an offer to snag a piece of ancient technology from a mysterious region.
After acquiring the “Fate Core”, the player gains the ability to reconfigure reality, adding boosts and upgrades to equipment, as well as changing events at key points. Luckily, our hero won’t have to go it alone. Friendly scientists and starbase commanders aid the journey by offering missions and technology, snarky ship-based AI provides intel on enemies, and there’s a voice in the player’s head giving cryptic advice about the fate of the universe…
Reality Break is a fast-paced action roleplayer/loot collection roguelike. The gameplay loop is simple, but addicting and effective.
The player begins by warping to a mission area, exploring that portion of the galaxy from a top-down perspective, destroying enemies, completing objectives, and finding a ludicrous amount of loot along the way, which allows for new and powerful weapons to destroy tougher enemies, which then completes more objectives, which earns more loot, and so on.
Between sorties, the player returns to a hub area to buy and sell items, purchase upgrades (things like equipping drones or repairing damage more quickly) and learn more about the Fate Core — Reality Break‘s biggest hook.
For example, let’s say I found an item that was too large to fit on my ship’s frame but does a staggering amount of damage. I could use the Fate Core to rewrite the item, making it small enough to fit my ship. Or, say I encountered an unbeatable enemy during a story mission. I could rewrite enemy dialogue, allowing me to skip the battle (at least, for the time being.) It’s a tricky thing to understand at first — and frankly, the tutorials could explain things better — but after a few missions, it becomes second nature.
It doesn’t stop there, though — Reality Break offers even more customization. Using the Fate Core allows players to change the difficulty of play, as well as the amount and rarity of loot that can be obtained.
At certain points in the narrative, the player completely breaks from the timeline and gains access to “Reality Points” which are spent on permanent upgrades that bend things even further, although in order to maximize the effect, the player might have to end their current run and being a new one with the changes in place — it is a roguelike, after all. On the plus side, Reality Break lets players skip all previous dialogue and gets to the good stuff faster on later runs, but those not used to this kind of structure may find it offputting.
Otherwise, the controls in Reality Break are tight and the ship is incredibly responsive, there’s a ton of stuff to blow up at any time, and there’s loads of post-game content, including the ability to unlock the “proper” ending which will take… some time.
Reality Break is simply a blast to play and fight/loot/repeat loop is incredibly satisfying, wheter it’s the first run or the fifth. For fans of roguelikes, shoot’em ups or original ideas, this is one break definitely worth taking.
Rating: 8 out of 10
Buy Reality Break: PC
Disclosures: This game is developed and published by Element Games, LLC. It is currently available on PC. This copy of the game was obtained via publisher and reviewed on the PC. Approximately 18 hours of play were devoted to the single-player mode, and the game was completed. There are no multiplayer modes.
Parents: This game is not rated by the ESRB. The game features simulated ship-to-ship combat in space. There are instances of humans implicitly being killed in the aftermath of an explosion, but no explicit violence takes place. The word S### is used sparingly in dialog (I saw it once). I’d be fine letting kids play this.
Colorblind Modes: There are no colorblind modes available.
Deaf & Hard of Hearing Gamers: This game offers subtitles. The subtitles cannot be altered and/or resized. All audio cues have an accompanying visual cue. Some enemies spawn with a distinctive sound and begin attacking immediately. The visual cue for this is perhaps a split second after the sound, but there’s no notable effect on gameplay because of this. While the subtitles cannot be altered, the game HUD can be moved and resized. I’d say this is fully accessible.
Remappable Controls: Yes, this game offers fully remappable controls.
He juggles this passion for gaming with his most important job, being a husband and dad.Fortunately, his boys are growing up as gamers (with decidedly more skill, much to his annoyance) and he has a very understanding spouse.
He hangs out on Twitter sometimes as @JPSJeffOrt, Facebook FAR less frequently, and while he misses performing all the interviews from his former online life, he’s much more relaxed now!
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