Into the Breach: its lineage, descendants, and standing in Japan
01What this origin is
Into the Breach is a turn-based tactics game developed by the two-person indie studio Subset Games (Justin Ma and Matthew Davis), released for Windows in February 2018 as the studio's follow-up to FTL: Faster Than Light. By showing enemy attacks in advance on a small, fully visible 8x8 grid and challenging players to neutralize threats through perfect-information puzzle-like turns, it defined a distilled, chess-like school of compact tactical design that influenced later turn-based puzzle-strategy games.
02Sources
03Buried gems that carry this root
DUNGEON ARTIFACT Buried gem
A roguelike deckbuilder where position is the core of strategy. Over 400 cards combine into combos, but many cards only hit a specific area, so where your character stands decides everything: you move to dodge attacks, charge up for a one-shot strike, and play cards that linger or nullify an enemy's action. Two protagonists, each with a different playstyle, descend into the dungeon. Made by the Japanese doujin circle ExertionGame. Very Positive in Japan at 159 reviews and 95 percent, yet the West has barely found it: only two English reviews. Note: this is an Early Access title, so it is not finished yet.