Mecha Break is a free-to-play mech shooter making an attempt at what Hawken and Titanfall 2 kinda failed to do before it: a high-mobility giant robot game with longevity. It launched on Steam today after a reasonably successful beta, which Aron Garst described as “a mix of Overwatch and Armored Core 6”. What could go wrong? (Well, Aron also draws attention to its heavyhanded monetisation).
It comes bearing a lot: in addition to 3v3 and 6v6 game modes, Mecha Break has its own take on the extraction shooter format. There’s a huge emphasis on mech customization, but you’re not just your mech. As a pilot you’ll have your own base to saunter around in your hard-won expressive garb.
There are evidently plenty who want what Mecha Break is offering, because it’s managed to attract over 50,000 concurrent users just ten minutes after launching.
Day one kicks off ‘Season 0’, and with it, a bunch of different challenges that will net a bunch of different rewards ranging from the creatively named Mission Tokens, through to “Leg Accessory Pistol”. All the usual free-to-play fare is here: signing in daily and interacting with all elements of the game will net you “S.H.A.D.O.W. skin and substantial Mission Token rewards”. The list of things you can get for playing this game is voluminous and reading it feels akin to deep reading the Discord terms of service, but I’d highly recommend perusing it if you want to know, for example, the lore behind its ten launch maps or 15 playable Strikers.
I’m kinda rooting for Mecha Break, even though I lack the patience for its free-to-play trappings. I adored Titanfall multiplayer and Armored Core 6: if this manages to be something close to either (or a nice mix of both), it could end up being a going concern. Before launch it was in the top ten most wishlisted games on Steam, so there’s every chance it will be. You can give it a spin now.
