A quick update before we get started, because there’s been an interesting development to tell you about. Breakout Survivors has just undergone an enforced name change, and will henceforth be known as Breaking Survivors. The decision was made after developer Axel Born was sent a takedown notice and then a trademark infringement, I presume by the IP holder (I think that must be whoever owns Atari, as the company is rebooting all the classic IPs right now).
Anyway, I’ve made the change throughout the review, and there’s a short update on Steam if you want all the details. Now, on with the review, which was first published back on January 21st…
Part of the point of what I’m trying to do here at Rogueliker is champion proper indie games. Roguelikes might be increasingly prominent in the triple-A space, but you don’t need my opinion on whether or not the new rogue-ish mode in The Last of Us Part II: Remastered is any good. Naughty Dog made it, so it’s probably fine. You’d have heard of it anyway.
You probably haven’t heard of Breaking Survivors until today, however, and that’s the real crime here. This lovely little indie game was recommended to me by a friend who had been playing it non-stop on their Steam Deck (and yes, it plays like a dream on the handheld). It’s simple yet moreishly effective in what it is trying to achieve. In fact, it has one of the crispest, arcadiest roguelike loops I’ve ever encountered, and I bloody love it.
What is Breaking Survivors?
As the name oh-so-subtly implies, it’s a mash-up of classic Breakout gameplay and Survivors-style engine building. Using a paddle that slides from side to side, you must bounce balls back up the screen to hit falling rectangles. You must also use your paddle to catch falling nuggets of XP, and gathering enough of these allows you to level up and pick a new ability or enhancement. It’s as simple as that.
Of course, there’s a bunch of nuance to it. Each ball is on a timer before a new one is generated and fired into the game. One of the most common levelling-up choices is the addition of a new ball. Each one starts as a standard type with no special properties, but future levelling choices will allow you to imbue your balls with magic properties. I mean – who doesn’t want magic balls?
There is a solid selection of different ball types and each run is defined by a healthy blend of choice, skill, and luck. Breaking Survivors has dominated my attention recently, I think because it necessitates simple yet impactful decision making. It cuts through the noise to give you a pure gameplay experience that’s defined entirely by your decisions and your subsequent ability to make good on them.
To ball, or not to ball, that is the question
My most effective builds have nearly all involved one ability that turns one of your balls blue. Don’t worry – it’s not as bad as it sounds. These blue balls actually split upon contact with your paddle, releasing little white balls back up the table. This means that a strong focus on batting those blues back up the screen delivers a steady supply of whites. Creating a huge chaotic wave of white balls that ricochet off each and every surface can be an extremely effective tactic.
You can only choose one of each type, so immediately the major concern is how many balls you want to have in circulation. Next you’ll want to think about the composition of your collection, and finding complementary abilities that can clear large numbers of blocks.
It’s not long before the falling rectangles start requiring multiple hits before they disappear. When enough of these rectangles reach a line near the base of the screen, you’ll take damage, which will eventually wipe out any shields and hearts you have. The trick, then, is to keep the rectangles as far away from your personal space as possible, and there are a surprising number of ways that this can be achieved.
Each ball type can be improved a couple of times, making them doubly effective at whatever they do. That’s not all, though, as every part of your defensive operation can be enhanced. You can speed up your lateral movement, lengthen your paddle, shorten your cooldown timers, and that old Survivor standard: boost your magnetism.
Survivor ball, I keep bouncing back to you…
Things start to get really exciting when you climb past the first dozen or so levels. Not only does an improved spot on the leaderboard beckon, but you’ll start to find a zen state where your build is good enough to confidently dispatch everything that comes before you.
Your brilliant new tactic will work until it doesn’t, at which point you’ll have to start from scratch, rethinking your late game strategy in the next run. Maybe you weren’t magnetic enough? Maybe you didn’t pay enough attention to your paddle game? Maybe you simply didn’t have the balls? It happens to the best of us, I assure you.
Just in case I hadn’t made it abundantly clear, Breaking Survivors and its deceptively nuanced gameplay loop has really resonated with me. What’s more, I’ve been impressed to see that developer Axel Born has kept adding new abilities post launch. In fact, the more I play, the more new high-level abilities I’m encountering. This little indie arcade gem has scratched an itch that I would normally satisfy with a round or two of Tetris Effect, and that’s not an association I make lightly.
