Mecha Break may be the Gundam game fans have long been waiting for
One of the most impressive trailers at The Game Awards 2023 came from the team at Amazing Seasun Games and unveiled Mecha Break to the world – a multiplayer shooter putting people into mechs that look like they came straight out of your favorite Gundam movie. It’s easy to explain why that’s the case: The developers love mechs as much as you do.
“All members of our team are intense mecha fans,” they tell me during a team interview after the game’s grand reveal at the Keighleys, which showed quick and agile machines buzzing through the air, dodging incoming missiles while firing all their weapons as they chase each other over a vast and beautiful battlefield. It’s a depiction of mechs you usually see in Japanese media, where the robots are fast and flexible despite their size and armament. Western mechs on the other hand tend to be more ponderous, making viewers and players feel the sheer weight and power of these machines through their movement.
Mecha Break has all the hallmarks of a very entertaining title.
Seasun Games
Amazing Seasun tried to fuse both styles in Mecha Break, mixing in some of their own ideas as well, but the result is still skewed towards a more traditionally Japanese mech experience overall – which is fantastic news for the Gundam fans out there that have been clamoring for a new game, because this is as close as it gets to the official thing. When the team emphasizes the diversity of the mech line-up available in the game it’s definitely not lying, though: There are quick sniper mechs that can dish out high damage from the opposite side of the map, some can essentially transform into bombing platforms, and others are heavily armored hulks that move slowly but unleash massive firepower. It’s a fun mix with something for every taste.
Each robotic battle suit in Mecha Break fulfills a specific role in combat, coming with its own unique abilities, weapons, movement characteristics, and pilots – though the latter, I’m told, are simply there for flavor and lore reasons, providing “a human touch to this steel world provided by Mecha Break.” You’ll basically only see them on menu screens and whenever a match starts, watching them climb into the cockpit and start up their machines before initiating the drop down to the battlefield. These opening sequences are pretty cool, showing some first-person footage from inside the cockpit to get you into the right headspace for the upcoming battles. In a way, Mecha Break feels a bit like a hero shooter in the way its class system is constructed.
Mecha Break has a really diverse line-up of vehicles to choose from.
Seasun Games
Customization options are going to be plentiful, though limited to cosmetic applications – you’ll be able to choose different materials and textures for the components of your machines, put a host of stickers onto them, and even change how their weapons look down the line. However, this won’t impact their functionality in any way. Simply put: Allowing for customization for each mech would result in an absolute balancing nightmare for the developers.
Amazing Seasun put the first concepts for Mecha Break down eight years ago and spent the last six years developing the game in earnest. One of the reasons, the team tells me, for how long it took them up to this point is that getting the balance right has proven to be very difficult. Many mechs feature an arsenal of melee as well as ranged weapons, but some are more specialized, which means the developers already have a diverse line-up of playstyles to keep an eye on.
“The ultimate idea is that we think a mecha game should be very different from a human-based shooter or combat game. Compared to the human body, a mecha would be much harder to destroy, which gives us a lot more space,” the developers explain. Despite looking and feeling very agile and quick, the machines available in Mecha Break can take quite a bit of punishment. These high times-to-kill have been deliberately put into place to afford players the necessary breathing room to maneuver and strategize in combat. A singular strike won’t be enough to take out the opponent in a one-on-one duel, so players need to go at it with a plan in mind. The right positioning for each mech in combat will be key, which is especially true for any team battle.
The flow of battles feels really good overall.
Seasun Games
There are limits to strategy, though. The system doesn’t go as deep as to allow specific systems on mechs, such as weapons or boosters, to be deliberately targeted and taken offline – at least in the game’s PvP modes. PvPvE is another story, as this envisioned mode will allow players to band together to clear objectives and fight truly massive boss opponents, which will feature a targeted destruction system as well as a massive map with randomized events taking place all over the battlefield.
In general, Amazing Seasun wants Mecha Break to be a quick and action-packed experience that respects the time of its players. Statistics from early playtests have shown that most of the matches in the game’s 6 vs. 6 mode have settled at durations between six and twelve minutes, which is a length the developer is very happy with. Big battle royale matches with 48 players will likely take a little longer than that. The smaller 6 vs. 6 and 3 vs. 3 modes feature a variety of objectives, including classic ones like Team Deathmatch and Capture the Flag, which helps keep things fresh – while there won’t be any campaign mode or other single-player content, this isn’t a game that forces you into a battle royale.
In terms of business model, the team is “aiming” for the title to be free-to-play, though it’s “kind of early to tell” at the moment. What is clear is that there will be a battle pass, which allows players to unlock cosmetic options for the customization feature as well as one new mech per season. These mechs will be exclusive to battle pass owners during their debut season, but will be available for unlocking in subsequent seasons simply by playing the game – from the description it sounds relatively similar to how things are done in Overwatch 2. It’s too early to tell how fair or grind-heavy this entire unlock system is going to be, but that’ll obviously be a crucial aspect for the team to consider. Frankly, it’s probably the thing everyone should be most concerned about, because the gameplay itself already feels really good.
Mecha Breaks looks pretty great in terms of visuals without the effects getting overwhelming.
Seasun Games
Gameplay impressions from the closed alpha test in December 2023 have been thoroughly positive – the combat flows very well, the attention to detail in the presentation is lovely (you can even bulldoze trees as you slide over the ground, which reminded me a lot of some Code Geass scenes), and the teamwork between all the distinct mech types really shone through in the 6 vs. 6 mode. Great teams could really make use of all the different classes, for example by using tough and melee-based units to keep the enemies bound in close combat while a team of snipers provided lethal back-up from behind the lines. The controls as well as the game’s smart-lock system felt pretty good, too, giving the developers a fantastic foundation to work with – for a mere alpha, this played exceedingly well.
Mecha Break already feels like a very solid game and I can see that the passionate developers invested a good amount of time into the project. Though there are no dates as of yet, more tests for the game are sure to pop up on Steam over the next months ahead of release, and I’d encourage you to check them out if you’re even remotely interested in some multiplayer mech action.
