For a universe-trotting adventure where you ..., Amid Evil is pretty cool. Yet one question kept recurring as I played: so what? For all its polish, Amid Evil is not a game that can compete with either its 90s progenitors or more modern FPS games. From the outset, Amid Evil follows a winning formula. Doom's arsenal with a fantasy makeover, a new aesthetic and roster of enemies every few levels, along with some fine tuning... But again, so what? Even on Evil difficulty (the hardest), basic circle strafing is often enough to sustain you between health pickups because most enemies have long windups (easily stunnable) to slow projectile attacks (easily dodgable). The exceptions don't fare much better, because Amid Evil
Into the Breach is often described as being in-between chess and tactics games. Being more familiar with the former, I enjoyed this somewhat. The added certainty created by ItB's telegraphed attacks allows for an enjoyable puzzle-solving mentality. Moving enemies around to miss their targets or hit each other is an unexpected, yet enjoyable mechanic. When combined with the numerous goals to aim for, Into the Breach elegantly captures one of the key joys of chess - 'When you see a good move, look for a better one'. My biggest gripe with the game is that it is too easy. ItB's ensures that you are never truly overwhelmed: there's some way out of any predicament with no (or few) losses. This design philosophy makes sense if you only play to get the best outcome in the current turn but fell apart when I played more strategically. Even the modicum of strategy I used (playing for initiative, controlling the centre, restricting the Vek's movement), lead me to a victory on my first playthrough on Hard (second overall), never having less than 4 power until the final island. Ultimately, Into the Breach's amalgamation of genre leaves it without a compelling hook. Not intricate enough to be a compelling puzzler, but too solvable and forgiving for me to want to improve at it.
