Moonbreaker – Review
Tabletop turn-based strategy game MOONBREAKER was developed in tandem with bestselling science fiction and fantasy author Brandon Sanderson to create a brand new universe. The game’s goal was to create an experience as close as possible to playing a real-life tabletop miniatures game, but without the hassle of setting up and breaking down the table. You’ll amass Units from Booster Packs you receive as rewards for playing or buy from the in-game store, and use them to field armies. With the game’s robust digital painting tools, you can further personalise your experience by giving your favourite figures a unique paint job.
You can test your best troops against the computer or live players in one-on-one battles. To defeat the enemy Captain while defending your own, you must make use of the skills and abilities of your Units and the cover provided by the environment. You’ll rally support from your spaceship in orbit, or, if things get dire, use a spectacular Ship Assist to turn the tables. In the end, it’s up to you to decide how much Cinder is distributed across the Reaches.
Many video games have attempted, with varying degrees of success, to bring traditional board games into the digital realm. Moonbreaker, on the other hand, opted to create its own universe from scratch, taking the tabletop experience that fans adore and faithfully recreating it in a new and exciting setting that isn’t constrained by the expectations of an already established property. The 3D-modeled board environments are a sight to behold, and the game’s animations do a wonderful job of bringing the detailed miniatures to life within them. Fans of tabletop games will also enjoy the game’s surprisingly robust virtual painting tools, which let them use tried-and-true methods like washes for shadows and dry brushes for highlights to inject their own sense of style into the action.
Moonbreaker looks like a physical board game, but the gameplay does a fantastic job of simplifying the formula and making the game accessible to players of all experience levels. Players have the option of spending time fine-tuning their rosters to take advantage of every possible strategy, or they can simply pick a few Units they like and let the Auto-Fill feature handle the rest. The game’s extensive tutorials make it simple to pick up the fundamentals, but there’s still plenty of room for players to grow and advance. Playing against AI is a fantastic way to hone your skills, gain experience, and level up your characters.
However, there’s no substitute for taking the battle online, where you’ll face live (and often unpredictable) opposition. If there’s a problem with Moonbreaker, it’s the game’s microtransactions. Even though players can earn credits by winning matches and completing challenges, it’s still annoying that so many Units and Captains are behind paywalls after paying for the base game. As a result, the game’s beginning is less than satisfying, and it’s possible to experience some mild annoyance when up against an opponent who has amassed a larger and more diverse Units collection.
