When Moonbreaker was first revealed last month, It definitely left the right impression. Despite still being in the early stages of its development, it already had enough depth to its lore and variety to its characters to give people plenty of reason to want to see more of it in action. Fast forward to today, and they’re more than capable of doing so through the game’s Early Access period, which offers a surprising amount of content considering how much of the game still needs to be worked on.
Having first seen the game through a hands-off reveal presentation, I was dying to get my hands on the title and see just how varied the gameplay could be with different team makeups. After doing just that, I can safely say that Moonbreaker is everything it appears to be in addition to being one of the most entertaining turn-based strategy games I’ve played in a long time.
Granted, this might be hard to believe based on the screenshots and footage of the game that’s currently available. The developers at Unknown Worlds Entertainment have definitely embraced a less bombastic animation style, with this game’s miniatures moving and acting exactly as they would if someone were playing a real-world tabletop equivalent.
In action though, this is part of the game’s appeal. The gameplay isn’t held up by bells and whistles that are meant to make attacks and movements seem more believable. Instead, it’s all about making the moves that will inch the player toward a perfectly executed strategy and closer to victory, sans any fluff that might get in the way.
It didn’t take long for me to completely forget that the miniatures weren’t privy to attack animations or movements that spoke to their designs. I was too busy being fully engrossed in each skirmish that took place, calculating my next move and trying to figure out what approach my opponent might take based on the units available to them.
Speaking of which, there are a surprising number of metas and strategies available through Moonbreaker’s Early Access content alone. Each unit’s abilities, and the special assists that can be triggered after enough turns have passed, lend the game an exceptional amount of depth. This is bolstered further by the fact that there’s no one way to use a unit properly, with there being plenty of methods for properly utilizing them in different strategies.
One match could be entirely centered around my Captain unit and his higher attack potential. Every supporting unit I brought in would be put to work buffing his offensive capabilities, and I’d steamroll my opponent after enough time had passed. In another match, I’d have him hang back and buff up other units’ defense, letting them whittle down my opponents’ Captain to nothing while my own stayed in absolute safety.
On top of this, there are plenty of environmental factors to consider as well. Any given map will have obstacles units will need to use as cover or maneuver around with their limited movement allowances. There are also things like leaky air vents that obscure accuracy, and which can throw off an enemy’s attacks so long as a unit’s behind the haze and doesn’t cover the vents’ airflow.
This all made the game plenty fun even if it weren’t as full to bursting with little touches as other titles. If anything, it was made even better by focusing less on appearances and more on what makes the game entertaining at its core.
Even then, there’s still plenty that plays into making the Moonbreaker visually stimulating. While they may not be moving around and acting like they’re living, breathing parts of the world, the miniatures carry plenty of detail for players to admire and notice. Every piece of armor, outstretched mandible or weapon held at the ready carries enough detail to make a Warhammer enthusiast swoon with admiration, and the matching aesthetics of characters tied to the same faction is the cherry on top.
The maps and the effort put into them are equally impressive. While the ones available at the moment are limited in number, each one feels both like a part of the wider world being built for the game and like a distinct location with its own variables to consider. One won’t have the same experience fighting their way through a smoggy city center as they would duking it out in a snow-swept shipping yard.
And then, there’s the audio. While the visuals of Moonbreaker lean more toward minimal, the sound design definitely goes in the opposite direction. Units let out plenty of dialogue bits, and attacks are matched by sounds that spark one’s imagination and fill in the blanks of what’s not happening on screen.
Past that, there’s the miniature customization portion of the title, which honestly feels like the most underrated part of Moonbreaker. On one hand, it’s definitely a key part of the experience, allowing players to power up their units and ensure their favorite miniature can continue to prove useful no matter how many matches they engage in.
On the other hand though, there’s the miniature painting portion of this mechanic. While it has no baring on the actual gameplay aside from the aesthetic of your units, this ended up being one of my favorite parts of the game. I spent hours figuring out how to make my favorite units look just right, applying whatever color scheme felt the most entertaining in the moment.
It may not have led to the kind of wacky monstrosities that come with more in-depth character creation tools, but it still helped to make my units feel like they were my own.
Even if it’s still far from complete, Moonbreaker succeeds in areas other games tend to forget. It remembers that making the experience fun for players should be the priority, and everything else can either be in service of that or minimized so that resources aren’t used unnecessarily. I’ll be keeping an eye on this title as it shapes up into its final form, and fans of turn-based Strategy games should definitely do the same.
