Mecha Break is an easy way into the mecha genre, but lacks necessary depth

Video games about mechas just feel right. From flying to shooting giant laser guns, mechas are fun — and it’s the fun behind these giant robots that defines Mecha Break, a PvPvE game that puts you in control of one of these machines. But while Mecha Break presents an easy on-ramp into the mecha genre, that on-ramp comes at the expense of watering down the complexity for which the genre is known.

Developed by Amazing Seasun Games and out July 2 for Windows PC and Xbox Series X, Mecha Break wears its influences proudly, drawing obvious comparisons to games like Armored Core 6 and Gundam Breaker 4. I’m a longtime mecha game devotee, firmly of the opinion that there cannot be too many of these games, so Mecha Break is on paper a dream come true.

In Mecha Break, you pilot a Striker, one of many mechas in the futuristic world of Mecha Break. Each Striker has a predetermined role and a set of skills. There are two game modes in Mecha Break. One is based around fighting other players in maps with different objectives, like pushing a cart or securing areas. The other is an extraction mode, where you can fight bosses and loot materials and crates to improve your mechas.

I believe that mechas should be impressive; a subtle but sincere “damn” should resound from the soul when seeing a mecha for the first time. That’s exactly how I felt when I transformed Falcon, one of Mecha Break’s Strikers, into a jet; or when I saw Inferno’s design, a robust giant robot holding two chargeable shotguns. Simply: Damn, they look so cool. Amazing Seasun Games understands the fundamental truth that mechas need to be awe-inspiring, and piloting them must be challenging yet exciting. Mecha Break ticks both boxes.

Individually, I could feel the exact kind of pressure I was expecting from fighting these machines. Looking for openings in impenetrable defenses. Dodging missiles that track you down. Using a radar to pinpoint an invisible enemy just waiting to slash you with an energy blade. All of that while your screen screams with sounds and signs indicating your energy level and incoming attacks. However, these elements are present only to make you feel like you’re playing a mecha game, because in reality, you’re playing a hero shooter.

While all the information displayed on the UI gives the impression of depth, the combat in Mecha Break is comparatively shallow. In the PvP mode, each Striker has three skills and signature weapons. They also fill specific roles in a party and your performance during a match depends on how well you understand it. A support mecha needs to heal or mitigate damage, while attackers go for kills or to disrupt enemy backline. Mastering a Striker requires practice, like in any other game of the genre, but the simplicity of the hero shooter design makes the mecha combat in this game more accessible. If you’re playing a healer, the whole kit is going to give you access to tools that help you fulfill this role. It’s easy to jump in and play.

Mecha Break feels like a mecha game in many ways, but its engines stall when it comes to one of the most important aspects of these games: customization. Very few experiences are as personal as fine-tuning a mecha in a mecha game. Putting new parts or adding an extra engine for more potency in exchange for mobility. Amazing Seasun Games added the option to paint Strikers, place decals on them, and even change their appearance with skins, but no mechanical or structural modifications. There are mods that modify the machines’ attributes in the extraction mode, but we can’t actually make Strikers look and work the way we want. Even when I found a Striker I enjoyed playing, I wanted to change it a little bit to match even more perfectly my playstyle.

Not having the chance to put together my own mecha felt like a downside. Like other hero shooters, Mecha Break will need to consistently release more Strikers to scratch the itch among devoted players for what’s new, what’s fresh, what’s different. It also has to prove itself as a live service game and keep players engaged. These are tall orders.

But regardless of what the future has in store for Mecha Break, there’s potential here, if only as an on-ramp to the genre. At the end of the day, Mecha Break accomplishes the one thing it needed to: give you a giant robot, and make you feel like a badass for piloting it.