PS: This review version is a beta version of the game and may differ from the official version.

In 2017, Ubisoft and Nintendo teamed up to bring players a new game, Mario + Rabbids Kingdom Wars, which was a collaboration between two gold medal IPs: Mario and Rabbids. The innovation and breakthrough of the two game companies in the gameplay of turn-based chess games not only made the game itself more fun, but also led to another growth of SLG games. Three years later, a game called Broken Lines broke into the players’ field of vision, and also tried to present the imaginary battlefields of World War II to the players through the outline of turn-based chess gameplay, while infiltrating the style of real-time tactical games into it, which was very novel.

When it comes to combining war themes with the gameplay of chess games, Broken Lines is not the first. If a new game can follow the footsteps of its predecessors and make a highly playable work, then we can call it qualified or good; but if it can continue to make some unique and interesting gameplay content based on existing works, then it can be called excellent – Broken Lines is such a work.

Fictional history, unique ideas

The greatest pleasure for players of turn-based chess games lies in the strategic planning and the sense of accomplishment when they get the desired result. Therefore, for this type of game, traditional Japanese chess games emphasize the growth of characters through battles and the close integration with the game RPG content. European and American games of the same type focus more on the process of obtaining the results of the battle and the final answer after a series of operations. For the actual experience of “Broken Lines”, it is more like a new fusion of the design ideas of turn-based chess games by Eastern and Western game developers.

In terms of the story of “Broken Lines”, choosing the World War II theme that is most familiar to players in Europe and the United States is a direction that is not easy to go wrong. In addition, the game mixes a fictional history and the mysterious enemy faced by the player into the development of the plot, creating a game environment that is familiar to the players and full of exploration desire. People always want to quickly understand the story of these eight people who crashed in the enemy’s hinterland and wanted to survive and return home through fighting and firm beliefs.

As survivors in eight battlefields, “Broken Lines” does not portray any of them as protagonists or characters with some kind of halo. As soldiers deep behind enemy lines, they first need to establish a close cooperative relationship in order to survive in the harsh battlefield environment. Secondly, the game does a commendable job of organically integrating each person’s identity, personality and principles into the process of each battle or the conversation after it. What players have to do is not only to guide them to complete the task of escaping, but also to be influenced by everyone invisibly and want to understand the truth behind the incident.

In the design of the entire game process, “Broken Lines” adopts the “camp mode”.

That is to say, players can buy equipment in the camp, configure weapons, skills and consumable equipment for each team member, and choose the next place to go in the big map. There is no restriction on the order of level selection in the current version. Players can go to the oil depot to search for oil or go to the enemy warehouse for supplies first. However, whether the order of level selection will affect the direction of the RPG part of the game cannot be seen in the current version. However, from the design idea of ​​selecting levels on the map and the accompanying character dialogue options to affect the development of the plot, it should have a certain impact on the growth of different characters.

Fierce battles, innovative gameplay

For turn-based chess games, whether they are Japanese or European and American, there is often a key problem, that is, the battles are not intense enough. The rigid combat style can easily discourage most players, even if the game itself comes with an ups and downs storyline. In Broken Lines, although the overall gameplay is still the basic mode of “you take a turn, I take a turn”, the simultaneous execution and instant pause gameplay are eye-catching, and you can feel the intense combat style of turn-based chess games.

In the camp, players can configure different weapons for different characters, and the system will also provide basic suggestions for players to use each soldier more reasonably. Since each map limits the number of combatants, players need to fully consider the situations that may be encountered on the battlefield within the constraints of limited weapons, supplies and skills, and form a special operations team with soldiers of different abilities and status to complete the tasks of each map.

In actual combat, Broken Lines does not use the traditional SLG game’s emphasis on the number of steps to limit the player’s movement range in each game, but uses the distance + time setting. Players need to spend more time if they want to go further. What is very different is that Broken Lines uses the synchronous execution function, which allows players to complete the attack or cover suppression commands of the enemy while moving, without the need to issue additional commands again, which requires players to consider more when issuing commands at each step.

Since the entire game map of “Broken Lines” adopts the fog of war state commonly seen in RTS games, players need to search the entire map while moving towards the designated location. Therefore, if an enemy is suddenly discovered during the movement of the character, the system will provide the player with an instant pause function, allowing the player to modify the previously issued instructions in the current step to avoid unnecessary damage. Of course, this pause function can only be used when encountering the enemy for the first time, which also avoids the possibility of players abusing this function to reduce the difficulty of the game in disguise.

Due to the simultaneous execution and instant pause functions, players can make good use of the trenches, bunkers, houses, tunnels and other terrain or buildings provided in the scene to complete infiltration or suppression tactics, allowing players to achieve mission objectives in different ways. Interestingly, the game also has a morale system. If the player is suppressed or surrounded by the enemy in battle, the character will fall into an uncontrollable state. Whether it is a sudden burst of adrenaline to wipe out the enemy or fleeing everywhere, it is possible to appear on the battlefield. This undoubtedly gives the game more uncertainty and adds a few points to the strategic atmosphere.

Summary: A new SLG game worth looking forward to and buying

A fictional history of World War II, a story that may or may not exist in real history, a group of soldiers hoping to survive, appropriate RPG gameplay settings, and the well-designed gameplay and combat systems that are everywhere in the game, all these make “Broken Lines” worthy of the anticipation and purchase of players who like World War II and strategy games.

Although the game version currently available on Steam only provides two levels of trial play, judging from the current game completion and game tasks, it has basically reached a high level of playability. I believe that the official version will have more content worthy of players’ exploration. It is also worth mentioning that the game “Broken Lines” provides native Chinese service. After the official version is launched, domestic players can fully understand the mental journey of this small team trapped behind enemy lines when escaping from the dead, allowing people to better experience the cruelty of war created by this game.

Of course, there are still some shortcomings in the game, such as the current version of the scene and task requirements are relatively simple, and there are fewer items available for purchase in the store. In addition, I have not seen the design of the multiplayer part of the game. If it can be made into a two-player or multiplayer battle, I believe more people will like this game.