The Riftbreaker

Have you ever found yourself stranded on an alien planet, millions of light years away from your home planet and your only hope of returning is building a huge solar array that can harness the power of the planet’s core to power a rift to extract you and get you back home? Well, if you have, what are you smoking. Otherwise, you’ll be able to live out this gripping fantasy, sci-fi scenario in Riftbreaker.

This game plays like other sci-fi adventure games like Astroneer, No Man’s Sky, Planetbase, Falling Frontier, Chernobylite and Space Haven. However, the game also has MOBA and RTS similarities seen in games like Command and Conquer and League of Legends. This game aims to offer a unique race to get back home. However, its the journey as worthwhile as the destination? We find out in our review of Riftbreaker.

A Rift Apart

Firstly, lets take a look at the visuals for this title. This title is a top down adventure and as a result, making this game a photo realistic and visually appealing game could have proved a challenge. However, this game absolutely nails this balance of sci-fi fantasy assets, real world relativity, an abundance of new age technology, explosions aplenty and a variety of biomes which are distinct and well designed. So overall, the artistic style of this game is commendable.

As for the gameplay for this title. The player will have to base build, almost like a tower defence style game. However, you will also have to explore beyond your base to gather resources and progress through the games list of goals. Its rather like games such as Conan Exile or Rust due to this. Then you will have to defend your base through the various combat mechanics within the game. At times the game feels unfocused, as if it is juggling too many parts. Admittedly, it drops a few, however, it maintains a solid level of performance and again, its commendable.

The area that this title lets itself down is in the narrative department. The game would have been better served if it facilitated a tight, linear narrative that helped drive the player forward and motivate them to hit each new goal. However, the gameplay carries the progression and the story is nothing more than a core concept that facilitates the existence of the game. A well written and deeper story would have been better but sadly, this game is found to be lacking here.

The Verdict

Overall, Riftbreaker is a decent concept and a fun gameplay experience that is presented well, has a fun core loop and keeps players engaged thanks to the fun gameplay.

Pros:

• Strong exploration, base building and combat mechanics
• Visually appealing for a top down game

Cons:

• The narrative is dull and lifeless