What would you get if you combined the strategy, the play style, and most importantly the painting aspects of Warhammer with the mind that brought the world the books of The Mistborn, Stormlight Archive, and even the last couple of books of The Wheel of Time series; Brandon Sanderson? You will get something that is pretty much represented by the new game, Moonbreaker.
The new game from the Developers: Unknown Worlds Entertainment behind Subnautica and the Publishers: KRAFTON, Inc. behind PUBG didn’t create a new lone, pelagic pilgrimage through the hostile waters of an alien planet, but rather a strategy game designed to integrate Warhammer-Esque miniatures into a world penned by none other than Brandon Sanderson.
Moonbreaker has been in the works behind closed doors for half of a decade. Because no matter how bad you want to tell people, you can’t just announce Brandon Sanderson is writing your game without being absolutely sure that said game is as good as it can be.
Besides the lore that Brandon brings to the game, there are still other selling points to be ecstatic about. There’s the strategy component, a painting component, and an entire audio drama series to back it up. It’s worth delving into all three of these streams, to gain insight into how Moonbreaker hopes to launch in a scene where a “digital miniatures strategy game” still sounds pretty niche, if not completely unheard of.
The core game was inspired by not just contemporary strategy titles, but a host of TTRPGs and CCGs. In terms of the latter, it is easy to see that Magic: The Gathering, Hearthstone — and, perhaps more importantly, the influence of Magic itself: Cosmic Encounter, which Magic creator Richard Garfield has spoken about on many occasions, was a big influence on the strategy of playstyle.
The Audio Dramas
While Moonbreaker currently has three game modes — PvE, PvP, and a rogue-lite mode — none of these are story-oriented. As for the audio dramas themselves, they’re fully voice-acted with music and sound, and the plan is to drop them at regular intervals. This way the gameplay feels different each time you play through. It feels more like an adventure when playing so I want to keep replaying it, which is something I can’t say about most of the other games that I have tried.
And Finally, we come to my addiction to the game. This is by far the best part of the game for me as a miniature painter. The painting aspects of the game are without a doubt in my head one of the best gaming ideas ever. Not only do you unlock other miniatures, but you also unlock other colors to use, and you gain access to other textures to use on your minis as well. You have a paintbrush, an airbrush, and a shade. You can zoom in as close as you want to get the extra fine detail. There are so many colors provided, to begin with, but to top it off, there’s also a built-in wet pallet to make your own colors, tones, and hues.
Now you may be thinking so what? Well, you get to share your painted work with other players. That is the biggest feeling to get in doing something personal. You not only share but you get commented on and they share with you. It builds of community that has never been done in a game that I am aware of.
I ended up spending a total of 22.5 hours painting my first miniature in the way I like it. And then I jumped into PVP. I was asked how I got it, and when I said I painted it myself, some people were blown away. That is a great feeling.
Moonbreaker is in early access right now on Steam for $29.99. You can also get the Founders pack bundle for $54.98 you’ll receive an exclusive Astra model, additional paint to customize your characters, and extra Pulsars and Blanks to help collect and customize more Crew.
This preview was written based on steam early access for Moonbreaker.
