A sci-fi RPG inspired by retro-futuristic stories from the 1970s has been released in English. The Breach combines the racing feel of Returnal, the mysterious corporate conspiracy of Control, and the relentless space horror of Mothership.
The Breach launches its players' Watchers (interdimensional researchers tasked with collecting data) through portals to different worlds known as Paradoxes, where they must survive long enough (aided by their protective suit, a Cloak) to complete their mission – from eliminating hostile lifeforms to uncovering secret information – before returning to their Bastion hub in one piece.
The Breathless system, created by designer René-Pier Deshaies for the game of the same name, is the engine that drives the role-playing game's gameplay dynamics and episodic structure. It uses polyhedral dice from d4 to d12. As players roll dice to overcome physical and psychological tests, the size of the dice gradually shrinks, reflecting their ongoing endurance and exhaustion.
The Breach's quest-based structure, in which players depart from their safe hub to complete a given objective and then return, reminded me of the roguelite gameplay in the video game Returnal, with the DM's random creation of Paradoxes also adding to the parallel.
The game’s story, centering on the efforts of the mysterious Ministry of Culture and Science, who have formed their own secluded dictatorial society on the Bastion called The Illuminated Confederacy, and focus on investigating strange interdimensional occurrences are reminiscent of Alan Wake developer Remedy’s Control. Designer Matteo Sciutteri, meanwhile, directly cites 1950s and 1970s sci-fi novels as key inspiration for the game’s retro-futuristic setting, with the book itself designed as a forgotten artifact from the era, complete with a worn-out price tag on the cover.
Manage cookie settings
The brutal difficulty and dark atmosphere of the beloved sci-fi horror RPG Mothership (also credited by Sciutteri as a major inspiration) also make their way into The Breach, where players make reaction rolls as they encounter threats during their explorations using a simple ruleset.
After Sciutteri first released an early edition of The Breach in 2022, Italian publisher Need Games, which published last year’s Final Fantasy-inspired Fabula Ultima (and which won our own People’s Choice award at the Tabletop Awards), has picked up the game for a full physical English-language release. Following a limited release at last year’s US convention Gen Con over the summer, the print book and PDF are now available through sites like DriveThruRPG.