Former XCOM boss Jake Solomon says he doesn't play XCOM-likes, but "Into the Breach is incredible" and he's honored to have inspired it: "I'll put that on my resume"
May. 18, 2024Into the Breach is the only game like XCOM Solomon has played
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Into the Breach was created by former FTL developers Justin Ma and Matthew Davis, ostensibly inspired by the success of XCOM. And as it turns out, Into the Breach happens to be the onlygame like XCOMthat Solomon has played - and he’s a massive fan. “If something is an XCOM-like or if it’s clearly an XCOM-like, I’ve never played those games … not because there’s anything wrong with it, it just doesn’t sound fun to me.”
Into the Breach, however, is the sole exception. Although it isn’t considered an XCOM-like per se, it does seem to be influenced by it.
“I love that game,” Solomon said during an episode of MinnMax. “I don’t really see the XCOM [inspiration,] but I saw somewhere they told a friend ‘oh yeah we were inspired by XCOM’. I was like ‘really? I’ll put that on my resume, because Into the Breach is incredible.'”
That said, I don’t doubt that Solomon did hear from someone that XCOM inspired Into the Breach. The game certainly has a lot of similarities to XCOM in its grid-based, turn-based design, but there are plenty of innovations that make it feel distinct. Chiefly, each battle only lasts five rounds, making for a much more compact experience compared to XCOM, and then there’s the puzzling elements and the fact that RNG plays a much smaller role in Into the Breach. Still, it’s easy to see the XCOM inspiration in its foundation.
Find out where XCOM 2 and Into the Breach ranked on our list of thebest strategy gamesever.
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After scoring a degree in English from ASU, I worked as a copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. Now, as GamesRadar’s west coast Staff Writer, I’m responsible for managing the site’s western regional executive branch, AKA my apartment, and writing about whatever horror game I’m too afraid to finish.
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