The Riftbreaker has been sitting on my Steam Wishlist for a number of years now. I’ve always been fascinated with games that task you with resource collection, complex base building and defense, but titles like Factorio or Satisfactory were scratching that itch. Despite multiple recommendations from a friend of mine, Nick, it became stuck on my backlog.
But now The Riftbreaker’s massive 2.0 update is putting co-op front and centre, allowing Nick to finally convince me to take the leap. We suited up our mechs, strapped on our miniguns and flamethrowers, and jumped in with both feet for my guided tour through the game.
Home is where the portal is
The premise of The Riftbreaker is simple; you’re zapped to an alien planet, and you need to create a rift back to Earth. That rift requires technology, power, and lots of resources before it’s operational. So you build a base, explore the planet, and defend yourself from the local alien life-forms that want to crack your mech open like a juicy lobster.
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Our initial base started by getting power and basic resource production going. These are small mining outposts, and your mech can do some manual labour as well. But before long, we needed multiple satellite bases for new resources and power production. It’s a careful balancing act; everything needs power, and you’re constantly juggling what your base needs to run, and the resources you need to expand — especially if you want to obtain the bigger weapons and more interesting technologies.
Visually, The Riftbreaker paints a gorgeous alien landscape. The particle effects are on point; in combat, rockets whizz by and bloom amidst the alien swarms, while the landscape itself glows neon and oozes with hidden malevolence. It’s definitely a pretty game.
Expand, explore, explosions
Once we’d established our base and mining operation, we needed to expand and defend what we’d built. Hidden out between towering alien trees and noxious gas swamps are nests for the alien species that populate the planet. Which will also periodically send out attacks to tear your base apart, piece by piece.
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Some of the attacks were absolutely massive; an enormous swarm of biting enemies, backed up by long-ranged spitters and larger armoured creatures. There were even huge bosses with massive health pools and big swinging attacks.
There are also some amazing environmental hazards, like giant firestorms that burn all of the trees across the map, or the spreading fungus that creeps across the map to devour your base if left unchecked.
Defending your laboratory is a combination of automation and good old-fashioned firepower. Your mech is equipped with dual weapons like machine guns, shotguns and swords. These all pack a good punch and tear through swarms of enemies like nothing else.
Research and Destruction
The best part about The Riftbreaker’s approach to co-op gaming is how you can divide and conquer. While I was out wandering the map looking for resources or chasing down alien nests to burn, my co-op partner was expanding the base. When I returned, our small mining outpost was bristling with turrets, and our material storage and energy production were all upgraded. As bigger enemy attacks came in, it was really cool to split our attention and protect a side of the base each, or come together for double the firepower.
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We slowly began wrapping our base in layers of automated security, like minigun-toting turrets and long-range radar to spot enemy attacks. Before long, we even added automated ammunition refills to keep the guns firing while we were away from the base.
Similarly, the process of researching new technology would have been daunting playing solo. Early on, there are multiple sprawling research trees covering everything from new guns to energy production and support weapons. But playing through the campaign in co-op with an already experienced partner, meant they explain things like the benefits of flamethrowers versus shotguns against different enemy types.
Should I play The Riftbreaker?
My first steps into The Riftbreaker were wild, explosive and endlessly exciting. Part of me is kicking myself for not playing it sooner, but there’s a larger part that’s glad that I waited, because co-op is a fantastic way to experience it for the first time. Having a seasoned player sherpa me through the more complex bits of the game made my experience so much smoother and more streamlined than it would have been otherwise.
The game has been out on Steam since 2021, and for a long time players have been clamouring for a co-op mode. While the devs could have easily said co-op would come in a sequel, they instead made the entire campaign, survival and other modes fully cooperative. It also adds additional endgame content for teams of researchers. You’ve gotta love that level of support.
The Riftbreaker Co-op update is out now on PC via steam.
Access to The Riftbreaker was supplied to Quest Daily for the purpose of this article.
