Broken Lines is a tactical RPG set in an alternative WWII, coming to PC this year

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Crashed behind enemy lines, Broken Lines tells the story of a squad of soldiers fighting to get home.

Broken Lines
Broken Lines (Image credit: PortaPlay)

What you need to know

  • Broken Lines is a tactical RPG coming to PC.
  • The game strongly focuses on the characters and narrative.
  • Available to wishlist on Steam, Broken Lines to set to release in Q1 2020.

War never changes, they say, even in alternative histories. Broken Lines is a new tactical RPG that places a strong emphasis on story elements and its characters. It tells a narrative focused around survival and how war changes people — think XCOM in an alt-WWII.

The trailer above showcases what we can expect from Broken Lines' gameplay. It also gives us a glimpse at the art style, something that I grew on me with each time I watched the trailer. It's also worth mentioning that beyond just the gritty combat, Broken Lines will have you fine-tuning your squad, making sure they're at their peak for what's to come.

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Broken Lines

Broken Lines wants to change things up a bit by tweaking the core gameplay experience and how it approaches unit control. We don't really know what that looks like just yet, but we're told that these characters' experiences will mold and shape their personalities, possibly even twisting them into darker versions of their old selves.

Broken Lines

Source: PortaPlay (Image credit: Source: PortaPlay)

Managing these shifts will be important, since Broken Lines emphasizes the relationships between the soldiers. War is a nasty thing, and this game aims to show that. Whether or not it is successful remains to be seen, but consider me interested.

The developer PortaPlay promises a grey morality system, both real-time and turn-based combat, and making the most of the characters' abilities to make sure they get home in one piece. Like XCOM, however, that might be easier said than done. Your choices will matter and will affect the story's outcome.

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Broken Lines

Broken Lines is available to wishlist on Steam, with a planned Q1 2020 release date.

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Jordan Palmer
Jordan Palmer

Jordan is a long-time gamer and PC hardware enthusiast. From the mid-90s on, he has constantly tinkered with computers and played every game he could get his hands on. Coming from a varied background, he found his passion in writing about Android in 2016, which also launched his writing career not long after. Now, Jordan is an avid gamer who just loves sitting down with tea or a glass of cold water to play whatever game has his attention (or he's reviewing), and he's lucky enough to make a living out of doing so. You can find him on Twitter if you want to chat: @jccpalmer.