How Mecha Break Is Improving by Listening to Players

Mecha BREAK turned heads earlier this year when it launched an open beta on Steam, giving mecha game fans an early look at its agile, high-octane combat amongst a diverse assortment of hulking mechanized Strikers. In addition to objective-based and all-out deathmatch 3v3 and 6v6 modes, Mecha BREAK also brought something entirely new to the table for competitive mecha games: its PvPvE extraction shooter mode, Mashmak. Here, numerous squads of three Strikers race to topple bosses—and potentially each other—in the search for mods that can improve their Strikers’ performance.

While its gameplay enjoyed a fairly positive reception, Mecha BREAK was met with a fair helping of constructive feedback from its open beta players. Chiefly, there was a concern that Striker mods gave players an unfair competitive advantage; other comments called for easier access to the game’s systems or a reduction in the grind to unlock additional Strikers. In an interview with Game Rant, Mecha BREAK executive producer Kris Kwok not only acknowledged this feedback but detailed precisely how the team has addressed each point.

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Mecha BREAK Gets Rid of the Grind

As expected, Mecha BREAK kicks off with a single-player tutorial that plays out like a linear series of campaign missions, introducing players to the core mechanics, concepts, and win conditions of Mecha BREAK. However, many players pined for a way to skip this tutorial — after all, there is already a training ground where players are free to practice with the controls and test out each Striker. As such, making the tutorial skippable so that players can jump straight into the action was one of the first changes Kwok highlighted:

“We definitely received a lot of feedback during the last open beta. The key takeaway for us was that players want to jump into the core gameplay right away. They also want access to all the Strikers without having to grind too much. Another thing we noticed was concern that the mod system might impact fair gameplay and balance. We’re actively looking into that.”

However, one move by Amazing Seasun Games was surprising: rather than reducing the grind to unlock Strikers—the best outcome most players likely hoped for—the grind is being outright removed, with every Striker being unlocked at launch. Virtually eliminating a progression system so that players can enjoy the range of Strikers immediately is a significantly player-friendly move, and it leaves open the door for newly-added Strikers to serve as more focused progression goals in the future.

Mecha BREAK’s Sweeping Changes

Alongside skippable tutorials and unlocking the game’s roster, Kwok pointed out some other key changes based on beta feedback. In particular, the game’s mods system will no longer impact Striker performance in the competitive 3v3 and 6v6 modes—instead, mods will only be applicable in Mashmak, where they are acquired in the first place. It’s a welcome move that should assuage concerns that competitive play in Mecha BREAK may suffer from balance issues due to gear differences. Kwok details more changes:

“We’ve made a lot of changes. Here are a few:

Skippable tutorials – You can skip them and jump straight into gameplay.

No feature gating – We removed restrictions tied to achievements. All functions are now available at launch.

Free Striker access – All 12 Strikers will be available to all players at launch.

Full pilot customization – You can freely change body shape, hair, color, face, and more—at no cost.

Mod changes – We’ve removed mods from 6v6 and 3v3 modes to ensure fair gameplay. Mods will only be used in Mashmak mode now.”

Kwok also revealed that sweeping balance changes were made to Strikers and offered a glimpse into how those changes were approached: “We look at pick rates, win ratios, and performance across different ELO levels. Our goal isn’t to make every Striker invincible—we want each one to excel in its own tactical position.”