Mecha Break has now been released after its wildly successful Steam demo, where it reached over 300,000 concurrent players. Everyone expected this to be one of the biggest games of the summer, but it seems like Amazing Seasun Games decided to take the game in a completely different direction than was demonstrated during the demo.
The studio added in some absolutely heinous microtransactions. Some of the worst we’ve seen in a while, so bad that some steam reviewers suggested it made “CS: GO’s gambling look ethical”, and that the microtransactions “are even worse than I ever could’ve imagined.”
Microtransactions, Microtransactions Everywhere
We should’ve seen it coming: the beta customization options were just too good to be true. Mecha Break has gone all in on microtransactions, with some cosmetic bundles costing upwards of £50. Players are very annoyed that you can’t even tweak or customize that bundle.
Steam reviewers have also been complaining about some changes to customization from the beta. While in the beta you could customize your pilot’s appearance for free, most cosmetic changes now cost money, or have been removed entirely.
Edited on 2nd July – There are six blushes available for free in the game, as well as a multitude of other cosmetic changes to your pilot. You can customize your character’s facial appearance and earn more cosmetics by playing the game. Some cosmetics can also be purchased from the in-game store and auction house for cash.
It’s not just cosmetic options, either. Somehow, in this day and age, we’ve got a competitive shooter with actual pay-to-win mechanics. You can pay money to forcibly extract your loot during the extraction mode, Mashmak. These are called Cargo Rockets. Uh, what? Doesn’t that just completely ruin the entire point of an extraction mode? Who is paying for that?
Anything you earn in the Mashmak extraction mode can’t be used in PvP, however, so any mods you unlock won’t directly impact the competitive side of things. So that’s good!
You can also purchase new mechs to use. These cost 15,000 Mission Tokens, which you can earn by completing missions while playing the game. You earn around 200-500 per game and sometimes receive bonus Mission Tokens for completing objectives.
To Be Fair To The Game, You Can Earn Premium Currency By Playing
Mecha Break’s premium currency, Corite, can be earned by free-to-play players via selling items at the in-game auction house. You can sell mods at the auction house, or even cans of paint.
It’s going to be a horrendous grind, and you’ll never keep up with those who flash their credit card at every possible moment, but it’s nice to see at least an option to work towards some of the more expensive cosmetics and items.