Cloudbreaker Review (PC): Starting on High Only to Fall From Grace

I enjoy a good bullet-heaven game as much as the next guy, but when a title shows up with something different that makes it really stand out, I get hooked. Cloudbreaker had its hooks in me from the very first level with its swarming enemies, evolving weapons, and unique inventory system. While I find the developer’s claim that “placement, not luck, decides the run” to be a bit of a stretch, I did find that placement was integral to success. While I did enjoy most of my time with Cloudbreaker, I also found a bug that caused a bit of frustration and halted my progress, which caused me to view the game a little differently.

Placement, Not Luck

Like most other bullet-heaven-style games, the gameplay for Cloudbreaker is straightforward. Fight through swarms of enemies while gaining experience with each kill, and then choose what upgrades you’d like. What makes Cloudbreaker special is that instead of focusing solely on luck, you have choices for what to do with each upgrade. You can grab an upgrade for your ship, use it to raise the rank of a previously selected upgrade, or sell them for scrap. The scrap is what’s used to transform each weapon into a more powerful version.

What I liked from the get-go was that placed items aren’t locked in. Only the starting weapon and relics will ever lock into their slots. This means that if the ship is only firing down and enemies are above you, you can rotate the weapon if you have enough inventory space and attack from below. While this makes your skill with placement necessary to your success in Cloudbreaker, luck is also very important. I found myself on runs where the upgrades I needed never showed up, and I just wasn’t able to make myself strong enough, fast enough. It’s because of this that I don’t view placement skill as the only factor contributing to success.

Ships Over Characters

Cloudbreaker begins with a little bit of story before your unnamed character jumps into the Tug. The Tug is the starting ship and has the most basic inventory design and Core weapon of all the unlockable ships. Each ship you unlock has its own upgrade tree, defensive skill, and inventory layout. Weapons, attachments, and network items can be added to the inventory slots to power up your ship. While you can add whatever weapons you want to any ship during a level, the Core weapon can’t be changed. It’s the Core weapons that really decide how you play each round. 

The Core weapons are upgraded versions of the normal weapons you can add to your ships. Each ship has its own Core weapon, like a giant laser that only fires where the ship faces, or a fast-firing missile launcher. The Core weapons also connect with the ship upgrades, making Core weapon upgrades more important than adding on more weapons. Due to the different Core weapons, each ship flies and fights differently, making unlocking and trying new ships a fundamental part of what makes the game enjoyable.

If Only I Could Get Through the Abyss

Cloudbreaker only has three levels: The Periphery, The Waste, and The Abyss, all of which seem identical except for different colored backgrounds. Each of the three levels has a unique set of enemies that fight a little differently from prior enemies, but that’s all that really separates them from each other. The goal of the game is to grab an item at the end of The Abyss after the final boss, but this is where the game kept crashing. Whenever I touched that final item, the game would crash without saving any progress.

I went through and beat the final boss of The Abyss three times and grabbed the final item each time, just to make sure I wasn’t at fault, and found that every time I did, the game crashed. Because of this, all I know for sure is that there are six total ships to unlock, and after completing the levels, you can replay them with difficulty modifiers and enter an endless mode. If there’s more to do besides this, I couldn’t get to it. I don’t know what happens at the end; I don’t know what’s special about the final unlockable ship; and I don’t know if there’s more to the endgame than recycling those three levels. 

Final Verdict

From the start of Cloudbreaker to the end of my first run through The Abyss, I had a blast. I was working on my ships, finding new ways to use the weapons and upgrades, and really looking forward to unlocking everything. The fact that I couldn’t finish it, though, really soured my experience. The Abyss was a challenge to get through the first time, and was a frustrating experience the next couple of times, only to be met with the same unfulfilling end. 

The bug causing the crash also left me wanting a lot more from the game. I found myself unhappy with just three levels and a handful of ships. I wanted there to be more at the end of The Abyss. Overall, I know I enjoyed Cloudbreaker and believe others would too, but I personally want more out of the experience. I feel that right now, the game is fun to get through once, if the bug is taken care of, but to be a truly fun experience all the way through, I think it’s going to need more reasons to play. I don’t know if those reasons are more places to go, more ships to experience, or something else entirely, but I hope it gets there.

CloudBreaker was reviewed on PC with a code provided by Ballast Games.

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