Brick By Brick

This is a really fun take on the genre. The elemental powers are varied and build upon each other well, although the visuals can get pretty crazy. Thankfully, there are lines drawn for enemy projectiles, which help a lot. Enemies/bricks have different behaviors, which are a mix of interesting and infuriating (in a good way). The shops and upgrades between levels refreshingly offer opportunities for building power or staying alive (mostly the latter for me). Play feel and the interface are really solid. Trying this made me wonder how some of the other brick breaking games on Steam are, so I tried Strikey Sisters, Wizorb, and Shatter, and while those are all good games, this is the one I want to play most. It's more than worthy of its $5 price point.

I'm not huge on Breakout games, but they're fun to stop by with once in a while. Brick by Brick is a seemingly fairly simple roguelite rendition of balls vs bricks, that gets the basic feel right (including a little momentum transfer), and adds a few extra wrinkles to the standard mix. It's mouse-based with a single active ability, so suitable for single-handed play, but one can make it work on controller via Steam Input and a mouse-region analog config, if you're mouse adverse (I'd suggest trackball as a better choice here, though). On the roguelite side, it's fairly straight on stacking passives and stat upgrades over your run. Your starting character sets your active ability, and some upgrades will alter/augment it, but you don't replace it or get more active options. Upgrades come with a passive and/or "element" points that add to their respective elements, which apply three levels of added bonuses at certain thresholds. Cross-run progression seems to be unlocking new starting characters and higher difficulty runs. Can't say yet whether there are particular run variations aside from your upgrade/build opportunities, but the initial, basic run seems to offer the same leve…

Brick by Brick is a really fun take on the classic Breakout style. It’s fast, chaotic, and the roguelite + elemental builds keep every run feeling different. Unlocking heroes, stacking upgrades, and finding strong combos is super satisfying. There’s a ton to unlock so it lasts a long time, and for the price it’s honestly a great deal.

First, you choose a character, each with their own unique power, companion, and elemental affinity. At the beginning, only two characters are available, while the rest must be unlocked by earning achievements. Most unlock naturally as you play, though some require extra effort. The gameplay is similar to a brick-breaking game. You control a paddle at the bottom of the screen and bounce a ball toward objects that need to be destroyed. Each hit fills your power meter, which can be activated at the press of a button. The effect depends on the character you selected. Instead of bricks, the game features enemies. They behave much like standard bricks, except they shoot at you. Different enemies have distinct attack patterns, and some require learning and anticipation because their behavior isn’t straightforward. This makes keeping the ball from falling much more difficult, as you’ll often take damage while trying to save it. Still, it’s better to sacrifice half a heart to save the ball than to let it hit the bottom, which costs you a full heart. The game becomes more manageable as you complete stages. Once all “bricks” are destroyed, you choose a companion from three random …