Broken Lines

About

Broken Lines casts you as a leader of eight stranded soldiers after a crashed military transport leaves them cut off and leaderless. Plan tactics in pause mode then watch them unfold in real time as you manage resources, assign roles, and navigate hostile territory. Each mission remixes objectives and environments while the squad’s internal tensions, veterans prioritizing survival versus rookies chasing purpose, shape dialogue and decisions. Combat blends cover-based shooting with flanking maneuvers, letting you rewind levels to tweak strategies or minimize losses. Your choices impact unit morale, gear, and the fragile unity holding the group together. The game stands out for its tight fusion of turn-based planning and real-time chaos, offering 70+ hours of playtime according to community estimates. Its moral gray areas, like sacrificing weaker soldiers for the greater good, create lasting tension, while randomized missions keep replays fresh. With cross-platform availability on Switch to PC and consoles, it appeals to strategy fans seeking depth without grind. The lack of hand-holding and emphasis on hard tradeoffs earns it a 4.3/5 average on indie forums, though its slow burn pacing might not suit all players.

Storyline

Dusk. An army transport plane crosses the red evening sky. Motor humming. Plane cargo hold, only light is a lazy wall mounted bulb. A team of soldiers are fast asleep despite the bumpy ride. Heads bounce on their shoulders. Suddenly the light turns off, everything is darkness. And then all motors give out. The plane silently drops. Soldiers, weapons, papers are thrown around in the cabin as everything turns vertical. The machine disappears behind treetops and a huge explosion follows. The few surviving soldiers wake up in the scattered, burning wreckages. As the soldiers gather, it turns out all superior officers are dead, with the mission plans presumably destroyed in the fire. Only eight soldiers have survived. Four rookies and four veterans. They argue over who should lead, who should eat, who are expendable and who should survive, but decide to stay together for now. The squad begins an uneasy trek towards a nearby village, but are soon hunted by the local enemy forces, who aggressively aim to terminate the intruders. Fear creeps in as the squad slowly realizes they are stranded with no allies, no supplies, no clear orders, and no purpose. There are two main approaches the squad can decide to take. Try to continue the original mission - or save themselves. The Rookies are convinced there is something sinister going on with the fog and the enemies in the valley. They want to solve the mystery, destroy the potential threat and go home as heroes. The veterans simply want to gather resources, to enable them to survive and escape - no matter the cost. Broken lines It is a game about a group of soldiers being caught in a bad situation and about how they react to increasing pressure and stress. Some soldiers are more affected than others, creating a bigger rift within the squad. The soldiers’ lack of any clear leadership and plans make conflicts arise within the squad. The player decides which direction the soldiers should head. Do they try to find out what their mission is, or simply just survive and escape their situation. What is acceptable during war-time and which lines should never be broken, even if your life depends on it?