The Riftbreaker

About The Riftbreaker

The Riftbreaker blends survival, base-building, and action-RPG in a sci-fi setting. Developed by Exor Studios and released October 14, 2021, it’s available on PS4, PC, Xbox, and newer consoles. You play Ashley Nowak, a scientist in a mecha suit called Mr. Riggs, stranded on a hostile alien planet. The goal is to build a base, collect resources, and open rifts to Earth. Combat involves hacking, slashing, and ranged weapons against aggressive wildlife. The game leans into strategy with resource management and tech trees, but the slow pacing and repetitive resource gathering might test patience. It’s a niche mix of exploration and base-building, best for players who enjoy methodical survival loops.

Gameplay

Your time in The Riftbreaker cycles between exploring the planet, harvesting materials, and defending your base. Mr. Riggs handles most tasks, from chopping trees to fighting enemies, but combat feels clunky, aiming can be imprecise, and melee attacks often require spamming buttons. Base-building requires manually placing structures, which gets tedious. Rift travel adds variety, but the procedural maps rarely surprise. Multiplayer allows co-op base expansion, but solo play dominates. You’ll spend hours mining for the same ore, upgrading tools, and fighting hostile creatures that attack randomly. The game’s depth lies in optimizing resource chains and research, but its sluggish pacing and repetitive missions make progress feel grind-heavy.

What Players Think

Community stats show mixed feelings: a 7.8/10 critic score, with 62% of players finishing the game. Average playtime is 18 hours, but many quit before the end. Moods are split, 35% love the strategy and creativity, while 28% cite frustration with repetitive resource gathering. Review snippets praise “beautiful alien environments” but criticize “uninspired combat.” Completion rates drop after the 30-hour mark, and 40% of players abandon the game post-base setup. The 58 achievements reflect grind-heavy milestones, like collecting 500 specific samples. Despite a #90 Twitch ranking, the game hasn’t gained a massive following, likely due to its slow burn and niche appeal.

PlayPile's Take

The Riftbreaker is a solid but flawed survival game for fans of methodical base-building and sci-fi exploration. At $29.99, it’s a budget pick for those who enjoy strategy over action. The 58 achievements offer replayability, but the repetitive resource loops and clunky combat won’t satisfy fast-paced gamers. If you’re okay with spending hours mining and building for modest rewards, it’s a decent time sink. Otherwise, skip it, there are better survival games with tighter loops and more engaging combat.

Storyline

You play the role of captain Ashley S. Nowak - you are the Riftbreaker, an elite scientist/commando inside a powerful Mecha-Suit. Enter a one-way portal to Galatea 37, a distant planet at the far reaches of the Milky Way Galaxy, with the purpose of building up a base that will allow travel back to Earth and further colonization. Ashley's Mecha-suit, which she calls "Mr. Riggs", can withstand the harshest environmental conditions and has a full range of equipment for base construction, resource extraction, gathering specimens and of course - combat. It is capable of traveling through rifts that connect space across vast distances.