Break The Night: furries, magical girls and roguelike hack ‘n’ slash combat collide

An upcoming indie hack ‘n’ slash titled Break The Night has caught attention after showing off a combat demo at this year’s SAGExpo, the long-running Sonic the Hedgehog fan game event that has expanded well beyond Sonic-only projects in recent years.

Break The Night follows three roommates who become trapped in a liminal space called the Limit after boarding a mysterious train. Whilst trying to find a way out, they encounter a corrupting entity and a group of magical creatures that grant them the ability to transform, taking on a magical girl framing wrapped in aesthetics reminiscent of the late 2000s.

According to RPS, the story is still in its early stages, with the demo instead focused almost entirely on combat mechanics rather than narrative. The demo is not currently available via the game’s Steam page, but was made accessible as part of the SAGExpo showcase.

The combat itself centres on a straightforward one-button combo, alongside separate moves to launch enemies into the air and slam them back down, plus a wide-reaching spin attack. That spin attack is delivered via a card system with limited uses, hinting at the roguelike structure the developers are working towards, where players will presumably collect different cards to string together combos.

RPS noted that the combat currently feels somewhat limited in expressiveness, something typically expected of combo-driven action games, but praised the strong foundations already in place given how early the project is. The outlet also highlighted the character designs as a convincing evolution of the late-2000s look, building on the Y2K aesthetic that has enjoyed a broader resurgence lately.

Movement was also singled out as a highlight, with a dash-and-jump technique compared to the more advanced traversal tricks found in Celeste. Break The Night is available to wishlist now on Steam, though no release window has been announced.