First Mecha Break balance update is a mixed bag, but a big W for Hurricane mains

Mecha Break has been trending downhill ever since it launched at the beginning of July, and Amazing Seasun is putting in the work to try and reverse its fortunes. While ostensibly sharkish monetization has given many players the ick, the studio has been quick to adjust its strategy. As a new pilot enters the fray, Mecha Break's latest patch sees the developer turn its attention to in-game issues as it looks to make some sizable balance changes to its striker lineup.

Mecha Break is in a weird spot, to say the least. Coming off of some amazing pre-launch playtesting, it looked to immediately make a splash as one of the best mech games of recent times. Despite retaining its glitzy, Gundam-based gameplay at launch, players quickly cottoned onto the price tags of its in-store items, and balked at the grind needed to unlock new strikers and other cosmetics.

With its first major patch of Season 0, Amazing Seasun looked to salve certain pain points, including the amount of legwork required to rack up Matrix Credits, the game's main currency. It was a solid patch to that extent, but it failed to address the balance issues that have been at the top of players' minds.

The new patch, which has just landed, introduces new pilot Lu Hui and his custom Stellaris MK-III. Interestingly, Stellaris escaped tweaks this time around, though 12 other strikers were treated to buffs or hit with nerfs. By the looks of things, Hurricane mains are the clear winners of the patch, as the devs have amped its damage substantially while introducing a stun to its Decoy Drone.

The big head-scratcher for some, however, is the introduction of mods to casual. While this now means you'll be able to test out your builds in a non-competitive environment, there's a concern that whales will dramatically tip the balance of lobbies, rendering it impossible to get a fair read on how strong your setup is.

It is, at the very least, a sign that the devs are listening to balance concerns. Mecha Break's player count has continuously declined since launch, peaking at just under 20k concurrent players over the weekend according to SteamDB; 132k were playing concurrently at launch. The curve has started to flatten out, though, which is a positive sign that the player base is stabilizing. With a bit more legwork, the game will hopefully find itself in a healthy spot.

If you're jumping back in, check out our Mecha Break tier list to see which strikers are hot to trot and which ones are really not. Otherwise, here are some of the best free PC games you can play right now.

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