The upcoming RPG mixes branching conversations, painterly pixel art, and a combat system based on substeps and queued actions.
Today I’m going to introduce an interesting Tactics JRPG called Diorama Break designed by indie Studio Massimo Gauthier.
The game uses an odd way to interact with the player. Instead of having control of the main protagonist from a distance, the player is considered a true participant in the story and is able to talk to the Hero directly. A description on the Steam page describes it as a “game where conversations and battles are of equal importance, and players can ask questions, give advice and shape the Hero’s journey through their dialogue choices and interruptions.”
This design choice creates a more character-driven approach compared to other typical tactical RPGs, and I believe this will be a major part of the overall design and something quite original.
The game takes place inside of the Diorama, a small, miniaturized world that was home to an industrial society until all of a sudden it began to collapse due to an excessive amount of violent monsters.
Now there are small groups of humans living in these communities, and the people living there do not know how much longer they will survive. In addition to surviving, the community is awaiting a prophesied Hero that will help them find ways to improve their current condition.
The thing that sets up the game differently than many other games is that the player’s relationship to that Hero is actually part of the fictional universe. We are talking about a science-fantasy narrative with some meta elements, where the inhabitants of the world understand when the player is present and react to whatever type of interaction the player provides throughout their journey.
In terms of gameplay, Diorama Break appears to differ greatly in regard to its combat systems. The game’s grid-based tactical battle system does use a one action-per-turn style model, but with a twist.
Each turn consists of six separate steps, and each step has a unique timer, along with a specific range of effectiveness. There are some moves that take longer to execute than others, but some of these moves may be quicker and simpler to hit. Additionally, both the player’s allies and enemies can input multiple moves ahead of time, after which they are executed simultaneously.
The end result is that the gameplay experience is built around understanding patterns, positioning and interrupting your opponent’s movements.
Diorama Break emphasizes dialogue and exploration with branching conversations, interjecting into important moments in the story, an expanded cast of characters, and exploring beautifully drawn pixel environments.
In terms of visuals, Diorama Break utilizes highly detailed pixel graphics and animated environments, and combines these with a more personalized narrative format that ties relationships to outcomes.
Players can see firsthand how this combination works using the recently-released Chapter 1 Demo, containing over two hours worth of gameplay representing the entire first chapter, inside of which you can understand story structure, conversation system, and battle mechanics.
Although Diorama Break still has no set date for completion/launch, the intention of Massimo Gauthier is to start a Kickstarter Campaign on April 28th, 2026, with an intended target date for a full release in 2029 on PC via Steam, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch, and Xbox.
