Despite being a direct connection to one of the most-celebrated indie titles of the past decade,Hyper Light Breakerfeels like a bit of a gambit for Heart Machine. After all, it’s a multiplayer roguelike action game with procedually-generated worlds and extraction mechanics where one of the goals is to try and get loot that can buff up your character, which consists of weapons and modules that come in different rarities, as represented by different colors. Considering that’s a lot of elements associated with more negatively-received games and gaming tropes in recent times, it’d be hard to blame anyone for feeling cautious about the direction that the game may be headed in, even in its early stages. On the other hand, the game gives you a hoverboard, which is awesome, so it could go either way.
Breaking New Ground
But switching to a more serious mode for a bit,Hyper Light Breakeris still a notable departure for Heart Machine, even if it still takes place within the same universe, set decades before the events of the original game. Each player steps into the role of one of the titular Breakers, an organization of mercenaries devoted to exploring the Overgrowth for the key to restoring civilization. Doing so requires heading out into the Overgrowth, taking out the elite foes known as Crowns, and gaining access to their memories in order to unlock the secrets behind everything. A solid setup, with the memories nicely told in a dialogue-free visual format, even though the relatively-short amount of play time during this writer’s session meant that there wasn’t a whole lot of lore to check out yet.
And indeed, the preview session forHyper Light Breakerdid feel daunting at times. It was one of those cases where you’re basically experiencing a middle chunk of the game, and you suddenly have to get used to all of this new terminology, numerous shops and new features all of a sudden, such as the stat-altering SyCom robot buddy with passive abilities or the EXE abilities that grants certain boons. Throw in the fact that it was a mutliplayer session that basically had a time limit in the form of the game’s main enemy, the Abyss King, summoning increasingly deadlier threats the longer you stay in the Overgrowth, complete with an increasing Danger Meter, and it could get a little chaotic at first. It was kind of a scenario where if you weren’t completely in sync with your fellow players, it would be easy to get lost.
To be fair, though, those are clearly issues that have more to do with the particular format of this preview. So let’s just get down to the nitty-gritty: isHyper Light Breakerstill a fun game? And the answer is: most certainly (although the title may have already spoiled that for you). Even without the various bells and whistles that come with a more multiplayer-focused game such as this,HLBis still incredibly enjoyable thanks to the simple fact that Heart Machine have clearly mastered the satisfying gameplay at its core. In fact, here they seemed to have practically combined some of the best elements from their previous games, a mix ofHyper Light Drifter’sintense combat andSolar Ash’sfun ways of getting around a 3D environment.
…Heart Machine have clearly mastered the satisfying gameplay at its core.
A Trick of the Light
There’s just sheer joy to be found in summoning a hoverboard at any time to head over hills or a pool of water, getting launched into the air by a pad and then using a glider to ascend over to a tall structure, or getting into fights with hordes of enemies and dealing out a flurry of melee blows or pistol blast with some buttery smooth combat. And while it was mentioned earlier that the multiplayer can make things seem a little chaotic, there’s a great deal of satisfaction to be had whenever you successfully pick off any enemies surrounding a fellow Breaker, or successfully team up to take out a rather imposing Crown as quickly as possible, or even when you decide to head back to the Cursed Outpost hub via a Telepad, which is where the extraction elements kick in as you have to fend off waves off enemies in a small space. When you’re down to one hit point and manage to stick it out while your allies have your back, it can easily feel like you’ve aced things.
The world created by the Overgrowth is also a delight as well, on multiple levels. On a visual level, it’s impressive howHyper Light Breakermanages to carry over a lot of Hyper Light Drifter’s aesthetics via its blocky, labyrinth-appropriate structures, slightly cartoonish style, and neon-tinted color scheme into the third dimension, all while making things feel fresh (especially with some impressive new character designs as well, including those of the Breakers themselves). On a gameplay level, each new run in the Overgrowth gives players a lot to explore and discover, with certain structures in our session hiding merchants with rare items like weapons or chips that allow special skills, or even little bits that provide a touch more possible insight into the game’s universe. Combine that with the aforementioned smooth traversal and a nice risk/reward system with the Abyss King’s dangers, and it definitely feels like you’ll want to experience more of it.
Review: Hyper Light Drifter
Hyper Light Drifter’s emotionally open-ended narrative and thematic prowess make it feel like a true labor of love. Discover why in our review.
In the end, whileHyper Light Breakerwill come across as a departure for fans of Heart Machine’s previous work, the end result still looks like it could easily be an incredibly fun action game, with or without fellow Breakers accompanying you. Of course, as this is also an Early Access game, more content is also planned as development continues, so expect even more additions that could improve the game further and help it (appropriately) break through the mold that its gameplay elements can present. We’ll see if it can do so starting tomorrow, January 14, when the game is released for PC.
Hyper Light Breaker
Heart Machine’s Hyper Light Breaker is a roguelike 3D action game that supports solo and co-op play. Set in the Overgrowth, the game utilizes procedural generation to create expansive biomes with unique content, encouraging repeat playthroughs.
