Hawken Reborn Early Access Impressions on Steam: It sucks

Hey, remember when a lot of people were hooked on this cult mech shooter hawken came back from the dead? That was Monday! It’s Wednesday now and I’m sorry to say that the excitement has died down very short lived.

Hawken rebornwhich is free to download and in Early Access, but also requires microtransactions, launched in the toughest way imaginable. On Monday I expressed a small concern after seeing reborn launch trailer that “the edges of the game’s aesthetic appear to have been ground down”; After playing it, I don’t know how this game is even set in the same universe.

hawken was a game that became famous above all for its graphics, which were not only technically impressive, They were also heavily inspired by the kitbash style of machine warrior

This staggering disconnect between what we remember and what’s on offer today carries over into the game itself. That’s what hawken looked like this in 2016:

And that’s what Hawken reborn looks like in 2023:

whoops Perhaps worst of all is the art used in it Hawken Reborns static cutscenes that raise some questions. For example…why is she holding the iPad upside down?

And why do these almost identical angles of the same figure look so different? Especially her teeth? And why do her earring designs change every time you see her?

would a human Did the artist overlook these things? I emailed the publisher 505 Games to a PR rep and a community rep on Reddit asking if AI art was used in the development of the game (and also who exactly the development team is behind this project as it’s only than is listed). a “505 Games” title on Steam). At the time of publication, I have received no response from either of them.

What about the game itself? Also shit! hawkens The hallmark was the swaying view of your cockpit, giving players the illusion of piloting a large, lumbering ‘Mech. Hawken reborn tries to copy this, but in a way that’s a little sickening when you’re constantly having to sit through, and the PvE levels are a meandering mess through barren wastelands, trying to take on tiny and insignificant human enemies and shooting static missile turrets, a monotony broken only by the occasional bullet-sponge-wielding enemy mech, piloted by the dumbest AI imaginable.

The game on Wednesday night had a rating of “Mostly Negative” on Steam., with players hating everything from the game’s microtransactions (which are intended for actual in-game gear and not cosmetics) to the repetitive missions. Perhaps the most useful is this one from Shard:

This is the Hawken IP that the publisher is using to create a shallow and generic Destiny clone for which, while currently lacking multiplayer, premium currency packs are already available just below the Play Game button on the Store page (which you will receive are sold have already seen). It lacks Hawken’s amazing art direction and instead combines the familiar Hawken mechs with the most boring modern sci-fi art style there is. Graphically, it looks worse than the original, a game that came out in 2013. I understand it’s “Early Access,” but given the state it’s in, we all know why there was literally no public knowledge of it until 36 hours before release.

It doesn’t look any better on Reddit either. I know the game is in Early Access which means there is room for improvement. For this reason, these are impressions and not a review. But the fact that its editors saw fit to release it in such a state, to look and play like this, and despite everything have the courage to charge money for microtransactions… does not bode well!