Hyperlightbreaker may have a similar name to its 2016 predecessor and may even be set in the same universe (despite being set 15 years earlier), but it’s a very different game than that atmospheric Zelda-How that blew fans away eight years ago. “It says breaker Not for a reason Hyperlight Drifter 2,” creative director Alx Preston told me in a hands-on preview when I asked what was the most important thing people should know. “It’s its own game…it stands on its own two feet.”
Unlike the reclusive top-down pixel art indie darling that put Heart Machine on the map, Hyperlightbreaker is a Online co-op hack and slash game with loot-based runs and extraction mechanics. Think NieR machines meets returnbut with the neon color palette and the atmospherically brooding synthesizer soundtrack Heart Machine (which was also released Sun ash in 2021) has become known for. After the original release in March 2022 and two further delays, the game will now be available in Steam Early Access this summer, and I was recently able to experience the ambitious pitch for myself.
Hyperlightbreaker practical
What’s immediately clear is that while this isn’t an actual sequel, Hyperlightbreaker still exudes the menacing beauty and captivating sense of place that I loved Hyperlight Drifter. Composer Joel Corelitz’s soundtrack immediately invades my imagination, while rich pink, teal and lime green tones invite me to delve deeper into the procedurally generated open world. I mop the floor with some slimes, go toe-to-toe with masked bandits, and get my ass kicked by a giant werewolf named Dro, one of the many bosses that players will defeat on their way to becoming “King of the Abyss” at the end of each one new run.
A hand glider allowed me to traverse chasms, while a hoverboard allowed me to glide past enemies to cover distance faster. In subsequent playthroughs, I experimented with heavy and light melee weapons, as well as secondary pistols and shotguns. There are also evasive maneuvers, perfectly timed parries and a tumbling mechanic to overcome enemies’ defenses and take them down. It all makes sense on paper, but I didn’t immediately like the pace and feel of the fight. Although it was usable enough, the current action didn’t grab me right away HyperlightbreakerThe wider world and presentation did.
“I would say third-person melee combat is probably the hardest thing you can do when developing a game,” Pres ton said. “When it comes to direct interactions, there’s a reason why a lot of developers don’t try to tackle great depth or detail and rely more on shooting, because third-person close combat requires a lot of real attention to detail and tricks to make it work and feel satisfying and make you feel like you’re in control, and it was your fault for the skill gap, as opposed to the game’s fault for not telling you what information you need at the right time .”
Whatever the right balance ends up being, it’s definitely something that can be refined in Early Access, which Heart Machine says could take a year or more. When the game first launches, it will feature “more than a prologue,” according to Preston, who compared the first early access version to it Supergiant Hades offered when it first made its way into players’ hands. In the open world, we have multiple biomes available to explore, along with different characters and builds. However, most bosses and story elements will arrive later.
It’s easy to imagine what Hyperlightbreaker is on the hunt with all of these interlocking systems, from a world that becomes more hostile the longer you explore before retreating to a social gathering spot with your hard-earned loot, to the fact that up to three players can fight side by side at the same time. How Danger of rain 2 and other plunder-driven villains, Hyperlightbreaker has the potential to become a forever game for a certain type of player, always stimulating something new to discover or a new way to play. Dead Cells was released in 2018 and has just stopped receiving updates that massively refreshed the game each time Last month.
Preston said last year that he doesn’t think the original Hyperlight Drifter could have the same success with its release today as it did back in 2016. Does that mean Heart Machine will never make it? Hyper Light Drifter 2 Fans like me dreamed of it? “Maybe, I don’t know,” he mentioned in passing when describing how breaker it’s its own thing. Personally, I hope so breaker In the end it’s so good that I stop thinking about it Drifter 2 we may never get it.
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