Hyper Light Breaker, the highly-anticipated follow-up to Hyper Light Drifter, is finally entering Steam early access on January 14. Although it's the second in the series, the game from developer Heart Machine is actually a prequel to the original, set many years prior. A recent hands-on has shown off more of what the game will have to offer players when it becomes available, as well as the developer’s plans for the future.

I first got a taste of Hyper Light Breaker at Summer Game Fest last year, but only got to spend about half an hour with the title. This more recent preview was about an hour long, and instead of playing solo as I did previously, it was three-player co-op with two of the development team. This added lots of new layers to the gameplay - even though my earlier hands-on was guided, having two other players actually inside the game to help aid with combat and provide facts along the way made for a much more comprehensive experience.

The World Of Hyper Light Breaker

A Procedurally-Generated, Neon-Saturated World

There are two main places players will be spending their time in Hyper Light Breaker: the Overgrowth, where runs take place, and the Cursed Outpost, the game’s main hub. Both of these areas will receive updates as early access continues, but currently, the Overgrowth has three different biomes, and the Outpost has three vendors. The Overgrowth is procedurally generated, with the same bright neon palette as Breaker’s predecessor, and everything about it encourages exploration. Unlike a lot of popular roguelites, players can visit this procedurally-generated world multiple times using charges, since each is so large.

Traversal is extremely fun and varied - there’s a lot of verticality, with jump pads scattered throughout that often lead to uncovering rewards like gear and Bright Blood - the game’s currency - or pieces of memories. The latter is the main narrative device, continuing the original’s style of storytelling largely through pictures. Players can also utilize a hoverboard in bursts to go throughout the world, which is very satisfyingly fluid and fast, and it can be upgraded over time to be used for longer periods. Large gaps can also be crossed with a glider, offering even more variance in how to explore.

As players progress through the Overgrowth, defeating enemies and gaining gear, a Danger Meter will slowly increase. When it reaches its peak, a challenging special event will occur, like a massive mob of enemies or a dangerous assassin; this means players must balance making meaningful progress with increased difficulty. The world operates on a Cycle system - whenever players have either defeated the world’s main bosses, called Crowns, or run out of lives, the Overgrowth will reset and become a completely different map.

Runs In Hyper Light Breaker

Highly-Customizable Loadouts To Face Infinitely Increasing Danger

Before going on runs, players can visit Outpost vendors to improve their build. One sells Blades, the term for main melee weapons, another sells Rails, which are ranged weapons, and the third sells Holobytes and Amps - the former of which are ive upgrades like doing more damage, and the latter are powerful moves like summoning large creatures to fight in battle or dropping a crushing block on enemies. They can also speak to a character called PB to change out their SyCom, a tiny robot companion that controls a Breaker’s baseline stats, and EXE abilities, a metaprogression skill tree-esque mechanic.

After making any desired purchases and unlocks, players will customize their loadout for what they think they’ll be facing on their run. Players can extract from the world at any time, meaning they could leave the world right before a fight with a Crown, then reenter with a more specialized build for the task at hand. Three Breakers will be available to choose from in initial Hyper Light Breaker early access: Lapis, Vermillion, and Goro. I chose Goro, a racoon-like character whose in-game bio includes the fact he wants to open a ramen shop, which I found a delightful touch.

Players can then choose their Blade, Rail, Amps, Armor, and Holobytes, and head into the Overgrowth. I opted for a set of dual claws as my main melee weapon, and a machine gun-type weapon as my Rail. Once entering the world, the goals are multifaceted - obviously, defeating enemies, exploring, and collecting loot is important, but players also need to specifically focus on finding Prisms, a special collectible required to unlock Crown battles. When they decide it’s time to leave the world, starting the extraction process will summon waves of enemies that must be defeated before they can leave.

Hyper Light Breaker’s Combat

Furiously Fast Fights Against Tricky Enemies

Combat in Hyper Light Breaker is fast-paced and increasingly difficult over the course of a run. Having two others by my side was extremely helpful, as players can resurrect each other with med kits - which I needed an embarrassing amount of times. Parrying plays a big part, and can lessen damage taken from attacks; a Perfect Parry negates it entirely, and even gives a bit of health back to the Breaker. Of course, players can also simply dash to dodge attacks, or dash and attack at the same time to perform a Flash Step.

When enemies are hit with a Flash Step, it will begin to fill their Stagger Meter. When filled entirely, another Flash Step will trigger an execution move that deals huge amounts of damage and are almost always lethal - at least against the game’s normal enemies. These are fairly varied, with my run being filled with everything from flying bat-like monsters with one eye to giants made of twisted roots. However, the biggest challenge by far was the Crown fight with Dro.

Dro was a giant wolf creature that was incredibly powerful. They mostly used AOE attacks, dishing out rings of damage that made it very hard to get next to them. What eventually led us to victory, much to my own surprise, was me - but only because of a special powerup I’d gotten during the run. The one-time use item granted equal health to damage dealt, meaning I could get right next to Dro and hit her as many times as I possibly could without taking any meaningful hits myself.

Final Preview Thoughts On Hyper Light Breaker

Changes From SGF & The Future Of The Game

There were a few big changes I noticed since my original play time at SGF, especially when it comes to the game’s overall traversal. Since last summer, developers have added a double jump and a wall dash, adding in a lot more verticality that has definitely worked to the title’s benefit. Extraction has also been made easier - it used to require interacting with special shrines, but that element has since been removed.

Changes like these really hammer home the fact that early access will continue improving the game for the better, as developers have publicly stated how they want to work closely with players to make the game the best it can be. A roap will soon be released showing future plans, with the team aiming for early access to last about a year. Considering it already shows such immense potential before being built upon more throughout early access, Hyper Light Breaker is definitely a contender for one of the most highly-anticipated indie games.

Source: Hyper Light Breaker/YouTube