Multiplayer fans looking for a dash of that old WildStar environmental vibe should take a look at Hyper Light Breaker, the sequel to 2016’s Hyper Light Drifter, as the former officially hit early access this afternoon under the Arc Games publishing banner. Dev studio Heart Machine hopes to invent a new subgenre, calling the game an “open-world co-op rogue-lite” game with “procedurally generated worlds” and “limitless re-playability.”
“Using a combination of fast-paced hack-and-slash combat, ranged weaponry and gadgets, players can expect to fight through and explore a wide array of procedurally-generated open worlds. Though you’ll start your journey trying to help the settlement, it’s clear that there’s something sinister in this long-forgotten land. Only through tenacity and rigorous exploration will you uncover the dark truths of the Crowns, The Abyss King and this brutal, eerie new landscape. Players can choose to play alone or with up to two fellow Breakers to explore open worlds, create new builds, rip through hordes and overcome the Crowns and the Abyss King.”
The early access version launching today boasts the “core pillars” and gameplay loops, including combat, traversal, “functional online multiplayer with up to 3 players,” proc-gen worlds, and the base storyline. According to the Steam page, early access is expected to run for a year as the team adds more characters and loadouts and skins, fully animated NPCs, a finished soundtrack, performance passes, refined combat and enemies, and the complete story.
As we noted, this is not Heart Machine’s first rodeo; the team says its experience with Hyper Light Drifter influenced its plans to involve the community in the testing of HLB. “We successfully built an audience before our first game release (Hyper Light Drifter) by regularly engaging with the community on many of these same fronts, building out a connection to many people who loved the concept, and plan to do so again for this new title,” the studio says.
The game is on sale for $26.99 in Steam early access today, and it includes a copy of the original game for those who don’t already own it.
