Developed by Heart Machine and published by Arc Games, Hyper Light Breaker is a third person roguelike that as of writing this review is still only available in early access.  Heart Machine is known by some to be the developers of games such as; Solar Ash, and Hyper Light Drifter which are both award winning games being indie games that their players consider some of the best in the industry especially the ladder title. Arc Games on the other hand is a publisher of premium live service games which will either make or break people’s perception of Hyper Light Breaker depending on how they feel about live service games. 

Since this is an early access build of the game there are no story elements such as cutscenes or in game dialogue outside of text from vendors and still images, instead it primarily just has the player thrown into the core gameplay loop of the game so it’s more like an early access beta or a gameplay demo that doesn’t involve playing a shortened segment of the main story. Since this is a paid early access game the developers have confirmed that there will be big patches released later on that will add features such as story elements and gameplay features such as; more playable characters who are referred to as Breakers, enemies, weapons, gear and many other quality of life improvements. 

That being said there is a story to Hyper Light Breakers so it’s not just a gameplay demo, it’s just as of now mostly summarized via text on both Heart Machine’s website and the Steam summary of the game. The story centers around the players taking control of a mercenary referred to as a Breaker, a premade character who each have different stats and abilities who can be equipped with different custom loadouts of various weapon types and gear by the player. The weapons and gear can either be purchased and upgraded at vendors or gathered and collected throughout the Overgrowth which is a series of various procedurally-generated biomes. These biomes are where players spend most of the game gathering weapons, gear, randomized stat buffs, and resources that are used to rebuild/upgrade the hub area which can all be kept either through escaping in evacuation locations or by defeating all the crowns which are the bosses of the game. Defeating these crowns also unlock fragmented memories that will reveal the origins of the Overgrowth and its defenders. So far these segments are the only story elements in the game until more get added in future patches. 

When it comes to the core gameplay loop of Hyper Light Breaker  this is what will either make or break the game. As stated earlier the biomes and worlds are procedurally-generated meaning that everything from the biomes, weapons, enemies, equipment, loot and rewards will be different every time. There are also multiple types of ways to traverse them such as; wall-dashing, hoverboards, gliders and many others that will no doubt be added later on. However despite these advantages the player has limited lives and if they lose all their lives then the worlds will despawn and the player will also lose everything they found unless they evacuate or place everything into storage. The game can either be played alone or online with up to two other players for a total of three. In order to challenge the crowns players must gather prisms throughout the different biomes which can be obtained by defeating enemies or by unlocking certain locations using keys that can either be collected by defeating certain enemies or unlocking them in chests. Due to the roguelike nature of the game it will take multiple plays in order to grasp the controls and the bulk of it’s gameplay loop. With the way the game is structured it might be better to play the game with friends and other players rather than solo especially when starting the game. 

Overall while there is a lot of potential for the game it is still a far cry from the studios previous games, however there is still a chance that this game can prosper, but only as long as they focus primarily on innovation and not monetization. Even though the game is better to play with friends in its current state it doesn’t offer much in terms of unique gameplay, but since this is early access that can easily change if the developers truly care about offering a unique open world roguelike experience. 

Overall Score: 6 out of 10

Reviewed On: PC