Five days earlier Hyper Light Breakerpremiering on January 14, developer Heart Machine revealed the price of the co-op roguelike, as well as a nice launch offer that will sweeten the pot: Hyper Light Breaker will cost $30 and from launch until January 28 will come with a free copy of 2016’s Hyper Light Drifter.
In addition to the press release revealing the launch price and offer, Heart Machine also released an announcement trailer presenting playable characters and bosses that will be present at the beginning of Early Access. The starting guy, who looks a hell of a lot like the Drifter from the original game, is named Vermillion, and he’s joined by the more feminine Drifter-like Lapis in a yellow jacket, as well as a pleasantly chubby tanuki-looking guy, Goro. As for the bosses, or “crowns,” we’ll be defeated by Dro, a wolf knight coded by Artorias who gave us and PCG news writer Joshua Wolens a lot of trouble in the Breaker demo. We will also have to face the heavy-fisted gladiator, Exus.
I enjoyed the pre-launch demos of Breaker—it’s reminiscent of Risk of Rain 2, but with more precise Soulsborne-inspired combat/character action and a greater emphasis on exploration. Breaker will feature procedurally generated open world maps, though Heart Machine promises all the secrets and complexity you’d expect from a custom game, with the hope that this will enhance Breaker’s replayability in the long run.
Meanwhile, Hyperlight tramp is the reason for this season, an influential riff on top-down Zelda with more intense, sophisticated combat and a killer atmosphere that was easily translated to full 3D thanks to Breaker. If, like me, you already own Drifter, a free copy with Breaker could be a nice digital gift for a friend.
Hyper Light Breaker has been delayed several times, but its release in early access on January 14 comes at a good time: with the release of Elden Ring Nightreign later this year, there will be a lot more competition in this 3D open-world roguelike space, and we’ll see how the approach to the Breaker gene procs compared to the arguably more unchanging Nightreign map.
