| Hyper Light Breaker | |
|---|---|
| | |
| Developer | Heart Machine |
| Publisher | Arc Games |
| Director | Alx Preston |
| Composers | Troupe Gammage Joel Corelitz [1] |
| Engine | Unreal Engine 4 [2] [3] |
| Platform | Windows |
| Release | January 14, 2025 (early access) |
| Genre | Roguelike |
| Modes | Single-player, multiplayer |
Hyper Light Breaker is a roguelike video game developed by Heart Machine and published by Arc Games. It serves as the prequel to Hyper Light Drifter (2016). The player controls a "Breaker" who ventures into the Overgrowth to defeat the Abyss King. The game released for early access on January 14, 2025. [4] The full release is scheduled for 2026. [5]
Breaker takes place from a third-person perspective, and the player can mix melee and ranged weapons together. Each "Breaker" can choose a class and abilities that affect gameplay. To traverse the world, Breakers can use hoverboards, gliders and climb walls. Like in other roguelikes, when the player dies, a new world is randomly generated. The game supports multiplayer, with up to three players able to join a world together. To win, the player needs to take down a series of regional bosses in order to fight the Abyss King. Between runs, the player can explore a hub city. [6]
Non-playable characters can be found throughout the world, and the player can converse with them. Like in Hyper Light Drifter , there is no spoken dialogue in the game, instead characters communicate information to the player through comic book panels. [7]
Originally each biome was intended to be a separate level, but due to the amount of work required to expand each, all were consolidated into a single world. [8] Many of the game's systems are built upon those created for the studio's previous title Solar Ash . [9]
Gearbox Publishing San Francisco was originally listed as the publisher prior to its rebrand as Arc Games following Gearbox Software's sale to Take-Two Interactive. [10]
The game's early access release was originally scheduled for late 2023, [11] but following multiple delays, [12] the game released in early access on January 14, 2025. [4] A full release of the game was scheduled for 2026, [5] but the studio underwent a layoff and ended development of the game in October 2025, leaving the game's future in question. [13]
Heart Machine is now preparing to set their sights on Hyper Light Breaker's full 1.0 launch for next year.