Developer Heart Machine has revealed Hyper Light Breaker – the studio’s co-operative rogue-lite spin in its acclaimed 2016 action-adventure Hyper Light Drifter – is now targeting a Steam early access launch sometime this “summer” following several delays.
Hyper Light Breaker was announced all the way back in March 2022 and was originally expected to launch into early access the following spring. However, it’s been hit with multiple delays since then, with its release first shifting to autumn 2023 before it was pushed back to a non-specific point in 2024 so Heart Machine could “bring the game to its full potential”.
But now, speaking to IGN, the studio has confirmed Hyper Light Breaker will launch on Steam this summer, where it’s expected to remain in early access for roughly a year.
Hyper Light Breaker is, of course, a considerably different proposition to its predecessor. While Hyper Light Drifter was a 2D, top-down single-player adventure blending rich exploration and challenging melee combat, Hyper Light Breaker is a fully 3D rogue-lite adventure in which players – either working solo or playing co-operatively with friends online – are tasked with defeating “hordes of enemies and gigantic bosses in frenetic third-person combat”.
It’s got a “vast, ever-changing” world called the Overgrowth – consisting of massive, open biomes and deep labyrinths – which players can navigate using the likes of wall-dashing, hoverboarding, and gliding as they attempt to “defeat brutal monsters, create new builds, survive the mysterious Crowns and overthrow the almighty Abyss King.”
There’s no word of a console release for Hyper Light Breaker, but presumably Heart Machine will have more to share as its PC early access progresses.