Hyper Light Breaker Early Access Review in Progress

Normally, when a sequel is announced that’s a wild departure from the original, I welcome it with open arms – look no further than my inexplicable but everlasting love of Banjo-Kazooie Nuts N Bolts as evidence. But after just a day with Hyper Light Breaker – a follow-up (though not a proper sequel) to one of my all-time favorite indie games, Hyper Light Drifter – I feel like Vito Corleone telling y’all to look at how they massacred my boy. I’ve only sunk six hours into this incredibly challenging co-op roguelike so far, and although there’s clearly the skeleton of a good action-RPG in here somewhere, it’s currently buried deeper than the sun can see under sloppy combat mechanics, shallow and frustrating exploration, and scant content that began to feel repetitive only two hours in. Of course, this is its early access launch, so there’s always hope an initially rough package will transform into something much better with enough time – but in terms of what’s here right now, my disappointment is immeasurable and my day is ruined.

The goal of a run is to hunt around a randomized map for better gear and key items before taking on three highly deadly and supremely irritating bosses hiding out on each map, then extract yourself back to base to regroup, buy some upgrades, and do it again. I’ve already bested a couple bosses, which summon minions endlessly and flop around erratically to do massive damage, but have yet to complete a map in its entirety, which I’m assuming won’t happen until I near the end of what’s currently available in early access.

Maybe the combat will grow on me once I get deeper in, but it makes an absolutely terrible first impression. There isn’t anything interesting about the melee hack-and-slash attacks you are given, the alternative third-person shooting option has very limited ammo, moving and dodging feel unresponsive and inconsistent, and the lock-on system constantly toggles itself off unexpectedly and gets me killed.

All of these things are especially frustrating when Hyper Light Breaker is immediately difficult – and I mean extremely difficult, and that’s coming from someone with all the achievements in Sekiro – but doesn’t bother to explain its rules and often punishes you with an onslaught of enemy attacks that feel cheap. It’s also extremely funny that you start with no healing items (and are only given them at great expense and extremely sparingly) when you’d think you would need them most at the beginning when you’re learning. Instead, you basically have to throw yourself at impossible odds until you can unlock the bare minimum you need to survive.

So I’ve spent most of my time running around procedurally generated worlds that at least look quite pretty, using a unique art style that channels Hyper Light Drifter in 3D quite well. But these repetitive areas are extremely irritating to navigate, filled with awkward cliffs and crooked landscapes that feel like I’m not actually supposed to be climbing them but offer me no other choice. On the bright side, they at least give you a neat hoverboard to ride around on and do tricks, and although the controls are as sloppy as everything else, hoverboards are indeed still dope as hell and there are definitely some good times to be had there.

I’ve got a whole lot left to do and see before I’m ready to finalize my review sometime next week, and it’s a little encouraging that combat is becoming a bit more bearable as I start to understand its unpolished ways and gain more than zero healing items. But so far I’m not having a good time, and that’s not what I was expecting from this long-awaited follow-up, even taking into account this is its early access launch.