Hyper Light Drifter Gets 3D Rogue-like Sequel with Online Co-op

Heart Machine has revealed Hyper Light Breaker, a fully 3D rogue-lite spin on its acclaimed 2016 action-adventure Hyper Light Drifter that will be available for PC early next year.

While Hyper Light Drifter offered a tightly designed single-player adventure that combined rich exploration with challenging melee combat in a strikingly presented top-down, 2D world, Hyper Light Breaker appears to be a very different take on the same universe.

The game takes place in the Overgrowth, a new “vast, ever-changing” (and fully 3D) world consisting of massive, open biomes and deep labyrinths. Players can navigate this world using techniques such as wall-dashing, hoverboarding, and gliding. Here, they will be able to “defeat brutal monsters, create new builds, survive the mysterious Crowns, and overthrow the almighty Abyss King.”

This is all part of a rogue-lite adventure in which players – whether playing solo or cooperatively with friends online – are tasked with defeating “hordes of enemies and gigantic bosses in frenetic third-person combat”. To progress further into the game, participants can customize their builds using a “wide arsenal of weapons and items” unlocked through play, and there is a settlement that can be upgraded between each run.

So far, Heart Machine has only shared a few screenshots from the game.

It is, then, a departure from its predecessor, sounding more like a Hyper Light take on Risk of Rain 2 (it is published by the same company as Risk of Rain 2) than the meticulously crafted solo adventure of old. We will need more than the currently available animated trailer and a few animated in-game gifs to get a proper sense of how it plays, so hopefully Heart Machine will be ready to reveal more soon.

Expect Hyper Light Breaker to launch in Steam early access in “spring” next year.