With bottomless open-world combat, Hyper Light Breaker could be the biggest roguelike of 2024 in more ways than one

Jan. 22, 2024

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Can you turn anything into a roguelike? Should you? The genre is a proven recipe for replayability, so as AAAgames like God of War RagnarokandThe Last of Us 2 catch upto the largely indie-incubated trend of procedurally generated, run-based games and modes, and as games like Ghostrunner 2 also embrace the Rogue within, these questions have been weighing on my mind. My heart says ‘yes,’ while my more cautious brain says ‘honestly, maybe.’

More than anything, Hyper Light Breaker has to overcome the inherent, almost oxymoronic challenge of an open-world roguelike. Thebest open-world gamesare generally revered for dense details that enable memorable and organic encounters and anecdotes, while thebest roguelikesthrive on chop-and-change journeys where you’re constantly looking forward and not getting too attached to your surroundings. How do you do both? How does open-world navigation work within the roguelike formula? How does Hyper Light Breaker build on the dev’s previous games? I spoke to Heart Machine founder and creative director Alx Preston to find out.

Opposites attract

“We have a lot of grounding elements that appear in every world you see that are tied to all the visual storytelling and world-building we do, that we might do in any future parts of the Hyper Light world,” Preston says of how Heart Machine brings consistency to chaos. “There’s a lot of visual flair and key elements that we will enforce no matter what format it’s in that will continue those threads.

“[Procedural generation] keeps movement and combat interesting, unique, and fresh. It definitely pushes us to make some alternative considerations than we would make in a different structure. We have different limitations than we would have otherwise, but they’re not better or worse. They’re just new constraints that we work with and around. It helps us gain new perspectives and do fun things we wouldn’t otherwise.”

“New format” really is the phrase here. I’ve played roguelikes with big worlds, but never one that’s presented quite like Hyper Light Breaker. It’s a 3D action game that’s big on combat, where fights are connected by silky-smooth movement systems a la Solar Ash, and all with a big chunk of the story percolating in the background as your hub settlement expands and new characters move in. As you tackle the biomes and bosses of the Overgrowth, the tools and weapons available to you slowly but surely increase. This leads me to one big question: in terms of progression, what kind of roguelike are we dealing with here?

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“You’re always gaining and losing in any good roguelike or run-based game,” Preston says, going on to outline Breaker’s approach. “Two steps forward, one step back, sometimes multiple steps forward and back. It’s that push and pull dynamic. It’s aspiring to the ideal of some quality build that you’ve never gotten before, and the way that you unlock parts of the build over time. When you start out you don’t have access to particular pieces you earn later. There’s a consistency that you get later down the line that you weren’t able to achieve early on. The idea is that you’re gaining more control over or harnessing the RNG of these types of games, and building skills. That’s what really keeps it compelling and not just pure chaos.”

With Solar Ash still fresh in my mind, and Hyper Light Drifter a more distant but equally fond memory, I’m also curious how Heart Machine is balancing Breaker’s modes of play against the studio’s proven strengths. “We’re big on movement, generally speaking, when we design our games,” Preston explains. “We like speed and flow. There’s always a particular perspective you have to take every game. With [Solar Ash], there’s a lot of movement and traversal because it’s a 3D platformer. Breaker is not a 3D platformer. It’s a combat-focused game. Those traversal elements are largely secondary and supplementary, but with Breaker, we have a larger world than Solar so we want to make sure we respect that. We don’t want it to be boring when you’re traversing the world between combat.”

“Maybe we could make a racing game – who knows!”

Breaker does have one big thing in common with Solar Ash: it’s a new type of gameplay loop for Heart Machine. Through its narrative as well as its name, Hyper Light Breaker also roughs out a future for the Hyper Light IP at the core of Heart Machine. Preston has previously floated the idea of making more games in the same universe, but just as the studio’s movement ethos remains constant, he reckons that action is unavoidably part of the studio’s blood.

“I think the core principle is just ‘design fun games that we’re passionate about,'” he says. “There’s an array of people with different experiences in the studio; we all have Venn diagrams that cross over in various places. Ultimately we’re all drawn to more intense action-based games. We’re probably not gonna make a tactical RTS down the line because it’s not in our wheelhouse or DNA. But maybe we could make a racing game - who knows!

“It depends on where the projects lead us, and what we take out of those projects, what things we become proficient at, and what things we dislike. We’re guided a lot by what’s going to keep us creatively engaged more than anything else. This can take the shape of a lot of different genres, but ultimately it’ll be more action-based.”

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