Everything We Know About Hyper Light Breaker

Hyper Light Breaker Plot

In the realm of Hyper Light, the Overgrowth is a new area where the mysterious ‘Crowns’ claim their territories, and where the Abyss King claims his throne. As a Breaker, enter the Overgrowth and overcome any obstacle in your way to solve its mysteries from the memories you reclaim from the Crowns!

Hyper Light Breaker Gameplay

Hyper Light Breaker is the first fully 3D entry in the series, where it will have action-packed 3rd person stylish combat. Journeys into the Overgrowth will be ever-changing, where its layouts, enemies, and rewards are all procedurally generated, allowing for high replayability. The game will also feature a campaign that can be fully completed through co-op with friends.

Hyper Light Breaker Release Date

Hyper Light Breaker’s Early Access release was launched on the 14th of January, 2025. According to the developers, they are aiming to keep the game on Early Access for about a year before releasing the final version. However, the final version might get delayed, depending on the feedback from its players.

Hyper Light Breaker Review (Early Access)

More Like Hyper Heart Breaker

Ever since me and my friends stopped playing Phantasy Star Online 2: New Genesis, we’ve been on the hunt for something new to play together. Our list of explored titles includes Phasmophobia, Killing Floor 2, Granblue Fantasy: Relink, Tower of Fantasy, and Lethal Company. And, as you’d expect, Hyper Light Breaker was supposed to join the roster of games we’d gather around for every weekend… until I actually tried it myself.

For context, Hyper Light Breaker is an action RPG/shooter with roguelite elements. The gameplay loop revolves around exploring the Overgrowth, an open world brimming with hostiles under the command of the Abyss King, gathering equipment and resources, taking on the Abyss King’s subordinates (the Three Crowns), defeating the Abyss King himself, and repeating the cycle. Then, you can use the rewards you gathered in your run to permanently upgrade yourself.

Death in Hyper Light Breaker doesn’t usually mean starting over like in most roguelites, though. Instead, you’re booted back to the main hub to resupply and dive back into the Overgrowth until your fourth death. That’s the point where the game wipes the slate clean.

To fend off the bony hands of Death, Hyper Light Breaker arms you with two main weapon classes: Blades (which, for some reason, include hammers) and Rails (a fancy word for guns). Each Breaker can also switch classes to match their preferred weapon or playstyle. For example, Vermillion can be a Gunslinger, a class specializing in Rails (why not call it a Railslinger, then?). Or he could switch to the Tank class to boost survivability by parrying attacks.

Players can also equip upgrades, called Holobytes, that are scattered across the Overgrowth. These offer stat boosts that last until you die a certain number of times. They’re quite straightforward, such as providing bonus damage to Blades, but some are very gimmicky like allowing Rail shots to pierce targets and increasing its damage based on the number of enemies hit. Unfortunately, though, you can’t rely on Holobytes for specific builds due to the random nature of drops. And honestly, the same goes for weapons—you might not even see your favorites in certain runs.

This game can be played solo or with up to three players. Sounds fun, right? Especially since the Crowns and the Abyss King can end you in two or three hits, it requires strategy and plenty of teasing when your teammates die due to skill issues. Sadly, though, you might not even reach that point because—

It Drops You In and Leaves You Hanging

Not every game needs a full onboarding process. Take Super Mario Bros., for example—simple mechanics, intuitive gameplay; no hand-holding required.

But that’s not the case with Hyper Light Breaker. Its mechanics are complex enough to warrant at least a short tutorial. Plus, it throws in unique terms that definitely need explaining—especially for newcomers to the franchise or genre. Like, what’s a prism? Why do guns use batteries instead of bullets? And what’s the difference between ATK and DPS?

Sadly, Hyper Light Breaker explains none of this. Its minimal onboarding effort is spent explaining what a hub is—something practically every gamer already knows unless they’ve been living under a rock.

Upgrades, blade skills, batteries, holobytes, and rails? Status effects and special events? Not even how to unlock characters? Nah, you’re on your own for all of that.

Optimized Like a Blender

Normally, I don’t complain about low frame rates. After all, my daily driver is a humble GTX 1070, which struggles to run Wuthering Waves. But for Hyper Light Breaker, I fired up my more robust RTX 40-series setup, expecting buttery-smooth glory. Instead, I got frames dropping harder than my patience.

All I ask is for a game to hold steady at 60 FPS, but even that’s apparently too much for Hyper Light Breaker. It stutters, dips to 30–40 FPS, and generally feels unpolished, especially after loading screens or during heavy action.

What’s weird is that the game doesn’t look visually demanding. The models are basic, the animations aren’t intricate (there’s exactly one jump animation, and attack animations are tied to weapons with no variety), and yet it struggles. Heck, I’ve seen low-effort Unreal Engine games (cough Seven Knights 2 cough) that run better.

Unbelievably Scuffed Movement and Combat

The most frustrating thing about Hyper Light Breaker is how heavy and clunky its controls feel. In an action RPG/shooter, responsiveness is make-or-break. A good action game should make your character’s movements feel snappy and in sync with your inputs—unless there’s intentional windup or recovery.

A good example would be Elden Ring; a game whose controls are so responsive to the player’s inputs that the only reason for a player to get hit by an attack would be due to skill issues arising from terrible reflexes, unfamiliarity with enemies, or just plain recklessness.

But Hyper Light Breaker? It constantly undermines you. It’ll make you roll in the wrong direction, throw your aim wildly off while shooting, or send you sliding off a cliff while using your hoverboard because apparently, air propulsion only works in one direction in that world.

Accessibility Needs Work

I’m a big fan of customizable controls, as I tend to use the same keybindings across all my games. Hyper Light Breaker claims to offer key remapping, but surprise—it doesn’t actually let you change anything.

There’s no option to tweak mouse or analog sensitivity, no Field of View sliders for motion-sickness-prone players, and no accessibility features for colorblind folks. It’s like they skipped the entire accessibility section during development.

Cool Co-op Concept, Though

Despite all its flaws, I’m still hoping Hyper Light Breaker improves. The idea of a challenging open-world action shooter with friends in an ever-changing environment is a fantastic concept.

The gameplay loop itself isn’t broken. In fact, gearing up for fights against the Abyss King and the Three Crowns through exploring a large open world filled with enemies sounds awesome in theory. But until the developers fix its glaring issues with controls, optimization, and onboarding, it’ll remain a concept and not a fully realized experience.

Frankly, I’ve seen mobile games in closed alpha tests that were far more polished and complete. Hyper Light Breaker feels like it’s in a state that belongs in free closed beta testing—not as a paid early access game.

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Hyper Light Breaker Product Information

Title	HYPER LIGHT BREAKER
Release Date	January 14, 2025 (Early Access)
Developer	Heart Machine
Publisher	Arc Games
Supported Platforms	PC(Steam)
Genre	Action, Adventure, RPG
Number of Players	1-3 Co-Op
Rating	RP
Official Website	Hyper Light Breaker Official Website

Alfonso Majarucon

Writer of things from game, anime and manga reviews to news and webnovels. Hopelessly addicted to story-driven games, especially cross-platform ones. Favorite games include Punishing Gray Raven, Arknights, Limbus Company, Elden Ring, Touhou, Soul Nomad and the Disgaea series (except 3 and 6). Avid..