Hyper Light Drifter follow-up Hyper Light Breaker announced

Steel yourself for more stylish exploration and violence next year with Hyper Light Breaker, a follow-up (but not a sequel) to 2016’s Hyper Light Drifter. The “action rogue-lite adventure” will explore a new land in the same world, and this time in fancy 3D-o-vision. Plus, online co-op! Check out the announcement trailer below.

Hyper Light Breaker will invite us to the land of Overgrowth to explore (with the help of tools including a wall-dash, hoverboard, and glider), bash baddies, and batter bosses. Across runs we’ll unlock weapons and items, and help build up a settlement in a very pretty overgrown city. I am strongly into overgrown cities.

The developers, Heart Machine say that Breaker is “neither a sequel nor a prequel” to Drifter. They explain in a blog post“It is set in the universe of Hyper Light and is its own story. It will share threads, aesthetics, lore and other recognizable elements, but will be a new game driven by new designs.”

The devs plan to take Breaker through early access, and are looking at a “community-focused development process” with blog posts, streams, events, and things. They were very chatty with Drifter, which went through Kickstarter, but less so with their latest game, December 2021’s Solar Ash.

“With Solar Ash we were trying something new; working with a publisher for the first time, transitioning from 2D to 3D, and mostly working in a vacuum,” Heart Machine explained. “In the end, we released a project we’re incredibly proud of, but the process deviated heavily from how we did things with Hyper Light Drifter, and ultimately, how we want to do things in the future.”

Our Ed’s Solar Ash review said “it’s stylish and oh-so-smooth when it gets in the flow, but is hampered by repetition.” As for Hyper Light Drifter, ah, John Walker (RPS in peace) got off to a rough start but we have since called it one of the best action games on PC. If you dig Drifter, you might enjoy The Mechanic’s in-depth look at the decision to use recharging ammo.

Hyper Light Breaker is due to enter early access onSteam in 2023. This time, Gearbox Publishing are, well, publishing. For now, you can follow development on Heart Machine’s blog.