Hawked is the rare extraction shooter not trying to copy Escape From Tarkov, and it's out today
The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted is here to spotlight our most anticipated games of 2024 and beyond, but not everything in the show today is far off. A new multiplayer shooter promising to be «the most accessible extraction shooter» to date, Hawked, launches today in early access. It's free-to-play, sports a massive map out of the gate, and seems more focused on quick, simple fun than laborious looting.
Developed by My.Games, a Dutch studio with a portfolio of PC and mobile games, Hawked is among the most unique takes on the extraction shooter in recent years. Its art, goofy costumes, and uncomplicated third-person shooting will be instantly familiar to Fortnite players, but its match format is much closer to one of our favorite shooters at PC Gamer: Hunt: Showdown. AI hazards can be just as dangerous as other players and matches have a clear end point once the big prize has been collected.
Squads deploy at different corners of the map and race to solve mini-puzzles and collect «glyphs» that lead to the ultimate treasure; an artifact that grants a powerful perk. Extract from the match with it, and it can be used in subsequent matches and upgraded. That's the ideal outcome, but the beauty of extraction shooters, and a point that My.Games tried to drive home in a remote press presentation, is that you can freely extract from the map at any point and decide what a «successful» run means to you.
Case in point: I got nowhere near the main artifact in the preview matches I played last week, but I still felt like I made progress as I got used to the controls. I was way more relaxed playing Hawked than I usually am in an extraction or battle royale game, possibly because my matches played like a primarily PvE experience with a
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