Hyper Light Breaker is starting early access on the right foot

digitaltrends.com:

Hyper Light Breaker finally enters early access later this week, and the future is already looking bright for it. Ahead of its January 14 release, I played Heart Machine’s new co-op game with its developers and saw its game loop in action. The bones of a fantastic action-roguelike are here, setting the stage for a true Risk of Rain 2 rival. I could see it becoming the next roguelike I lose dozens of hours to as I’m already eager to do just one more run.

I see room for Hyper Light Breaker to grow too as Heart Machine continues to balance and polish it in early access by adding more gear and variety in its open world. I’m already comfortable recommending Hyper Light Breaker as it enters early access, and I can’t wait to see where it ends up a year from now as we approach its 1.0 release.

Enter the Overgrowth

While 2016’s critically acclaimed Hyper Light Drifter was a single-player Zelda-like action game, Hyper Light Breaker (which is technically a prequel) is much more ambitious. Players are thrown into a procedurally generated open-world called The Overgrowth, which is populated with various nooks to explore, enemies to fight, and Prisms to collect. Those Prisms open the gates to boss fights against bosses called Crowns.

A successful campaign in the final game will see players defeating those Crowns to unlock a fight with the final boss: the Abyss King. Right now, runs will end after players defeat two Crowns. The goal is to do that before running out of Charges. If players pull that off, The Overgrowth will reset, and they’ll have to start the whole process over while exploring a new frontier generated for them.

• This live-service beat ’em up is worth checking out in early access
• Move over Hades 2. Another great roguelike just hit early access
• Hyper Light Breaker publisher has new name after Gearbox shake-up

It’s unlikely that players will be able to finish Hyper Light Breaker on their first