Procedural generation’s still an open question, but Hyper Light Breaker’s combat is already a winner.
Hyper Light Breaker isn’t just translating the beloved 2D pixel art Zelda homage into full 3D—it’s also shifting gears into a completely different style of game from the first’s intricate, handcrafted world with a roguelike structure whose open zones are created anew for each run. We don’t yet know how that ambitious procedural generation system is going to pan out, but after checking out a demo for Hyper Light Breaker at GDC, I’m already craving more of its excellent combat and gorgeous visuals.
I was immediately impressed by the roguelike’s hub area, which manages to be very Hyper Light while looking like nothing in the original game. Your critter buddies and meta game upgrades are housed in a rooftop market in the middle of a gorgeous cyberpunk city, and while I didn’t spend too much time bumming around there, it felt a lot like Destiny’s Tower as this great, scenic home base to unwind at between missions.
Loading into a run, Breaker reminded me a lot of Risk of Rain 2 with its structure: you’ve got this open zone to explore for upgrades, not wanting your character to be underpowered for later encounters, balanced against a looming time crunch to get your butt in gear. Instead of RoR 2’s frantic horde shooting, Breaker’s got a 3D translation of the original Hyper Light Drifter’s precise, Soulsborne-adjacent combat, complete with a lovingly rendered version of the first game’s rainbow flash step dodge deal.
