Hyper Light Breaker

Features and Gameplay Updates

Game Flow Updates

• [p]Quitting/Crashing Mid-Run
  • [p]If a player quits or crashes mid-run, we no longer treat it as death. Instead, on the next play session, the player will skip the Hub and start in-run at the last shrine (unless in multiplayer).[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]AI updates around Shrines
  • [p]Enemies will not prioritize players who are near/interacting with a shrine.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Resurrecting Breakers from their corpse returns!
  • [p]Use one of your own med kits to revive a fallen teammate where they stand.
    • [p]You can also still spend Bright Blood at a nearby shrine to resurrect them.[/p]
    [/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Skeksis has returned!
  • [p]Check out Skeksis, the mod vendor in the hub, for the ability to upgrade your amps, similar to your blades and rails.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Map Revealers now found around The Overgrowth
  • [p]Activate these to clear Fog of War more quickly and reveal previously hidden items on the map.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Amp System Rework
  • [p]Each Breaker now has two Amps available to them.
    • [p]The second one will need to be unlocked by spending a Core.[/p]
    • [p]Select your amp on the loadout screen - only the chosen amp will drop during your run.[/p]
    • [p]Expect additional updates and improvements to Amps and Loadouts in future updates![/p]
    [/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Improved post extraction flow so that players now go straight to the Abyss screen and then are loaded back into the hub.[/p]

New Mods and Updates

• [p]Exploding Shot - Rail Affix
  • [p]Landing 3 consecutive shots creates a sticky explosive on target on that last shot, flash enemy then detonates creating an AoE that hits for 40% of Blast DMG.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Splinter Blades - Blade Affix
  • [p]Grants ability for any Blade Skill to cause an explosion of blades on impact, dealing damage.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Cluster Bomb Impact - Amp Affix
  • [p]Explosions triggered by your Blade Special creates mini-bombs which explode nearby, dealing a percent of your Blast DMG.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Overload Trigger - Amp Affix
  • [p]Using your Blade Special triggers an explosion around you.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Ally Siphon - Amp Affix
  • [p]Chance to refill some player ammo when a summoned Ally inflicts damage.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Ally Spike - Amp Affix (Ally Corpse Hazard)
  • [p]On death, summoned Allies leave a Spike Hazard behind.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Ally Tribute - Amp Affix
  • [p]Gain Armor shard(s) when one of your summoned Allies dies.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Cronotized Chip - Amp Affix
  • [p]Amp duration is increased.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Status Effect Updates
  • [p]Status Effects now work differently between Breakers and enemies.
    • [p]Previously, enemies would apply status effects to Breakers on every hit.[/p]
    • [p]Now, enemy attacks build up a status effect meter before applying status effects.
      • [p]This has made most status-applying enemies easier to battle, but be aware that rapid attacks like the Bat Elite and Dirk Elite can fill the meter before the full attack combo has finished.[/p]
      [/p]
    [/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Holobytes no longer have rarity tiers.
  • [p]Expect additional updates to Holobyte synergies and acquisition methods in future updates![/p]
  [/p]

New Enemies

• [p]Burst Beetle Variant
  • [p]This blue and pink beetle will dash at you and create an explosion. Found at later world ranks in the Forest biome.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Grey Dirk Variant
  • [p]This dark grey Dirk can power up to gain the ability to phase through incoming attacks. Parry them to break them out of this state! Found at very high world ranks in all biomes.[/p]
  [/p]

Enemy Improvements

• [p]New Hack, Rot and Acrid ground hazards left by the Elite Leaper![/p]
• [p]Behavior improvements for the Dirk Missile Spread have been implemented. They now properly perform their melee attack and execute their retreat behavior correctly.[/p]
• [p]Grenadier Dirk now has new SFX.[/p]
• [p]Leaper Elite Character Model now in game![/p]

Other Polish Items, Updates and Improvements

• [p]Blade Specials now inherit the blade's assigned status effect.[/p]
• [p]Upped the minimum requested elites from 1 to 2 per biome.[/p]
• [p]Added verticality to warning ring vfx to make it more visible when spawned on uneven terrain.[/p]
• [p]Amps now have their own custom aiming reticle.[/p]
• [p]Added new VFXs to use as icons when allies are set to inflict status effect damage.[/p]
• [p]Added adaptive SFX for player healing.
  • [p]SFX reflects your current HP with pitch and the strength of the heal with intensity.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Shrine icons now appear on the map if the Fog of War has been lifted, even if the player has not discovered the shrine yet.[/p]
• [p]Improved collision on some Ruined Outskirts rubble piles.[/p]
• [p]Players now have the option to use Steam Icons in Multiplayer - this is enabled by default.
  • [p]Option to toggle this off and use Breaker icons instead located in the ‘Gameplay’ tab of the settings menu.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]New VFX implemented to indicate unparryable attacks.[/p]
• [p]Updated the ‘battery collected’ toast to make it more clear how much battery the player has actually collected - now it will show how many shots of your currently equipped weapon were gained.[/p]
• [p]Audio improvements made to the Explosive Hilt affix.[/p]
• [p]Made improvements to various enemies tethering and tracking behaviors.
  • [p]Beetles, Melee Dirks and Ranged Dirks[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Added a Discord button to the Multiplayer menu.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where Cobra Balta’s (Hub rail vendor) intro text still uses ‘Bright Blood’ as the currency.[/p]
• [p]Improved boss hill pathing in certain terrains for more optimal traversal.[/p]
• [p]Improved the target room in the Tutorial:
  • [p]Updated the room so the targets on the wall are more easily found.[/p]
  • [p]Updated the UI prompt to be more clear.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Improved the Starting Bunker and Drop Down Lab elevator collision so the player can smoothly walk over all four sides.[/p]
• [p]Made audio improvements to the short sword blade special SFX.[/p]
• [p]Added SFX to the Dash Bash mod.[/p]
• [p]Added dripping water VFX to Jeweled Spire Temple POI’s.[/p]
• [p]Made improvements to assassin movement tasks to prevent sliding while stunned.[/p]
• [p]Updated the short sword dash attack so that it no longer knocks enemies up into the air.[/p]
• [p]Fixed missing invincibility frames on blade specials. For looping specials like the hammer or glaive, only the final "out" attack has the invincibility frames on hit.[/p]

• [p]Glaive[/p]
• [p]Short Sword[/p]
• [p]Balanced Sword[/p]
• [p]Heavy Axe[/p]
• [p]Heavy Blade[/p]
• [p]Force Hammer[/p]

Bug Fixes:

• [p]Fixed issue with missing jump pads at Arid Wastes cliffside bases.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where Jeweled Spire sightline blockers would deck in pathways.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where Ruined Outskirts sightline blockers would deck in the middle of pathways.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where cave water VFX wasn’t triggering properly.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where Shrines would deck tilted when on uneven terrain.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where the "Core Shard Collected" UI could get stuck on the screen.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where the "Shrine Discovery" UI could get stuck on the screen.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the player would not receive a Holobyte if they closed the menu before the selection appears.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where sand piles around cave mouths didn’t match the beach sand.[/p]
• [p]COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fix for Root Hash Hack causing enemies to have wrong mesh.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where some Ruined Outskirts boulders were decked with edges hovering above the terrain.[/p]
• [p]Fixed some popping bushes and plants in the hub.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where defeating a Crown Boss causes the symbols on the Crown Boss Barriers to disappear.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where the Shattered Fortress boss arena had an extra pink barrier when the camera is at certain angles.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where the Croc Brute wouldn’t count towards the final extraction progression causing a soft lock.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the Crystal Leaper SFX would play at the listeners position when added to the enemy pool.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where closing the Shrine menu while interacting with a Shrine action caused the audio to play without end.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where the mesh from status effects disappears when an assassin uses their dash animation.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where status effect affix stacks were not being removed properly.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where gear was not being properly reset at the start of a new cycle.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where Shock SE bounces weren’t dealing damage consistently.[/p]
• [p]Implemented fix for an issue where SyComs skins were displaying the same for all players (in multiplayer).[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where a Shrine was decking into a slope of dirt next to the sewer pipe POI in the Ruined Outskirts - World Seed 344336640/9.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where modifying stamina via Holobytes and Affixes was not calculating correctly.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where sometimes the loot corpse in the tutorial would clip into the block behind it.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where homing missiles from Holobytes were targeting allies.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where the Sword Master freezes up after defeating an Elite within range of them.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where multiple UI toasts pop up when collecting HP, Batteries, and Armor.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where reviving by entering crown arena was causing fatal error crashes.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where Charge Beetles would sometimes remain stuck in environmental assets while doing their attack animation.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where keys were not a shared currency.
  • [p]Now, when one player collects a key, it only goes to that player.[/p]
  [/p]
• [p]Fixed issues where caves would deck improperly in certain terrains.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where the Elite Melee Dirk could get stuck on the roof of the Large Abandoned Hall POI.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where Dro could jump through the ceiling of the Shattered Fortress boss arena.[/p]
• [p]Fixed issue where the Giant Oak Tree POI would deck into the starting bunker elevator in some cases.[/p]
• [p]Fixed an issue where there would sometimes be a cleared out dot in the middle of the Fog of War on a brand new map.[/p]

Performance Improvements:

• [p]Disabled dynamic shadows on breakables in world and in Dro’s arena - previously some breakables were spawning large numbers of shadow casting fragments.[/p]
• [p]Numerous environment asset optimizations, particularly for the Desert.[/p]

Known Issues

• [p] Host Gear drops from defeated Bosses appear as a pink Key model for Client players. IE, Clients will see a key on the ground that they can’t interact with after a boss is defeated. Item vanishes once the Host collects their Gear drop.
  [/p]
• [p] Medigems give dead teammates HP.
  [/p]
• [p] Shrine states, armor, and battery aren’t saved through new Exit to Desktop / Crash handling.
  [/p]
• [p] Players do not see Death Text when transitioning to Spectating.
  [/p]
• [p] White leaper lags during its triple leap attack.
  [/p]
• [p] Opening player inventory before receiving End of Cycle Report disables Ready Up button.
  [/p]
• [p] Wolves continue pathing briefly when entering Stagger Break.
  [/p]

June Monthly Update Preview

• Update for the Amp system: Similar to how Blades and Rails work, we’re adding rarity scaling and Affixes to Amps. The higher the rarity of your Amps, the more Affixes will be on the item, and Breakers will also have their own “preferred” Amps.
  
• Change it up with new Affixes: Trigger an explosion around you with Explosive Ground, leave a spiky surprise when your summoned Allies fall with Ally Spike, stick an explosive on your enemies with Exploding Shot, and more!
  
• Square off against the new Grey Dirk and Charge Beetle enemy variants!
  
• Plus, more balancing changes and quality-of-life improvements!
  

🐛 Bug Fixes:

• Removed Corundum affix temporarily while it gets updated to function with the new armor system.
  • This had been removed, but Crystal is too strong both in-game and in-code and announced it could not be tamed by man nor beast.
• Fixed an issue where the Shock Status Effect could combine with the impact implosion holobyte and allow you to damage yourself.
• Fixed a few issues with Root Hash Hack.
  • White Dirk Allies no longer injure players when they die.
    • Enemy White Dirks will still explode and hurt you (and other enemies).
  • Ranged attacks from Allies should now properly target all enemies.
  • Note: there are some cosmetic issues with Root Hash Hack that will be addressed in our June update.
    • Allies do not always display the correct allied material.
    • Sometimes enemies will have the wrong color applied after using Root Hash Hack repeatedly.
• Fixed an issue where Shrine icons would vanish from your map after exiting a Crown Arena (as mentioned in the May update Known Issues).
• Temporarily removed some affixes from accessories that were causing issues with stamina and armor stats. These will be re-added in the June update.

May – Monthly Update Details

• We know players have been patiently waiting for new Amps to be added and we’re thrilled to introduce a new one for this update! The Roly Poly Grenade’s name gives you a good idea of what the Amp is: it’s a powerful grenade that rolls across the ground to seek out foes. This new Amp is just the beginning, as we plan to introduce more Amps throughout Early Access and beyond!
• For the new Accessories system, we’re always looking for ways to give players even more options, especially when it comes to builds. The system is yet another way to give you more control of your build and how you want it to be!

Additional Updates from Heart Machine

PATCH NOTES

Features:

• Shock: Striking an enemy causes lightning to bounce between nearby foes dealing damage.

• Doppler String: When summoning an ally, there is a 20% chance to create a double of that summon.
• Clean Capacitor: Use med kit to get an additional 20% of the base heal value as a bonus on top of the base heal value.
• Dire Dash: Dashing through enemies marks them. Marks increase melee DMG dealt to the enemy by 25% for 3 seconds.
• Dash Bash: After a kill, the next dash will damage the next enemy you collide with.

• Dash Bullets: Dash Specials fire a projectile that seeks out enemies near the player.

• Roly Poly Grenade: A powerful grenade that rolls across the ground seeking out foes. When the grenade finds an enemy, it inflicts pulsing damage the entire time it’s in radius.

• Accessories are now found around the Overgrowth!
  • Accessories act as an additional slot for affixes, allowing you more control over your build - these are sometimes sold by the Junker or occasionally dropped from loot corpses marked “Equipment”.
    • “Equipment” corpses can also drop Armor.

• Dirk Missile Elite: This elite harnesses all the fire power of its missile comrades and then some. Watch out for its Fury Attack Missile; it’s slow but deadly.
• Grenadier: This bazooka wielding adversary packs a punch. At a distance he rapid fires arching projectiles and lobs lethal grenades, but get too close and you might get a bazooka to the face.

• Soulburn (Blade): A blade with shorter range but a faster attack combo that deals double stagger DMG. Perfect Parries are easier to perform with this Blade.
  • Its Blade special causes an explosion around the player and knocks back surrounding enemies, and its short cooldown allows the player to make space around them when crowded but can be charged for more damage.
  • This Blade is favored by Lapis, Vermillion, and Rondo.

• Previously, the Armor stat would reduce incoming damage.
• Now, the Armor stat grants you an armor “pip” for each point of Armor.
  • Each armor pip will absorb 15hp or 1 hit, whichever is smaller.
    • i.e., this means you will lose 1 armor pip if you take 1-15 damage, and two armor pips if you take 16-30 damage in a single hit.
  • When a player takes damage, armor pips are the first vector that absorbs that damage, before HP.
• Armor Shards will drop from enemy groups, crates and capsules and auto-collect like bright blood and small batteries.
• New Armor Shard pickup added.
• SyComs rebalanced for Armor stat.
  • SyCom Armor is not increased by leveling up at Shrines.
  • Some Breakers have a SyCom Armor value of 0.

• New Plunge Attack added for the Sword Master Assassin.
• Frost Dirk Improvements - Adjusted attack timing to give the player more time to react as the telegraph time is small for the claw drag attack.
• Enemy Composition Improvements: Swapped out a couple Missile Dirk Spread variants for Missile Dirk Grenade variants.
• Enemy Composition Improvements: Reduced the spawn weight chance of the duo heavy (Leaper + Croc Brute) composition in the Jeweled Spire biome.
• Made code improvements to prevent melee deadlock on the Dirk Wretches and CrocBrutes that could trigger in certain rare edge cases.
• Improved Elite CrocBrute behaviors to reduce awkward behavior in certain locations and compositions.
• Increased Elite CrocBrute network precision to help with feet sliding on clients.

• Added new Arid Wastes environment assets.
• Added new Ruined Outskirts environment assets.
• Added party member names to the Hub HUD creating better visibility for when players join your lobby.
• Hub cables optimization pass completed.
• Updated rail vendor podium added.
• Polished the Maw Intro Cinematic.
• Destroyed walls optimization pass completed.
• Made improvements to the Maw Boss Arena to prevent hatchlings from spawning on boundary rocks.
• Made terrain improvements to prevent holes from forming around boss hills.
• Added socket blocks to cliff sides to better indicate where jump pads are located.
  • If you see grey blocks embedded in a cliff face, you will find jump pads below them!
• Drone Amp Improvements: Removed the 'In' animation from the Sync Group. This was causing the play rate to slow way down.
• Improved Hoverboard tutorial instructions for Keyboard and Mouse controls.
• Edited radar rotation preference player-facing name to better match the behavior.
• Disabled "extraction available" callout on danger notifications (legacy tip).
• New bleed and rot ground hazards now spawn from Elite Leapers leap attack.
  • Improved the Leaper’s leap attack telegraph to better communicate new ground hazards.
• Updated homing missile “beep” SFX.
• Added Hunter’s Mark SFX.
• Death Wheel Improvements:
  • Sped up the first attack in the attack combo.
  • Polished hand placement on charge attack.
  • Polished the swipe arc on the 'out' of the Dash Attack-- Made it more vertical/diagonal instead of horizontal.

Bug Fixes:

• Made an adjustment to the Maw Intro in an attempt to fix a bug where players can teleport underground at the start of the boss fight.
• Fixed a clipping issue on the Jeweled Spire Lighthouse POI.
• Fixed an issue with the spawn animation of the Chrome Golem when 2 Golems are spawned at the same time.
• Maw ending cutscene is no longer skippable — This is to prevent cases where players were fast and skipped the cutscene causing Maw to be visible after death.
• Fixed various tutorial collision bugs.
• Potential fix for an issue where opening the menu on Steam Deck and tabbing quickly causes the menu to stop working.
• Fixed issues with fading and letterboxing on the edges of ultra-wide monitor screens.
• Implemented a fix for being able to confirm resolution change when KBM binding is set to same input as submit.
• Fixed an issue and improved code for Dirk Rifle laser beam telegraph.
• Fixed an issue where the “Upgrade Sycom” option disappears after purchasing a sycom perk.
• Fixed an issue where the Arid Wastes Academy point of interest had floating pews.
• Fixed an issue where a Jeweled Spire Bell Temple point of interest decked over a cliff.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where a Jeweled Spire cave entrance was blocked by a point of interest.
• Fixed issue where the “Proceed to Next Cycle” button lights up again for the Host after they have already held the button down to proceed.
• Fixed an issue where the hub vendor icons were clipping into the surrounding environment.
• Fixed double-focus state of the pause menu loadout screen on subsequent visits.
• Fixed the multiplayer menu issue where the lobby ping field always read “0 ms”.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed issue where some users get a LowLevelFatalError when attempting to join a multiplayer game.
• Fixed issue where an Arid Wastes jump pad decked partially inside a cliff in an unreachable area.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed issue where currencies were not being deducted when unlocking SyCom perks.
• Speculative fix submitted for an issue where a tiny white dot lingers on all players screens, likely vendor UI related.
• Fixed issues with various holobytes carrying over from successive runs.
• Fixed issue where the Critical Cuffs holobyte wasn’t functioning as described.
• Submitted a fix for the issue where a Client can have 2 SyCom perks active at once after joining Lobby.
• Fixed issue where skipping the combat training tutorial left the player unresponsive.
• Fixed issue where holobyte drops were including multiple high rarity holobytes.
• Submitted a fix to prevent SyComs from going into walls.
• Fixed issue where vendors were seen floating in several points of interest.
• Fixed issue where loot wasn’t spawning at the top of the Jeweled Spire Lighthouse.
• Fixed an issue where sometimes the tutorial shrine would stop functioning.
• Fixed UI bug where the extract prompt appears partially filled if you exit the menu early and reenter.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed a bug where players couldn’t finish the cycle because a teammate died at end during extraction.
• Fixed UI issue where we were showing the Hub screen after pausing in the Tutorial/Combat Training.
• Possible fix (at least an improvement) for enemies spawning (and/or dropping) below, or inside objects during extraction.
• Fixed UI issue where controller input wasn’t working properly on the title screen.
• Fixed issue that was causing Dro to be invisible during part of her intro cutscene.
• Fixed UI issue where the assassins health bars were not synced properly.
• Fixed issue where, sometimes, the camera view fails to center on the player after closing the map while moving at the beginning of a run.
• Fixed an issue where the Shrine Healing EXE perk was not functioning in multiplayer.
• Fixed issue where loot dropped from Dro when defeated in the Ruined Outskirts biome would drop out of bounds.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where Vermillion's Contractor perk wasn’t activating consistently.
• Fixed issue where Hunters Mark was affecting allies.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where playing the tutorial repeatedly could prevent players from completing the tutorial as they could not level up at the Shrine after maxing out their level.
• Fixed issue where blade specials would fail to activate or charge when starting to hold the input during a jump/dash.

Performance Improvements:

• Small performance improvements in the Overgrowth, Hub, and Crown Arenas.
• Small performance improvements for Exus and Dro fights.
• Small performance / latency improvements for multiplayer.
• Improved projectile handling for singleplayer and multiplayer.

Known Issues

• Shrines will disappear from your in-game map when you return from a Crown fight.
  • We are exploring a hotfix solution for this right now.
• Some POIs will show dark marking around them on the map texture. This will be removed in our June update.

• Some features that did not make it into our May update, but will show up in our June Update are:
  • Quitting/Crashing Mid-Run
    • If a player quits mid-run, we no longer treat it as death. Instead, on next play session, the player will skip the Hub and start in-run at the last shrine (unless in multiplayer).
  • Performance Updates
    • We’ve identified a number of additional performance improvements but many of them require additional QA before we can include them in an update.

Pledge your support of $2 in the next 20 hours to help bring this lil guy to life.

https://www.makeship.com/petitions/companion

🐛 Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue where players could duplicate chest rewards with specific timing in poor network conditions
  
• Fixed an issue where gear acquired during multiplayer could be carried over into single player
  
• Fixed an issue where certain perks and PlayerEXEs would use the Host’s information for all players
  
• Goro’s Scavenger Perk, and both starting weapon upgrade EXEs (Refined Blades / Extended Rails) were affected by this issue
  
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where Vermillion could get stuck in a tutorial state, causing a variety of issues
  
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where leveling a SyCom to max capacity could lock a player out from changing perks for that SyCom
  
• Fixed an issue where tutorial controls would not display properly if you alternated between a controller and keyboard during the tutorial
  
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where locking onto enemies in the tutorial before the lock-on tutorial prompt could prevent the tutorial from unlocking the door to the next section, forcing players to skip the tutorial to continue
  
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where loot spawns at the Crystal Titan Corpse would sometimes not be accessible
  
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where the interact key prompt would not show at the Tutorial Shrine
  
• Fixed an issue where opening the menu on Steam Deck and tabbing quickly could break the menu
  
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where Multiplayer cycles could suddenly end after extraction
  
• Fixed a small gap between the tutorial elevator’s lift and shaft that could cause players to jitter in and out of their fall state, which could be confusing for new players
  
• Fixed an issue where shielded enemies would receive status effects through their shield
  
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where a Lab Elevator could be blocked by procedurally generated terrain
  
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed several crashes reported by the community with the assistance of the crash dumps they provided in our Discord server
  

⭐ Balance Updates:

• Reduced Goro’s Joker Perk to +5% DMG per OPS level, from +10%
  
• Elites now drop Hyper Rare armor
  

A Note from Heart Machine

TODAY’S PATCH NOTES

Features:

• Save File Conversion
  • If you have a save file from a previous version when you launch this update, your save data will be converted to support the major changes in this patch.
  • Your progress for SyComs and EXEs will be reset, and your vault will be melted down.
  • You will receive meta progression currencies (Cores, Golden Rations, Abyss Stones) and can immediately use these to upgrade your characters.
  • Note - some previous features, including Enemy Executions are now gated behind Player EXEs.
• New In-Game Tutorial System, including:
  • Intro Cinematic
    • This is work in progress, expect it to improve in future updates!
  • Tutorial Level
    • Learn the basics of how to play Hyper Light Breaker - including some of the new features in this update!
  • VR Room
    • Learn advanced combat maneuvers in this tutorial space.
    • Expect to see this expanded in future updates, including an area to test out new weapons and builds!
  • Skippable Tutorials
  • Existing tutorial cards have been updated to reflect changes to currencies, pickups/resources, and run flow.
     

A New Crown Battle:

• Fight The Maw - our largest Crown yet!
  • Found in the Jeweled Spire, she lurks deep below the surface.
  • Fight new enemies - the Hatchlings - in this crown fight.
    • Hatchlings are adorable, and deadly. Watch out for their self-destructive attacks.
  • Note - Maw memory fragments will appear in future updates.
• Maw Intro Cinematic
  • COMMUNITY REQUEST: Clients can now also skip Crown cutscenes.
     

New Player Character: Rondo

• Rondo can be unlocked from the loadout menu, like all other Breakers.
• Rondo prefers Dual and Balanced Blades.
• Rondo’s Bladedancer Perk will Mark enemies when you Flash Step into them, causing subsequent attacks to inflict more damage.
• Rondo’s Reaper Perk will inflict Bleed on nearby enemies whenever they Parry an attack.
   

New Environmental Points of Interest:

• Tundra Training Ground
• Ruined Outskirts (Forest) Corner Store
• Jeweled Spire (Crystal) Lighthouse
   

New Blades:

• Gloom Shiv (Skill Glaive)
  • A whirling polearm meant for closing gaps, flash steps deal additional damage and stagger damage, and the Shiv’s blade special dashes into enemies for fast multi-hit finishes.
• Dreamblade (Balanced Saber)
  • A curved sword focusing on strong, rapid attacks. Charge it to deal multi-hit bursts and use its blade special to slice every enemy near you.
     

Enemy Improvements

• Reduced leashing distance and improving leashing behavior - enemies will aggro players at shorter ranges than before.
• Enemies can now have multiple attack targets and better coordinate in multiplayer.
• White Dirk explosions now damage surrounding enemies.
   

Major Run Structure Changes

• There is now only 1 life per Cycle
  • When you die, you will lose all of your loadout. Extract or buy medkits to stay alive!
• Players now are locked to a single Sycom/Character per run
  • Players can still browse other characters while mid-run but cannot select them.
• At the start of a cycle players will always begin in either the Ruined Outskirts or Arid Wastes.
• Health & Healing Updates
  • Players start with 1 health kit
    • Health kits now trigger automatically once you reach 0 HP (players can still manually heal).
    • Players can no longer revive teammates with health kits .
      • Teammates can be revived in the following ways:
        • Paying BB at a Shrine
        • Entering a Crown Arena
        • Defeating a Crown
        • Extracting
    • Medigems now heal +10 HP.
    • One of the In-Run Vendors will sell health refills.
    • Players can refill their medkits at Shrines for Bright Blood.
• Brightblood is now only an in-run currency .
  • Brightblood no longer comes back to the hub with the player. It resets to zero when they extract or die. Spend it before you leave The Overgrowth!
• Shrine Updates
  • You can now level up your Sycom at Shrines.
    • These stat upgrades will only last the duration of a cycle, resets upon new world seed.
  • Players now extract at shrines, they no longer travel to extraction pads and complete a wave encounter.
    • Extraction is instantaneous.
    • Players can only extract from each shrine once!
• Holobyte Updates
  • Players can now equip up to 9 Holobytes (10 with Goro’s Scavenger Perk).
  • Holobytes are now acquired at Shrines after leveling up your Sycom.
  • Holobytes no longer drop from enemies or chests.
  • Holobytes are no longer available for purchase in the hub.
• Successful Cycle Updates
  • Once all bosses are defeated, players must find the extraction pad and complete an extraction wave encounter.
    • Completing the extraction pad waves is now the only way to successfully complete a Cycle.
• Multiplayer Updates
  • Now when starting a Multiplayer run, the host will need to be on a new cycle for players to be able to join their lobby.
    • The Multiplayer robot will ask if you’d like to end your current run and complete the cycle, breaking down everything as per normal before starting a new world cycle.
      • Once the new world cycle has been set, friends can join your lobby.
         

Game Balance Updates

• The changes to the game structure required a full re-balance of all game systems. These balance updates are made with the following goals in mind:
  • Provide a consistent “zero to hero” experience in each cycle, which means giving players better gear, more often, better paced against the increasing difficulty of the world.
  • Keep the game difficult while reducing unfairness.
  • Provide more meaningful choice and less broad-range randomness.
• All gameplay systems have had balance and tuning passes, including but not limited to:
  • Enemy Stats (damage, health, sp/mp scaling, etc)
  • Enemy Encounter Compositions
  • Player Character / SyCom Stats
  • Player Gear
    • Note - Blades and Rails now show their final damage value. Previously, weapons would show their bonus damage values only.
  • Holobytes
  • Gear Affixes
  • Boss Stats
  • Player EXEs
  • Currencies
  • Vendors
  • Loot Drop Tables for enemies, containers, etc.
     

World Rank, Danger Meter, Events:

• The danger meter has been removed.
  • Previously, this would tick up as players accumulated World Rank, triggering Events, and resetting when players Extracted.
• World Rank is now displayed in the HUD
  • As players perform game actions (killing, looting, etc) this meter will fill. As World Rank increases, enemies and bosses grow in power - but so does the available loot.
  • Previously this was only visible on the end-of-cycle screen.
• Radiation Meteor Events have been removed.
• Enemy Meteor and Assassin events will happen periodically as players explore the world.
   

Gear Pickup Updates

• Players can now compare their currently equipped gear with gear drops.
• Gear no longer has durability.
• All Gear is broken down into Materials on both successful and failed cycles.
• Gear drops now offer an “Equip” or “Break” option .
  • Breaking down gear gives players materials and bright blood.
  • "Break" functionality is not available for gear drops if you have nothing equipped in that slot.
• Removed Vault and Cache functionality.
• You must now interact with loot on the ground to open the loot picker (previously this popped up automatically when you got near the gear drop.
   

Vendor Updates

• Overgrowth (In-Run) Vendors
  • In Run Vendors now only require Brightblood for purchase.
  • In Run Vendors now have a refresh inventory option.
  • New vendor affinity rewards added.
• Cursed Outpost (Hub) Vendors:
  • No longer sell gear.
  • They sell upgrades and now allow you to re-roll affixes on specific gear.
  • Skesis has stepped out for now - they’ll be back in a future update!
     

Player Character / Sycom Updates

• Each Character now has one SyCom with multiple Perks.

  • Previously they had unique SyComs with one Perk.
• Each Character now has preferred Blades and Rails.
  • All Blade/Rail drops for a character will only be these weapons - with a rare chance of dropping something outside of their preferred pool.
• Character Changes include:
  • Lapis:
    • Preferred Blades
      • Balanced Sword
      • Balanced Saber
      • Force Hammer
      • Heavy Blade
    • Preferred Rails
      • Line Range
      • Compact Standard
      • Scatter Diamond
    • Soldier SyCom Perk
      • Emptying your Rail’s magazine causes your next melee attack to shoot a lightwave projectile.
    • Rifler SyCom Perk
      • Rails increase their fire rate when you have more battery.
  • Vermillion:
    • Preferred Blades
      • Balanced Sword
      • Balanced Saber
      • Skill Spear
    • Preferred Rails
      • Compact Blast
      • Compact Standard
      • Scatter Double
    • Contractor SyCom Perk
      • Charged attacks restore battery
    • Gunslinger Ricochet
      • Your next shot after a critical hit will ricochet to a nearby enemy
  • Goro:
    • Preferred Blades
      • Skill Glaive
      • Skill Spear
      • Heavy Axe
    • Preferred Rails
      • Line Range
      • Scatter Diamond
    • Joker SyCom Perk
      • +10% more DMG per 1 OPS
    • Scavenger SyCom Perk
      • Free Holobyte at the start of a Cycle
  • Ravona:
    • Preferred Blades
      • Dual Knives
      • Balance Sword
      • Dual Claws
    • Preferred Rails
      • Compact Rapid
      • Line Range
    • Assassin SyCom Perk
      • Bonus Crit Chance when fighting isolated enemies
    • Rogue SyCom Perk
      • Executions spread enemy’s status afflictions to nearby enemies.
  • Rondo:
    • Preferred Blades
      • Dual Knives
      • Dual Claws
      • Balanced Saber
    • Preferred Rails
      • Compact Rapid
      • Compact Standard
      • Scatter Diamond
    • Bladedancer SyCom Perk
      • Flash Step Marks enemies, causing them to take more damage.
    • Reaper SyCom Perk
      • Perfect Parry inflicts Bleed on nearby enemies and refills more red HP.
         

EXE Updates

• Added or modified the following EXEs:
  • Lvl 1 - Shrine HP, Bright Blood Bank, Executive Function, Flashstep Boost
  • Lvl 2 - Reflector, Board Energy, Rail Extension
  • Lvl 3 - Synergy
  • Lvl 4 - Prism Health, Skeleton Key
  • Lvl 5 - Healthkit Capacity
• 3 max upgrades per EXE structure
• Note: Executions are now gated behind an EXE upgrade (Executive Function).
   

Caves

• Caves are now discoverable in Pangaea!
  • Find these elusive areas to get rare loot like Golden Rations, Abyss Stones and Fragmented Memories.
    • Currently there is one cave per map.
    • Expect more caves in future updates!
       

Other Polish Items, Updates and Improvements

• Enemies can now jump down from most structures and ledges.
• Enemy stagger bar is now more visible.
• Traversability Polish: Some landing stability for slopes when walking.
• Optimized most text boxes for Steam Deck in preparation for future Verified status.
  • We are currently Playable on Steam Deck - some in-game text may be difficult to read. All other requirements for Verified have been met, including:
    • Full controller support
    • Performance optimization and settings
    • On-screen keyboard support for text entry
• Improved Acid Pool hazard behavior and effects.
• VFX polish for Crystal and Fire ground hazards.
• Implemented a new Character Voice System.
  • Added new fields for controlling pain voice cooldowns so enemies will no longer spam their pain SFX in combat.
• New “Materials” mesh pick up now in game.
• Various menus have been updated to show relevant currencies needed for purchase (For ex. Abyss Stones and Cores now display in the loadout menu).
• Improved the loot feed on the right side of the HUD to better stack and consolidate picking up multiples of the same item at once.
   

Bug Fixes:

• Fixed an issue with Holobyte drop menus not populating correctly.
• Force Hammer - Fixed an issue where the player could be able to left-stick cancel out of the charge attack too early.
• Fix entities without a stagger animation not properly firing stagger events (yet still saying they're staggered).
• Fixed issue with screen state when interacting with holobyte vendor.
• Fixed issue where some procedural worlds could have a small hole in them.
• Fixed issue where the Arid Wastes Observatory POI was not unlocking fully.
• Fixed issue with the Engineer’s Mines persisting / getting stuck in the air.
• Minor hitbox update / cleanup for Dro melee attacks.
• Fixed issue with in-run vendor menus not properly displaying.
• Fixed bad collision on Arid Wastes Bivouac Site POI.
• Submitted a fix for telepad screen focus state & action button containers re-initializing.
• Fixed an issue with in-run vendor (Chemist) menu displaying an extra empty slot.
• Fixed issue where the cycle fails to be reset after successfully completing the game in multiplayer.
• Fixed Burst Capsule referencing Efficient Sole's gameplay tag instead of Burst Capsule's, causing it to appear as "Dash Soles" in-game.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Lowering enemy spawn max enemies from 90 to 60.
  • Potential fix for Community Report: Repeated "Fatal Error" Crashes persisting across versions.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed Outskirts Overgrown Building POI that contained a Jump Pad that did not function.
• Fixed a floating SyCom near Skeksis’ shop when Skesis was not unlocked.
• Fixed bug where players were still taking damage upon drowning.
• Fixed bug where acid pools weren't inflicting damage consistently.
• Fixed bug where jump pads fail to give enough height to reach the structure of one of the Fortresses in the Tundra.
• Fixed issue with inputs when the map automatically opens for the first time in the bunker.
• All status effect visuals for bosses have been turned off - They’re now visible on their health bar instead.
• Fixed issue where projectiles were not chaining properly with ricochet effects.
• Fix for bridges not properly decking into the procedural world.
• Fixed an issue where Missile Dirks weren't playing their 'KnockUp' animation.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where sometimes when an enemy variant is hit while teleporting, it would change colors to its base version.
• Improved clarity on UI for Boss Gates.
• Fixed an issue where the loot picker window would stay open if players transitioned levels.
• Procedural World Generation fixes, including
  • Numerous cosmetic fixes to specific POIs.
  • Numerous collision fixes to specific POIs.
  • Numerous fixes to procedural placement of terrain, foliage, and POIs.
  • Fixed several z-fighting (flickering) issues on specific POIs.
  • Fixed several collision instances that could trap players unwittingly.
• Improved clarity of hit boxes for Dro’s wave attacks.
• Fixed an issue where charge attacks would not combo out of Flash Steps.
• COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed several crashes reported by our community.
   

Performance Improvements:

• Miscellaneous performance optimizations and changes to level loading.
   

Known Issues:

• Two multiplayer gear exploits are known to us at this time.
  • We expect to be able to hotfix these this week and will share the details of these issues with the hotfix.

We're thrilled to finally reveal the Buried Below update, the first major content update for Hyper Light Breaker in Early Access, will launch next Tuesday, April 29!

New Content

Change in Run Structure

• Extraction - More Options for Players: Instead of only having one way to leave the Overgrowth (via the Telepad), players will be able to extract at any Shrine in the Overgrowth and there’ll be no waves of enemies to defeat like before. This change will make it so players can extract more often, making the game easier as a result, which was one of the main requests from players to change the game’s difficulty.
  
  
• SyComs - Follows a Class-Like System, More Loadout Potential: Character customization has been redesigned giving each Breaker one assigned SyCom with fixed stats, and players have the option to equip a perk to the SyCom that gives the Breaker a new passive ability. For instance, Rondo’s SyCom has an equippable perk called “Bladedancer” that increases Rondo’s damage and attack speed. You can upgrade your SyCom stats further at Shrines in the Overgrowth. This change, inspired by player feedback, will make it so each Breaker is similar to a “class” making each Breaker feel different from one another, and make it so you can come up with distinct builds per Breaker.
  
  
• Inventory & Vendors - More Streamlined: The Vault system will be changed as when you die, the inventory in your Vault will no longer carry over between runs except for Golden Rations, the main meta progression currency in the game. This will allow you to focus solely on acquiring new gear during your runs instead of having to focus on managing their inventory so often like before. Additionally, vendors in the Overgrowth and Cursed Outpost will also have new roles, with Bright Blood and Materials now used for purchases and upgrades. While gear sales have been removed from hub vendors, players can still use them to enhance equipped items.
  

Improved Onboarding

Future of Breaker – Your Feedback Matters!

Features