The best way to ensure we see your feedback and concerns is to post in the #hlb-support channel on our Discord: www.discord.gg/heartmachine.
Thank you to all of our players who graciously sent us crash dumps when encountering this issue. They helped us address the issue while we continued to work to reproduce the issue internally, as it is affecting only a portion of users and configurations. We were able to do so, and have verified that this update addresses the crash we were seeing on those crash dumps.
Bug Fixes:
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed a crash on startup related to cloud save handling.
A Note from Heart Machine & Patch Notes - v0.5.1.107947
A NOTE FROM HEART MACHINE
First and Foremost, Thank You!
We’ve been delighted to see so many players joining us in The Overgrowth this launch week! Early Access launch marks just the beginning of Hyper Light Breaker and we’re excited to shape and evolve the game with you all throughout the course of Early Access. Our community is awesome and has been providing a ton of feedback and support already – this is what we want out of Early Access development. Your participation is what will make this game the best it can be. The best way to ensure we see your feedback and concerns is to post in the #hlb-support channel on our Discord: www.discord.gg/heartmachine. That said, let’s dive into the current top issues we’ve received from players and how we’re addressing them in today’s major Hotfix (patch notes below!) and future updates.
Top Issues We’re Looking Into & Addressing
Improving Overall Performance
The strongest feedback we’ve received this week focuses on performance, particularly on lower-end machines and the Steam Deck. Today’s Hotfix includes a large number of performance improvements and improved Graphics Settings. Expect even more improvements in future planned updates as well.
Improving Graphical Options & Control Settings
In addition to performance improvements, we’ve added some additional visual effects toggles, so players can change graphic settings to their liking, as well as mouse and analog stick sensitivity options, and expanded our list of re-mappable controls. Games should be for everyone – that means being able to play on the hardware you want, where you want, with whom you want, and how you want. These additional settings are just a start towards those goals. Expect to see more control and settings options across our time in Early Access. Let us know in our Discord what is preventing you from playing where, how, and with whom you want!
Confusion Surrounding Gameplay Loop & Game Mechanics, Concerns Regarding Difficulty
As an Early Access game, the game will be evolving continuously and will evolve thanks to feedback from you all. With it being an evolving game, that makes it tricky for an indie team, like us, to have robust onboarding experiences for new players – but we clearly underestimated how opaque and complex the game can be. Expect better onboarding, tutorials, and in-game reference material in future updates. Your feedback here will help us add the “easy to learn” to “hard to master” elements and help us determine the best way to change-up the gameplay balance overall.
What’s Next & Future Updates
Thank you all again for joining us at the beginning of our Early Access journey with Hyper Light Breaker! Our team is hard at work responding to the feedback so far - expect to see a continual stream of updates to the game over the coming year. We will have three types of updates over the duration of Early Access.
Hotfixes - like today’s patch, these respond quickly to serious issues raised by the community – mostly bug fixes or other improvements that address universal pain points.
Minor Updates – monthly updates that include additional responses to fan feedback, along with balance updates and bug fixes. Expect to see some smaller pieces of new content – enemies, gear, characters, and more – as they become available.
Major Content Drops – quarterly updates that include big changes to the game, new Bosses, Assassins, features, etc. – these major updates will change up the whole game.
Now, it’s time to jump into our notes for today’s (and first-ever!) major patch! ~ Michael Clark, Lead Producer, and the Heart Machine team
TODAY’S PATCH NOTES v0.5.1.107947
Note: Anything listed as a “COMMUNITY ASSIST” and “COMMUNITY SUGGESTION” are fixes made thanks to our awesome community of players! We really appreciate your all’s support and feedback – so please keep it coming!
Performance Optimization & Control Changes
COMMUNITY SUGGESTION: Performance Optimization
Updated Steam Deck Settings defaults
Added Low/Med/High/Maximum default settings
Fixed bugs causing Foliage slider to not affect all Foliage
Improved Foliage LODs (Level of Detail models)
Fixed Distance Culling issues
Fixed an issue with destructible objects not culling, and rendering their expensive destruction meshes while not destroyed.
Optimization pass on the Hub’s environment assets
Added new Performance and Quality Settings:
VSync Enable/Disable
Screen Render Percentage
Prop Detail
Ambient Occlusion
Film Effects
Film Grain
Chromatic Aberration
COMMUNITY SUGGESTION: Added Mouse Sensitivity and Analog Sensitivity Settings.
COMMUNITY SUGGESTION: Added additional Control Bindings for Keyboard+Mouse and Controller.
Note - you will need to rebind custom controls.
Features and Changes
COMMUNITY SUGGESTION: Increased base health for all SyComs by 15, except for the Tank, which was buffed by 5 health.
COMMUNITY SUGGESTION: Added default Rails to all characters.
Added World Seed info below the version info in the HUD to aid in community reports of specific procedural generation issues.
Bug Fixes
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where the camera invert setting did not work for the Rail Aim camera.
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where Holobytes would be lost if attempting to exchange holobytes with keyboard+mouse controls with a full loadout.
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where a combination of character and EXE unlocks could cause equipped Blades to be lost on return to the Hub.
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where steam cloud saves would not transfer from Steamdeck to PC and vice versa. Note - your save games have moved. The game should automatically relocate your save file. The old save file can by default be found in Users\\AppData\Local\Breaker\Saved\ .bsf. In case of an error with automatically transferring the save data, this file can manually be moved to Users\\AppData\Local\\Breaker\steam\ \savegames\.bsf. Note that the User folder can be different depending on settings.
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where blade special bonuses would persist if you activated them and swapped weapons before the bonus expired.
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where having the Refined Blades EXE equipped, with multiple characters unlocked, without each character having a weapon equipped, would cause players to lose their equipped blades on exiting a run.
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue where some points of Interest could overlap extraction pads, potentially trapping enemies.
Fixed an issue where spawned slimes would sometimes be invisible to clients in multiplayer.
Fixed Dirk Rifle Aim VFX not tracking verticality of client players.
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed the Desert Biome Train loot spawns not always being collectable
Fixed locked doors on the Crystal Biome Research Hub
Fixed an issue that could cause Charge Beetles to not be targetable in multiplayer
Fixed an issue where you could deploy two sets of mines with the Dual Claws
COMMUNITY ASSIST: Fixed an issue that could cause UI issues if a player leaves and rejoins the same lobby
Fixed an issue that could cause a meteor to drop at the beginning of a run.
Fixed an issue with the Vault appearing blank when opened while having a locked character selected
Fixed an issue where Crown music could play twice upon entering an arena
Fixed an issue where exiting the loadout in certain configurations could cause input loss
Fixed an issue where the Telepad Loadout and Ready Up could share inputs
Fixed an issue where revive audio and UI could linger after reviving a player
Fixed an issue where White Melee Dirks would not use their default attack
Fixed an issue where multiplayer join confirmation was not displaying.
Fixed a large number of localization layout issues
Capped FPS on title screen to 240fps to prevent issues on very fast computers
Fixed an issue where the lobby list screen could steal focus from the lobby create screen, causing WASD to clear the password.
Fixed an issue where a disconnected Client’s hoverboard could be seen in the Host’s Hub.
Speculative Fixes for erroneous player count issues (more than 3 players in a lobby)
Note - we have been unable to reproduce issues relating to player count consistently internally, hence this is a speculative fix.
Speculative Fixes for rare issue where enemies could spawn under the extraction pad.
Note - we have been unable to reproduce this issue internally.
Fixed Incorrect Vendor Names.
Updated placeholder Abyss King image.
Hyper Light Breaker is Available Now in Steam Early Access!
The highly-anticipated Hyper Light open world co-op rogue-lite Hyper Light Breaker is AVAILABLE NOW in Steam Early Access!
To give those who want the full Hyper Light experience, you can grab the Hyper Light Breaker Bundle, which includes Hyper Light Breaker and grants a Steam code for Hyper Light Drifter* is available now until January 28. As a thank you to fans for their patience for the release of this new entry in the Hyper Light franchise, for this week (January 14 – 21), the bundle is available for 10% off its retail price of $29.99. *The bundle will give players a free digital Steam copy of Hyper Light Drifter if they don’t already own Hyper Light Drifter via Steam.
Before you jump into Hyper Light Breaker in Early Access, we wanted to cover a few key things you should know!
Make sure to tune into our livestream on our Twitch and YouTube channel today for a great walkthrough of the game, and to ask all of your Qs. If you can’t make the stream, we’ll have a VOD uploaded shortly after – but you can also check out our Early Access Release Date trailer for a nice high-level overview of the game. 😊
ABOUT EARLY ACCESS
Today’s Early Access launch is a very exciting moment for our team, but of course it marks just the beginning of Hyper Light Breaker! By joining us in Early Access, you will be able to experience first-hand the rogue-lite's evolution as you can share feedback directly with us to help shape and evolve the game throughout its Early Access period. We developed Hyper Light Breaker with Early Access in mind to get feedback from you and players around the world, and your feedback will be pivotal to shaping the game to its full potential before we’re ready to officially release it in 1.0. We’ve covered a good chunk of questions in the Early Access Q&A section on the game’s store page, but here’s just an additional Early Access FAQ.
Where can I share Early Access feedback? Please share your feedback via our official Discord in the "hlb-support" channel, as we will be actively monitoring, collecting and responding to feedback that’s given there – and using the feedback to discover ways to shape Hyper Light Breaker during Early Access.
What content is available at Early Access? By jumping into the game at Early Access launch from the very beginning, you’re able to choose from three unique Breakers (Lapis, Vermillion and Goro), experience multiple challenging playthroughs solo or with fellow Breakers via online co-op multiplayer, explore the vast, ever-changing worlds within the Overgrowth, get tons of gear and die and retry as you face hordes of deadly enemies, including Assassins, Elites, and two challenging Crowns (bosses).
What content is planned during Early Access? Will you share a roadmap soon? Throughout Early Access, new content, including Breakers, Crowns, gear, story content, secrets, and more, along with gameplay improvements, such as new features, will be added via patches and periodic major updates. More content details will be shared in an Early Access content roadmap that will be revealed in the coming weeks which will reveal when the first major content update is expected to drop – along with when the release of a particular Breaker, codenamed “Crow”, who’s a highly-anticipated character amongst our community.
When will the game leave Steam Early Access (i.e., when’s 1.0/full launch)? To be determined! Currently, we’re planning to have the game be in Early Access for about a year, but this can change depending on the community’s response and feedback.
With the mini Early Access FAQ wrapped up, let’s go over tips you should know before jumping in!
TIPS YOU SHOULD KNOW BEFORE GETTING STARTED
Jump into a co-op multiplayer session – we highly recommend playing via co-op to get a good feel for the game
Hyper Light Breaker was made with co-op multiplayer in mind, and we believe it’s the best way to experience the game – especially if you’re a newcomer. Try jumping into a co-op session or two (or more!) to get a better feel for the game, including the gameplay loop, in general. Playing with a friend or two is always helpful, and with Hyper Light Breaker that’s certainly the case.
To start or join a multiplayer session, go to the robot next to Pherus Bit (green hooded character) in the Cursed Outpost and you’ll be good to go.
If you’re looking for a co-op buddy or even just looking for advice, our community is extremely positive, friendly and open to helping out – so feel free to join our Discord for any help you might need.
Make sure to get Medigems in the Overgrowth and get Medkits
Medigems are arguably the most important resource you’ll need to get as they’ll get you Medkits. Make sure to pick up Medigems as much as possible as you’re exploring the Overgrowth. To get Medkits, you need to either collect enough Medigems to convert the gems into kits or buy kits via vendors within the Overgrowth. Below are more details on both methods.
Medigems Method: As mentioned below, they can be found throughout the Overgrowth. If you interact with a Shrine, you can convert Medigems into Medkits. Note: You can only do this once per Shrine. Additionally, you’ll automatically be able to convert Medigems into Medkits right after you ready up at the TelePad in the Cursed Outpost. Via Pherus Bit, there is an EXE ability that allows you to upgrade your Medkit capacity – for those looking to heal often, we highly recommend unlocking and equipping this ability.
Vendors in Overgrowth Method: You can find vendors throughout the Overgrowth that sell Medkits that you can buy with Bright Blood. The vendors are usually in areas that you need a Key to unlock. As mentioned below in the “Collect Resources” tip, you can get keys by defeating Crowns, you can find them in treasure chests and you can also buy them via vendors in the Overgrowth.
When the going gets tough in the Overgrowth, head to the Extraction point to go back to the Cursed Outpost
The Overgrowth can be challenging and sometimes it’s better to get out of it before it’s too late! When you’re really struggling or want to make sure you keep your gear, head to the Extraction point marked on the map and activate it so you can head back to base. But be warned...there’s no turning back once you start the extracting process – as once the process started, you have to fight waves of enemies to successfully teleport to base. By successfully teleporting to base, you don’t lose a Rez (life), you can keep all the resources you earned, and you don’t have to worry about losing durability for your hard-earned gear.
Know the gameplay loop in a nutshell
Prepare for run in Cursed Outpost > go into Overgrowth > explore and get Prisms to unlock Crown gates > Use the Extraction point / Telepad to evacuate the Overgrowth when things get tough > fight Crowns > End Cycle > repeat!
Collect resources in the Overgrowth and learn about them in the Menu
The Overgrowth is overflowing with resources (items) that are extremely helpful to have for unlocking and upgrading several elements – from gear to abilities to vendors and Breakers. As you’re exploring the Overgrowth, make sure to take time to collect resources in the Overgrowth by opening treasure chests, defeating enemies and even finding hidden areas.
Ending a Cycle (either by losing all your Rezs or by beating all bosses) isn’t the end of your adventure... it's the beginning!
No matter how you end a Cycle, you’ll always make progress after finishing one. All the progress you made in a Cycle will be used to give you a rare resource called “Golden Rations” that you can use to unlock AND upgrade abilities at Pherus Bit (“PB”).
Keep an eye on the Death Meter below your mini map... it fills up when you make progress in the Overgrowth and causes a unique, challenging event to occur
The more you do in the Overgrowth, the deadlier it will get! The Death Meter fills up whenever you kill enemies, get gear, find secrets and more. When it fills up at certain points, an event will occur that will present a new challenge. NOTE: After you defeat a Crown, the meter will fill up all the way, so we recommend evacuating/extracting out of the Overgrowth before it’s too late.
This is a challenging rogue-lite: prepare to die and try again (and make progress along the way!)
We set out to make a challenging roguelite where you’ll die and retry – and where death doesn't mark the end of your adventure. Instead, death is just the beginning, as you'll be able to make progress in multiple ways in between runs back at the Cursed Outpost. From improving your stats to getting new abilities and gear or decoding memories to piece together each Crown’s story. Dying and retrying will allow you to get stronger, help the Cursed Outpost flourish, and be one step closer to completing your mission. Along with this, the Overgrowth will completely reset, so you'll be able to explore a new version of it with biomes that have changed from the last cycle.
Avoid taking damage by dashing, parrying or even hoverboarding away
When in the thick of battle, you’ll need to know remember to be on the defensive at times. Dashing is one quick way to quickly get out of harm’s way, but there are benefits to parrying attacks. By parrying, you can do some stagger damage to the enemy and even stagger them immediately – but not only that, if you time your parry just right you can do a Perfect Parry that will allow you to regain health! When all else fails and you’re just not ready to fight (or you’re at low health!), there’s always the option to jump on your hoverboard and zoom right out of a battle.
Read the tutorials & explore the game to the fullest
We recommend reading the tutorials and looking over the different menus to get a better understanding of the game’s core mechanics and systems. Note that like in Hyper Light Drifter, Hyper Light Breaker encourages you to explore to discover and understand certain elements rather than explicitly tell you things from the get-go. We’ll share some key elements to be aware of below, however, but when playing, make sure to explore as much as possible to uncover secrets and find answers to questions you might be looking for.
Make sure to be on the lookout for secrets... like Phantom Fragment monoliths, underground labs, and more
There are many secrets to discover in the Overgrowth! Make sure to explore every nook and cranny of the Overgrowth to see what secrets you can uncover. We recommend being on the lookout for Phantom Fragment monoliths which get you pieces of Crown’s (bosses) memory (story/lore) -- and lookout for underground lab pads that let you drop down into special areas with rare gear to pick up!
Don’t forget to piece together the narrative to uncover who the Crowns are
Like in Hyper Light Drifter, Hyper Light Breaker’s narrative is told visually rather than via dialogue. By decoding memories, you can see beautiful storyboard manga-like panels showing the history behind each Crown. Collect and assemble the scattered memories of the Crowns of this world, and find out why you play as a Breaker, a warrior and explorer who helps to bring order to the world within Hyper Light Breaker.
Learn enemy and boss attack patterns
Whether it’s a small, feeble enemy or a main boss (Crown), every foe in Hyper Light Breaker has their own unique set of attacks you need to watch out for. When facing off against foes, make sure to take the time to learn how each one attacks, so when you come across them again, you’ll know exactly how to strike them down making each run attempt easier than the last. Once you get their attack patterns down, try to parry their attacks!
Every run is different, take some time to get familiar with The Overgrowth and loadout possibilities
You’ll start your first Cycle with one procedurally generated version of the Overgrowth, but after that, you’ll come to find that after each Cycle -- either from when you lose all your lives or you successfully defeat all Crowns -- you’ll discover the Overgrowth will completely reset from before thanks to the game’s procedurally generated biomes. In the beginning of your adventure, we recommend getting familiar with all of the game’s mechanics, including the various loadout options.
Don’t forget to collect, buy and upgrade gear plus try out different loadouts/builds
Like with resources, make sure as you’re exploring the Overgrowth to collect as much gear as you can! Even when you fail (die), you’ll still keep all the Bright Blood (game’s main currency) you’ve earned in your run. Make sure to use your hard-earned Bright Blood from each attempt to buy new gear if need be and take a moment to upgrade your gear as well. There’s a lot of different types of gear you can have in your loadout, so definitely take some time to find the best gear and loadout overall that suits your playstyle. Find out more details about loadouts in this dev blog.
Like: https://www.facebook.com/HyperLightBreaker
Follow: https://x.com/HLBreaker
Watch: https://www.twitch.tv/HyperLightBreaker
Hyper Light Breaker Enters Early Access Tomorrow at 10am PT!
We are excited to reveal the Early Access launch trailer a day early for the highly-anticipated Hyper Light open world co-op rogue-lite Hyper Light Breaker – entering Steam Early Access tomorrow, January 14 at 10am PT. To give those who want the full Hyper Light experience, the Hyper Light Breaker Bundle, which includes Hyper Light Breaker and grants a Steam code for Hyper Light Drifter* will be available starting tomorrow, January 14, until January 28. As a thank you to fans for their patience for the release of this new entry in the Hyper Light franchise, for the first week (January 14 – 21), the bundle will be available for 10% off its retail price of $29.99. *The bundle will give players a free digital Steam copy of Hyper Light Drifter if they don’t already own Hyper Light Drifter via Steam.
Starting tomorrow, you can jump into the beloved Hyper Light universe like never before in this open world rogue-lite as you’ll experience a brand-new realm in the universe, along with the start of a unique adventure fully realized in 3D for the first time. Early Access launch tomorrow will mark just the beginning of Hyper Light Breaker, as you will be able to experience first-hand the rogue-lite's evolution as you share feedback to help shape and evolve the game throughout Early Access. If you embark on this adventure from the very beginning, you will be able to choose from three unique Breakers (Lapis, Vermillion and Goro), experience multiple challenging playthroughs solo or with fellow Breakers via online co-op multiplayer, explore the vast, ever-changing worlds within the Overgrowth, and die and retry as you face hordes of deadly enemies, including Assassins, Elites, and Crowns (bosses).
Throughout Early Access, new content, including Breakers, Crowns, gear, story content, secrets, and more, along with gameplay improvements, such as new features, will be added via patches and periodic major updates. More content details will be shared in an Early Access content roadmap that will be revealed in the coming weeks which will reveal when the first major content update is expected to drop – along with when the release of a particular Breaker, codenamed “Crow”, who’s a highly-anticipated character amongst the Heart Machine community. The Heart Machine team developed Hyper Light Breaker with Early Access in mind and are excited for Breaker to be their first Early Access title as a studio. With Early Access, they’re setting their sights on taking community feedback to heart to balance the experience and bring Breaker to its full potential before it enters 1.0 launch. You are encouraged to share your feedback via HEART MACHINE’S OFFICIAL DISCORD, as the team will be actively monitoring,
We can’t wait to see you in-game!
Like: https://www.facebook.com/HyperLightBreaker
Follow: https://x.com/HLBreaker
Watch: https://www.twitch.tv/HyperLightBreaker
Early Access Breakers & Crowns Reveal
Following a series of short Breaker Reveal Trailers that showed off each Breaker (playable character) who will be available when Hyper Light Breaker launches in Early Access, a full-length trailer has been revealed that shows all the Breakers players can play as, along with the Crowns (bosses) players will face in action when players jump into the game at Early Access launch. Those who jump in when the game enters Early Access will find there are three unique Breakers (Vermillion, Lapis and Goro) to choose from and two challenging Crowns (Dro and Exus) to go up against. Most notably, players will discover each Breaker has their own distinct Sycoms (little robot companions, which are reminiscent of the ones you’d find in Hyper Light Drifter!) which serve as the foundation of a Breaker’s build and provide specific buffs and stat modifications. That said, players are able to customize their loadout any way they’d like for each Breaker (ICYMI: read more details on loadouts via this blog). No matter what loadout players have, expect for the Crowns, Dro and Exus, to put up a fight. Rumor has it, the full fights against each Crown will be revealed tomorrow, January 10... stay tuned!
To give players a chance to get the full Hyper Light experience, Heart Machine and Arc Games will be offering a Hyper Light Breaker Bundle available from January 14 (when Hyper Light Breaker launches in Early Access) until January 28. *The bundle will be available for $29.99 and will give players a free digital Steam copy of Hyper Light Drifter for free if they don’t already own Hyper Light Drifter via Steam. Those who purchase the bundle will be able to experience the beloved 2D action adventure RPG, Hyper Light Drifter, and explore the Hyper Light universe in a whole new way with the open world rogue-lite Hyper Light Breaker that takes place decades before the events of Drifter!
Like: https://www.facebook.com/HyperLightBreaker
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Watch: https://www.twitch.tv/HyperLightBreaker
The Score Ahead: The Music of Hyper Light Breaker
As Hyper Light Breaker approaches its early access launch, one element of the game stands out as a unifying force across its vibrant biomes, high-stakes combat, and cooperative exploration: its music. Composed by Joel Corelitz (JC) and Troupe Gammage (TEG), the soundtrack is more than just background noise; it’s an integral part of the game’s atmosphere, storytelling, and emotional resonance. Here’s an inside account by Troupe and Joel about how the music of Breaker came to life.
What is the overall theme and vibe of the music in Breaker?
JC: Breaker’s music conveys hope and heroism in a desolate time and place. It’s ambient yet thematic, evocative yet distressed. It weaves its way into the fabric of the environment and shifts to match its purpose. In some areas, it feels like cultural music of the land’s inhabitants, while in others, it’s a melody carried by the wind.
Duality plays a significant role. I love intense music that also communicates deep emotion. One recurring motif, the Abyss King’s theme, embodies this duality—it’s intense, tragic, and heroic, carrying players from the title screen to epic battles.
How did you arrive at Breaker’s musical aesthetic?
JC: The discovery phase of composition is one of my favorites. It’s all about experimentation and play—finding what works and what doesn’t. We began with extended ambient pieces to evaluate in-game, iterating on elements like energy, theme, and production, particularly with different ways to “distress” the sound, until we landed on something that felt unique. Through that process, I think we created a really strong musical language for Breaker that is special and immediately recognizable - even if it’s just a simple piano chord.
How does collaboration work between composers?
JC: There are two of us—myself and Troupe Gammage. We each focused on different areas for the long form pieces and composed complimentary components of various musical systems. Our collaborative process has been so seamless that when we play the game, we often can’t remember who composed what!
How is the music in Breaker similar to and different from Drifter?
JC: It is an incredible honor to carry the Hyper Light legacy forward. We aimed to forge new creative territory, not simply create a replica of Drifter’s soundtrack. What I think made Drifter’s soundtrack so successful is the use of timeless, compelling compositions communicated with an interesting, original palette. We tried do the same thing, but completely unique to Breaker - drawing on a wide range of influences, from jazz fusion to neoclassical.
TEG: For Breaker, I wanted to bring Drifter’s inspirations forward in time. While the late 19th-century impressionist spirit remains core to the Hyper Light universe, I incorporated 20th-century idioms, like the jazz of Gershwin and Miles Davis and modernist influences such as Stravinsky and Reich. These styles felt appropriate for the improvisational nature of the game and its themes: cyclical rebirth, challenges to authority, and a grappling with technological progress.
The foundation of the Breaker score is electronic music. The destructive, self-consuming worlds of Fennesz and William Basinski in particular fit the tone of the game perfectly, and inspired a new, even gnarlier decayed Hyper Light texture that doesn’t feel derivative of the original game.
What considerations went into composing for a spiritual successor?
TEG: Writing music in an existing universe requires fluency in its language—then writing poetry with it. It took a year to master Breaker’s musical vocabulary, and it was important for us to communicate fresh ideas. Thankfully, the shift to 3D and multiplayer added new dimensions, giving us space to fill with huge synths and reverbs that were out of place in Drifter’s labyrinths.
JC: The addition of 3D environments was a huge opportunity for differentiation. While Drifter was intimate, Breaker’s soundtrack is more expansive, though it still has poignant moments of intimacy. With this massive 3D world, we were empowered to fill it with grander textures.
How do you handle combat music?
TEG: At Heart Machine, we avoid the “combat drums” aesthetic common in games with discrete combat states. Our gameplay is often fast-paced and transitions fluidly between action and exploration, which requires a more subtle approach.
In Breaker, we used a nuanced set of transitional layers and musical snippets to express the idea of tension, climax, and release during encounters. Some fights may never rise above the level of simple “tension” – just the anticipation before a jump scare in a horror film. A tussle with a few slime enemies may not even get a nod from the music system!
For larger battles, the music builds in intensity, roaring and receding based on the threat. We’re excited to add even more variety during early access, with unique layers and melodies for specific enemies. For example, larger more threatening enemies could have their own unique layers or melodies. An experienced player might hear a particular riff and think “uh oh, there’s a Leaper behind me…”
BELOW: Some examples of different in-game scenes with music / audio transitions. What do you think of how the music enhances or changes the actions occurring in each scene? Systems Music 1 Systems Music 2 Systems Music 3
How do you manage transitions between zones and events?
TEG: Biome definitions and interactions evolved during development, so we needed a highly reactive music system. We used a hybrid approach with “short form” layers and snippets (5-25 seconds) that are triggered randomly, and “long form” composed pieces (1-3 minutes). These systems weave together seamlessly, reacting to player activity without getting stale.
Short form sections help provide a subtle, unintrusive baseline that reinforces the identity of the biome, and can transition quickly between regions and game states with no fuss. Long form compositions tend to get more specific tonally and emotionally, and provide a really nice peak to the short form valley. In moments of intense combat these tracks will subside in favor of the short form combat layers, and they can be stopped if the player transitions to a new biome or activity, like extraction.
We’re excited to add more depth during early access, tailoring music to elements like dense foliage or ruined cityscapes and layering in narrative surprises.
How does the hub music reflect player progress?
TEG: Unlike most Roguelikes which have simple “win” or “lose” states at the end of a run, *Breaker* players experience ups and downs throughout the course of a single game cycle. Success and failure are a spectrum of states, not binary.
Our hub music changes to reflect the player’s performance on their previous run, which makes the hub feel more dynamic and helps reinforce the significance of key moments in a player’s journey.
In a procedural game, time spent in the hub is also one of the few opportunities for us to showcase uninterrupted music, which gives us a platform to delve into the cultural and thematic content of Breaker’s world.
BELOW: Some examples of different hub ambient music - how does each one make you feel? What do you think happened in the previous run?
Looking Ahead
As Hyper Light Breaker approaches early access on January 14, 2025, its music promises to evolve alongside the game. With its blend of heroism, tragedy, and experimental textures, the soundtrack is set to be as unforgettable as the environment it inhabits.
We hope that for fans of Hyper Light Drifter, Breaker’s music will offer a fresh yet familiar chapter in this beloved world, and that new players will fall in love with the soundscape of our universe.
Hyper Light Breaker Launches in Steam Early Access January 14!
During Day of the Days: The Game Awards Edition, we announced that our open world co-op rogue-lite Hyper Light Breaker is officially set to launch in Steam Early Access on January 14, 2025 for $29.99. The trailer above covers an in-depth overview from Hyper Light Breaker Lead Producer, Michael Clark, of what you need to know about the new Hyper Light adventure before the game enters Early Access next month.
“We’re thrilled to be a part of Day of the Devs: The Game Awards Edition and finally reveal that Hyper Light Breaker will be launching in Early Access in just a month,” said Alx Preston, Heart Machine Founder and Creative Director. “From all of us at Heart Machine, we really can’t thank our community, friends and colleagues enough for all of the support over the years and sticking with us as we’ve worked on our most ambitious project yet. Launching Hyper Light Breaker in Early Access will be just the beginning, as we want the community to be part of the game’s development journey. We really can’t wait for players to join us in the Overgrowth to bring Hyper Light Breaker to its full potential.”
Those who embark on this new adventure will be able to experience multiple challenging playthroughs solo or with fellow Breakers via online co-op multiplayer, explore the vast, ever-changing worlds within the Overgrowth, and die and retry as they face hordes of deadly enemies. Hyper Light Breaker will continue to evolve throughout the course of Early Access, as we have plenty of content planned, including new Breakers, Crowns (bosses), gear and more. We developed Hyper Light Breaker with Early Access in mind as we’ll be setting our sights on taking community feedback to heart to balance the experience and evolve the game before it enters 1.0 launch.
Wishlist and follow Hyper Light Breaker today: https://bit.ly/3Zrbws5
Loadouts in Hyper Light Breaker: Building A Better, More Optimal You
Before you jump into the Overgrowth, in this blog and in our next blog we’re sharing a couple of important systems you need to know! First up is Loadouts.
Quick update from us before you dive in... we’re close getting Hyper Light Breaker ready for launch in Steam Early Access. Stay tuned.
In Hyper Light Breaker, your loadout isn’t just about picking the right gear—it’s about optimizing your playstyle for each Cycle. As you progress, you'll collect new weapons, equipment, and abilities that allow you to adapt and evolve your combat strategy. Whether you elect to charge into the fray with powerful melee attacks or pick off enemies at range, Breaker’s loadout system allows you to experiment, find synergies, and tailor your approach to try and survive your journey into the Overgrowth.
What Does It Mean to Build Your Loadout?
Each Cycle offers fresh opportunities to experiment with new combinations of gear. In one Cycle, you might build a close-range powerhouse focused on regenerating health while dealing massive melee damage. In the next, you could shift to a more tactical, ranged approach, slowing enemies down with a hack-infused rail and picking them off from a distance. The possibilities are nearly endless. As you explore and conquer new areas, you’ll pick up weapons and equipment, becoming more powerful with every upgrade. Plan to adapt and evolve your loadout meet each new challenge.
Equipment Types
Your loadout is made up of several key gear types, each offering different ways to enhance your character’s abilities and playstyle. From your primary melee weapons to powerful support systems, each piece of equipment can influence your combat strategy in significant ways.
The loop of acquiring, upgrading, and experimenting with gear is one of the key aspects of the loadout system. The gear you equip will directly influence how you play, so choosing the right gear based on your desired playstyle is crucial.
SyComs: Buffs and Stat Customization SyComs are unique to each Breaker and serve as the foundation of your build. These provide specific buffs and stat modifications. As you progress through the game, you can upgrade SyComs and unlock new ones at The Outpost, aided by PB. SyCom upgrades give you more control over your character’s strengths and weaknesses, and set the overall tone for how you approach combat.
Blades Blades are your primary melee weapons in Hyper Light Breaker. Each Blade comes with unique passive and active abilities that allow you to approach battles in different ways. Higher-tier Blades come with additional modifiers, increasing their damage or utility. Choosing the right Blade is crucial depending on your combat strategy, and below are just some of the Blades you can have.
Force Hammer: Ideal for dealing heavy damage to tough enemies, thanks to its inherent damage boost against heavy targets.
Dual Claws: Perfect for clearing out swarms of enemies, offering fast and wide attacks that let you control swarms.
Heavy Axe: Charge up a powerful wave of energy and unleash it across the battlefield to cut down groups of enemies from a distance.
The variety of Blades means that you can adapt your melee combat style to fit any situation, whether you’re taking on massive bosses or mowing down groups of smaller enemies.
Rails Rails serve as your secondary weapons, allowing you to engage enemies at range. These weapons rely on ammo drops from fallen enemies, so managing your resources is key to making the most of them. By equipping Rail-themed Holobytes, you can further enhance their effectiveness.
These are some Rails that will come in-handy:
Diamond Shot: This weapon rewards precision. To maximize its damage, maintain the perfect distance from your enemies and ensure the spread of bullets converges into a diamond-shaped pattern for optimal damage.
Grind 42R: A powerful charged shot that lets you attack from a distance, keeping enemies at bay while you control the flow of combat.
Rails add another layer of tactical flexibility, allowing you to focus on ranged combat while you manage the battlefield from a distance.
Amps Amps are your tertiary weapons, charged up as you defeat enemies, and they offer powerful activated abilities that can change the way you approach combat. Each Amp has a short window of activation, so timing is everything. Amps add a layer of depth to the game by giving you potent abilities that can either heal, deal massive damage, or offer tactical advantages when used correctly.
Here are just a couple of examples of Amps:
Berserker Exoskeleton: Activate this Amp when you’re surrounded and need to stay alive. For a short period, every hit you land replenishes lost health, letting you power through tough situations.
Crush Block: A devastating Amp that allows you to drop a massive amount of damage on a single enemy, such as a Rifle Elite, all while staying safely behind cover.
Choosing the right Amp for the moment can turn the tide of a battle, whether you need to heal or unleash a devastating counterattack.
Blade Specials Blade Specials are another form of activated abilities that allow you to make special powerful melee attacks to help turn the tide of battle.
Armor Armor provides you with protection to help you resist more damage. However, heavier armor comes with the trade-off of reduced mobility, making you less nimble and slowing down your dashes and dodges. Finding the right balance between offense and defense is key here, as you’ll need to tailor your armor to the specific challenge at hand.
Holobytes + Affixes Holobytes are modifiers that can be slotted into your loadout to change your stats or grant new abilities. These powerful tools are essential for crafting a truly unique build, and they come with a permanent effect — once a Holobyte is swapped out, it’s destroyed. You’ll have five slots for Holobytes, so every choice counts.
Holobytes can synergize with your other gear, enhancing your damage, defense, or even offering new special abilities. Whether you’re stacking damage modifiers or improving your survivability, Holobytes provide a crucial layer of customization that lets you fine-tune your loadout. Affixes are modifiers that can be added to every piece of equipment that provide further nuance and let you go even deeper on build customization.
Acquiring Gear
As you explore the world of Hyper Light Breaker, you’ll encounter a variety of ways to acquire new gear and upgrade your loadout.
The Overgrowth: As you explore this world, you’ll find fallen enemies, chests, and the corpses of past warriors, all of which can provide new gear and upgrades. Looting these items is essential for building your loadout.
The Outpost: Here, you can spend Bright Blood and other materials to purchase new gear from various vendors. As your affinity with these vendors grows, you’ll unlock new items and upgrades. Eventually, they’ll be able to help you upgrade your existing equipment, making it even more powerful
Stats and Rarity
Gear in Hyper Light Breaker is color-coded by rarity, with higher-level items offering better stats and additional modifiers. As you progress through the game, you’ll encounter a range of rarities, from basic common items to ultra-rare Hyper Light Red gear.
Rarity: Items are color-coded from white (common) to Hyper Light Red (legendary). The rarer the item, the more powerful it will be, and the more modifiers it will offer.
Stats: Each piece of equipment has specific stats, like damage, health boosts, or passive abilities. These stats will play a big role in determining how effective a piece of gear is, and you’ll want to look for gear that complements your overall build.
The Evolution of the Loadout System
The loadout system in Hyper Light Breaker has evolved significantly over time. What started as a basic system with Blades and Rails has grown into a full-fledged customization experience, with the introduction of Holobytes, Amps, and Affixes adding more layers of nuance.
With each new addition, the Loadout System became more robust, providing more avenues for player expression and unique builds.
Can You Equip Any Gear with Any Breaker?
Absolutely! Our team felt it was important for players to have full agency to craft the exact build you feel best represents your preferred playstyle, so there are no restrictions on which gear you can equip with each Breaker. Each player character has unique stats that affect how different gear performs, but the flexibility of the loadout system means you can mix and match gear however you like. You’re free to build anything from an indomitable god to something a sub-optimized goof.
Your loadout is more than just a collection of gear — it’s a chance to express yourself through the tools and abilities you choose. With so many options for customization, the possibilities are endless, and the choice is yours. How will you build your perfect loadout?
3D Environment Art for Hyper Light Breaker: From Concept to In-Game
Our Visual Legacy
Hyper Light Breaker is the next iteration of our trademark Heart Machine aesthetic of bright neons punctuating vast, striking landscapes. Nowhere are these features more prominent than in the game’s rich 3D environments and the detailed design work that’s gone into Breaker’s set pieces.
As Danny Moll, Art Director, puts it “We’ve put tremendous effort into translating the spirit of Hyper Light Drifter’s impressionistic and painterly pixel aesthetic from 2d into 3d, while simultaneously imagining and bringing to life a host of entirely new settings and set pieces that exist within the alluringly mysterious worldbuilding and forgotten technology of the Hyper Light universe”.
Creating an immersive world for Hyper Light Breaker has been a complex and collaborative process, from the initial nugget of an idea → concept art → in-game assets that the player experiences. The journey involves multiple stages and teams, each contributing their expertise to building our vibrant, immersive world.
From Concept to In-Game
Idea
Alx Preston, Creative Director / Founder, is hands-on throughout the entire creative process. When it comes to environment art, Alx kicks off the process with moodboards, references, color sketches, and themes to inspire the team and set the tone.
An example moodboard from the early visual development phase of the Overgrowth by Alx Preston
Concept Art
Danny Moll, Art Director, and Sarah Morris, Senior Concept Artist, work closely on concept art, with support from Lilit Beglarian and Nick Carver. Their work defines the style and vision for Breaker’s distinctive environmental features and props.
An Example of Environment Concept Art by Sarah Morris showcasing visual development of the Hub
Modeling + Material Creation
Meagan Glennon leads the enviro team. She works closely with Cameron Hughes, Danielle Wallace, and Marissa Borowski, along with additional contributions from Jaume Rovira, Wolfgang Traenkle Will Tate, and Cordell Felix.
From Concept to Blockout to Art Pass
Get (the art) in the Game!
Game levels in Hyper Light Breaker are procedurally generated, which means that instead of using the traditional process of placing set pieces by hand, the assets need to be packaged into flexible dioramas. The vast majority of the Enviro Art goes into the game in the form of Points of Interest (POIs), small slices of the world where we can control the design and composition. Here’s the typical workflow for a POI:
Brainstorming: The art, design, and narrative teams meet to pitch ideas for new set pieces in the game. This is always a fun process where everyone’s ideas are heard, and we can all look forward to making new stuff that we’re excited about!
Concepts: We put pen to tablet and turn our wild ideas into designs that the environment team can run with.
Blockouts: Enviro artists and/or level designers create an initial blockout to evaluate the set piece from a gameplay standpoint. Our collaboration with design is very important to our process.
Replacing Blockouts: This is where the magic happens! Enviro artists take those gray boxes and turn them into trees, buildings, mysterious ruins, and anything we can dream up.
Set-Decking: The new set-pieces then undergo several feedback cycles that focus on details such as tertiary decoration, collision, and the relationship of assets with other objects in the world. Collaboration with tech-art and engineering is essential to making sure these assets blend into the world seamlessly so that everything feels natural.
Final Handoff: Finally, assets are handed off to Randi (Tech-Art) or Ben (Design) for Runtime Placed Assets (RPA) implementation, which means they can now appear in the game world!
POI Breakdown - Giant Stump:
Concept Art by Danny Moll - Greybox by Ben Strickland - Blockout by Meagan Glennon
Blockout by Meagan Glennon
Interior Set Dressing by Cameron Hughes
Model and Textures by Danielle Wallace
Collaboration with Proc Gen and Tech Art
One of the most complex areas of the environment art pipeline involves procedural generation (procgen) in close collaboration with the tech art team. According to Meagan, “A lot of iteration time has gone into this process, and it requires constant maintenance. We’re extremely lucky to have the Tech Art Wizards that we do and that they are so responsive and flexible to our needs. Together we can make unique, procedurally generated maps that still feel purposefully laid out and full of exciting landmarks for the player to explore.” The main areas of collaboration include:
1. Landscape Creation
Houdini Landscape by Len White
2. Foliage and Grass Wolfgang Traenkle, Senior Environment Artist says “The grass system was a true example of having minds come together. Working with tech art and Engineering, we were able to develop a system that both had a distinct visual look and functionality that could propagate across all our maps. Environment art set up a visual goal using the foliage volume system and then engineering came in to analyze those data tables to create our own custom tool that used the terrain generation data to mimic that style. In the end this left us with a look that has a great natural variation and distinct looks per zone.”
Forest biome grass by Wolfgang Traenkle
3. Scatter Decking - small pieces to fill out the world between POIs
Example of rubble piles to fill in between larger POIs
4. Hyperfabs This is the proprietary tool and system that Enviro Artists use to author POIs
POIs packaged into Hyperfabs by Cameron Hughes
(For more on our Tech Art pipeline, check out this two-part post.)
Design Integration and Implementation
The enviro team collaborates with designers to place NPCs, loot, hazards, and enemy spawners into POIs via locators.
Example of locators and other Designer tags in a POI
“What's interesting about the locator points is that they do not guarantee that x, y or z game object will appear at that spot. A locator is one of maybe hundreds of data points on a map that get fed back into our world generation systems and evaluated to see what should appear there. The world of Hyper Light Breaker is a web of relationships that, fingers crossed, translates into a compelling experience.” - Ben Strickland, Senior Designer.
Proud Moments and Player Experience
Several members of the enviro team shared what they’re most proud of and what they hope players notice in the game:
Cameron Hughes, Senior Enviro Artist: “I’m proud of the work we’ve done on the Titans. The scale and grandeur of these elements were inspired by Hyper Light Drifter, and seeing that verticality come together has been a huge win.”
Meagan Glennon, Lead Enviro Artist: “I’m proud of our team! I know it’s cliche to say, but even in the short time I've been here in my role as Lead, I’ve watched each member of this team grow and learn and become better artists and even better collaborators. I’m always drawn to stylized games because it gives the artists a chance to flex their skills in exaggeration, color, and shape language and it’s been so rewarding to see our style come into its own with little pushes and pulls from each artist in their own ways.”
Danielle Wallace, Enviro Artist: “[I’m proud of how] far we've come in our art style, and as a team. I've watched our world transform from what I believed was already a gorgeous art style, to every shot looking like a painting - with our tech artists putting that extra icing on the cake to take it to where it is now. It's rare, now more than ever, to be a part of a team that's so warm, has solid communication, and is driven to make sure the project is the best it can be in all avenues. Amazing projects are created from teams full of amazing people - in heart and talent.”
Marissa Borowski, Enviro Artist: “I’m really proud of the assets I’ve worked on, especially the graveyard pieces in the acid bog biome. Lilit was the concept artist for those, and seeing them go from 2D concept to 3D assets in-game was incredibly rewarding.”
Challenges Faced
Of course, no game development process is without its challenges. The ambitions of open world procgen presented some unique hurdles.
Cameron explains, “The Hyperfab workflow has really been distilled technically. We’re now focusing more on how dynamic the terrain can be while maintaining a consistent visual quality. We’ve moved away from overly complex setups to make sure everything looks interesting and cohesive at all times.”
Collision was another tricky area, adds Cameron, “There’s never a right answer when it comes to collision. You get something that feels good, and someone else will say it doesn’t fit. It’s a constant balancing act.”
For Danielle, the challenges presented major growing opportunities: “Prior to working on Breaker, I had worked on lowpoly machinery, but nothing near the size or detail of hard surface hero props. I'd say one of my biggest challenges at the beginning of the project was working with detailed hard-surface. It was also around this time that we were deciding whether or not we wanted to incorporate normal maps into our pipeline, as opposed to modeling in those smaller details. We overcame these challenges as a team, and personally, by asking our Art Director, Danny Moll, for help and best approaches for what we wanted to accomplish for these kinds of assets. Hard surface assets, which were previously incredibly intimidating for me, became one of my favorite styles to work with because I was able to have a mentor on the project, learn, and grow with our production.”
The Evolution of the Enviro Art Pipeline
Example Substance Painter set up by Meagan Glennon
While the overall visual direction of Hyper Light Breaker was locked in early, some aspects of the environment art pipeline evolved over time. Marissa, who joined the team later in development, notes, “It’s been interesting to see how the material pipeline has been optimized. Meagan made significant updates that simplified the process, making it smoother and more efficient.”
Cameron was one of the first people on the team, and reflects on the many changes, “We’ve gone through multiple asset pipelines, from basic diffuse to multitexture blends, and now we’ve returned to a more barebones diffuse approach. It’s a much cleaner, more stylized look.”
We’re Excited!
As we barrel toward Early Access, the team is getting excited!
“We’re seeing inklings of what the final product will be, and I’m confident that when we release, fans are going to love it.” - Cameron
“I’m really excited for early access. It’s always been my dream to have a credit on something, and I can’t wait to point out specific rocks and say, ‘I made that!’” - Marissa
“As a developer, you playtest your game with your team and go, ‘That was a nice time. That was fun’ and of course that's how you think your game should feel to play as an absolute minimum. However, I constantly find myself wanting to play more after each session…it's still wildly engaging. Like your favorite song you put on repeat for days on end during your lunch break. The feeling that still, every time I boot up the game and do a new run, it feels brand new. Every department has been absolutely rocking it, and I genuinely believe we have something special.“ - Danielle
“Everything is coming into focus now and the team is working hard on new ideas for POIs and new ways to make our maps looks better and better. I’m so excited to share our little game with the world and for players to experience the impeccable vibes that we have so lovingly crafted for them!” - Meagan
It’s been incredibly rewarding to see the full team’s collaborative and creative efforts come together to create a rich, immersive world for players to explore in Hyper Light Breaker. We can’t wait to share it with you!
Early Access Coming Early 2025
Hey everyone,
We’re so grateful to all the members of the community who have expressed ongoing support and enthusiasm for Hyper Light Breaker’s Steam Early Access launch. After much evaluation and many conversations with our publisher Arc Games, we’ve decided that we need just a little more time to get the gameplay experience polished to our standards.
Therefore, we’re now looking at an Early Access launch date of very early next year.
We don’t want to ship a project, even in Early Access, that we’re not satisfied with on a number of fronts. Especially in the current state of the industry, we need to put as good a foot forward as we can.
As always, we believe in maintaining a sustainable pace of development for our team, which means taking care of the mental and physical health needs of everyone first, rather than burning the team out trying to hit a specific set launch date. This will enable the team to offer better, more responsive support to community feedback during the Early Access period itself.
Trust that we REALLY want to put Breaker out there, and see people engage with a game that we’ve all worked so hard on. However, we also REALLY need to make sure that the core foundational units of the game are as strong as they can be, so that we can build on them during the Early Access period. In the meantime, we are confirmed to be showing Breaker at multiple events to get your feedback as we continue getting Breaker ready for Early Access launch! We’ll have a demo of Breaker at PlayNYC + AnimeNYC in New York City, XOXO in Portland, and Media Indie Exchange in Seattle. We’re also currently planning additional public demos at DreamHack in Atlanta and MAGFest in Maryland. So, if you absolutely can’t wait to get your hands on the game when it launches in Early Access, you can at least catch us out in the wild at these events and give us feedback on how the game is shaping up so far!
Thank you everyone for your continued support of our games and the people who make them.
For the most up-to-date info on Hyper Light Breaker and our other projects, follow us on social media or jump in our Discord.
- Alx Preston, Founder and Creative Director at Heart Machine
