Hyper Light Breaker Preview - Your Next Roguelite Addiction

Hyper Light Drifter is a bona fide indie legend, so to have a successor to such a title, well, let's just say the upcoming Hyper Light Breaker has a lot to live up to. Though it's a departure from the original, fans of the series and new gamers alike are going to eat this up.

It's not necessarily a sequel insofar as I can tell, and certainly, it plays different from the previous 2D pixel art hack-and-slash. This time, Heart Machine concocted a gorgeous 3D roguelite with active, action-packed combat and even co-op.

Hyper Light Breaker's Addicting Gameplay Loop

During Summer Game Fest, my hands-on time with Hyper Light Breaker comprised a solo run through one of the game's limitless procedurally generated dungeons. To begin, though, players begin in a town and equip themselves for battle. 

Vendors sell handy new items like melee weapons and guns, and it's also where we progress through the story -- though I should emphasize, like its predecessor, Hyper Light Breaker features no dialogue and only a cryptic alphabet of alien letters.

And indeed, players can see hints of Hyper Light Drifter DNA throughout. It shares a similar bright color scheme, albeit in 3D. The dichotomy of ancient ruins and more modern buildings and tech are still prevalent, as can be seen in the game's dungeons.

Before embarking, players can choose from various characters and are able to unlock more as the story progresses. We're led into this vast, open environment filled with tons of monsters, and of course, tons of loot.

There're also various tasks to complete as noted on your map, so it's your job to explore, gather up equipment, and eventually take on the boss. Looking out in the distance is a great big cathedral, a floating island, and different biomes, all of which I can explore.

Exploring in Hyper Light Breaker Gives me Wanderlust

Exploration is also pretty easy when you use your hoverboard, a nifty craft allowing you to cross distances fast. Though, like Breath of the Wild and so many others, there's a stamina meter that limits your use. Oh, and there's even a glider.

Combat shines just as much as Hyper Light Breaker's combat. It's relatively simple, but with so many different weapons and guns, as well as different abilities attached to said equipment, you can effectively build your character to cater your playstyle.

You're able to parry attacks too, which opens up another layer of complexity -- and to be sure, it's important to parry in combat. A boss absolutely trounced me, and while I pulled off a few parries, I missed just as many. 

But defeat is not the end, as there are a limited number of tries graciously granted to players. You'll be able to level up, gather resources, grab new gear, and hopefully try again.

Co-op wasn't available for this build, but you can bring some friends along, which has me quite excited. It's a fun, well-made, relatively straightforward roguelite playing by yourself. But with friends? It should be even better.

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Metaphor: ReFantazio was previewed at Summer Game Fest.