How Heart Machine’s Hyper Light sequel is breaking new ground for the open-world Roguelike

By Chris Schilling

Game Hyper Light Breaker

Developer Heart Machine

Publisher Gearbox Publishing

Format PC

Release 2023

The hoverboard has no energy cost over water unless you’re boosting, letting you surf across to new landmasses

The city seems quiet and tranquil from here. Stepping out onto the balcony, a slender masked figure with cerulean hair, a short red jacket and a long tail takes in the view of a part of this metropolis they’ll never visit, its houses, hotels and skyscrapers at once so close yet so far away. Peering through the aquamarine haze, the Blu – one of several humanoid species in this world – glances to the right where a vast waterfall emerges from a flourishing mass of greenery. Heading back inside, they trot around a plush lobby, itself not short of plant life. There are vendors and other NPCs here, but no one is demanding the Blu’s attention. A soothing ambient score, noticeable but not obtrusive, sustains the peaceful vibe as they head outside, toward a vast elevator, bathed in pink light.

Down below, it’s a very different story. This is the Overgrowth, a sprawling land fragmented into disparate biomes. Stepping off the platform onto the surface, the Blu – as piloted by Heart Machine’s Alx Preston – immediately breaks into a jog before dashing once, twice, three times, each sudden burst briefly producing a trail of brightly hued spectral clones. Pulling out a hoverboard, they skate and boost through a patch of lavender-coloured grass, before wall-dashing and double-jumping up to higher ground where a threat suddenly comes into view. Pulling out their sidearm, they pump five rounds into the first enemy; the second suddenly flips onto its side and rolls at high speed toward them, firing a spray of lurid pink projectiles of its own. Staggering back from the hit, the Blu advances, swinging a blade of light back and forth, refilling their gun’s chamber, which finishes the job. It takes a moment to identify the creatures they just defeated: yes, in the world of Hyper Light Breaker, even the snails are deadly.

The dichotomy couldn’t be more stark, but then Heart Machine’s third release is a game of surprising contrasts. Its setting is a delicate balance of hand-crafted and procedural elements, fused together to form what Preston hopes will be a “seamless” open world. Yet it’s one that has been deliberately built on foundations that are anything but solid, because Hyper Light Breaker is also a Roguelike, one with some measure of persistence, but where death means the Overgrowth will be different on your next excursion. On the face of things, the promotional logline – “infinite open worlds” – seems vaguely daunting, as likely to put off as many as it attracts. (We think of the familiar maxim about open-world games, and how it might apply here: “See those mountains? You can go there – and maybe you should, because they won’t be there next time.”) It’s not inaccurate in the sense that this place is different every single time, but it perhaps sounds more appealing to describe it as the 3D Hyper Light Drifter sequel most of us thought Heart Machine would make next.

Preston: “Why does the world shift and change every time you go to it? That’s part of the narrative. The fabric of the core conceit is woven back into the story, so it never feels separated from that. Every element should be justified”

It’s a delicate blend of hand-crafted and procedural elements, fused to form what Preston hopes will be a “seamless” open world