Hyper Light Breaker, the sequel to the massively popular indie hit, Hyper Light Drifter, is set to release on Steam on January 15, 2025. The only catch is that the game will release into early access, meaning it will likely change significantly during its first year on the market. At launch, Hyper Light Breaker will cost $29.99.

While Hyper Light Breaker shares a name with and hits a lot of the same aesthetic notes as Hyper Light Drifter, it isn't exactly a sequel in the classical sense. Hyper Light Breaker is set "decades before" the events of Hyper Light Drifter, and the aesthetic looks like an upgraded version of the hyper stylized 3D graphics we saw from Heart Machine in Solar Ash, as opposed to the top-down 2D pixel art of Hyper Light Drifter. Unlike Solar Ash, though, the core gameplay loop will rely on rogue-lite mechanics and hack and slash combat, making it a unique entry in the Hyper Light universe. Additionally, Hyper Light Breaker will be a co-op game, with support for up to three players in a squad.As part of the early access release date and pricing announcement, Heart Machine released a trailer for Hyper Light Breaker, providing a glimpse at what to expect from the upcoming indie release. For starters, Breaker will take place in an open world, with a mix of procedurally generated wide open spaces and cramped interiors, again similar to the level design of Solar Ash, and the boss battles also seem to be at a similar David-vs-Goliath scale. All of this should make Hyper Light Breaker feel even more familiar to players of prior Heart Machine games.


Judging from the trailer alone, the combat appears to be quite fluid and fast-paced, and Heart Machine showed off a variety of different moves, also teasing a challenging combat system that requires skill and strategy. It appears that players will also be able to chain together combos, which is almost a given in modern hack-and-slash games, but it's good to see, anyway. Heart Machine says that exploration will take center stage in Hyper Light Breaker, and the developer appears to give players a number of ways to do this, including a deployable glider.