Hyper Light Breaker, the imminent sequel to Hyper Light Drifter, is one of those sequels that over-reaches itself. The ambition is simple: Take the immaculate vibes and stylish combat of the top-down isometric original, and do it all bigger and better in full 3D. The game is due to release in early access this year, though there's no firm date yet, and going by what we've played there's a good chance developer Heart Machine is going to pull it off.
The difference in scale between the original and Hyper Light Breaker, however, did mean one big change for the studio. It self-published the first game, and to considerable success, but a much longer development cycle and a bigger team meant that this time around it had to sign with a publisher to get the project over the line. So far, so usual, and let's not fall into the trap of thinking publishers are the industry's big bad: they're often the reason teams can take risks like this.
