Hyper Light Breaker has great combat, impeccable vibes, and its ambitious randomized open worlds actually work⁠—the real test is if it goes the distance in early access

Three hyper light breaker characters running toward camera viewed from below.

At the end of 2024, I got to try one last hour-long preview of Hyper Light Breaker ahead of its early access launch on January 14. It does the thing: This is a great action game that nails the look and feel of Hyper Light Drifter in a 3D open world. Now there are two big questions remaining: How is it as a roguelike you play again and again, and how will it come together over the course of early access?

Breaker's basic combat and traversal really haven't been in question for me since I first tried a preview build of the game early last year. It feels great in the hand: Fun, engaging combat with a Souls-y emphasis on precise dodging or countering, but a character action game's sense of speed. Moving around the world via hoverboard or Zelda paraglider is similarly great, and also shows off the procedural generation system Heart Machine has been cooking up.