Hyper Gentle Breaker is not simply translating the beloved 2D pixel artwork Zelda homage into full 3D—it is also shifting gears into a totally totally different type of sport. The primary’s intricate, handcrafted world has been changed with a roguelike construction whose open zones are created anew for every run. We do not but understand how that bold procedural technology system goes to pan out, however after testing a demo for Hyper Gentle Breaker at GDC, I am already craving extra of its glorious fight and lovely visuals.
I used to be instantly impressed by the roguelike’s hub space, which manages to be very Hyper Gentle whereas wanting like nothing within the authentic sport. Your critter buddies and meta sport upgrades are housed in a rooftop market in the midst of a beautiful cyberpunk metropolis, and whereas I did not spend an excessive amount of time bumming round there, it felt rather a lot like Future’s Tower as this nice, scenic residence base to unwind at between missions.
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Loading right into a run, Breaker jogged my memory a number of Danger of Rain 2 with its construction: you’ve got received this open zone to probe for upgrades, not wanting your character to be underpowered for later encounters, balanced in opposition to a looming time crunch to get your butt in gear. As a substitute of RoR 2’s frantic horde capturing, Breaker’s received a 3D translation of the unique Hyper Gentle Drifter’s exact, Soulsborne-adjacent fight, full with a lovingly rendered model of the primary sport’s rainbow flash step dodge deal. The one character out there for this demo is mainly a ringer for the primary sport’s titular Drifter, although there’s the promise of different characters with their very own distinct mechanics.
You’ve got additionally received a bit extra room to breathe than in Danger of Rain 2, with an emphasis on taking your time to discover. I loved my very own time tooling across the map, however I had an actual second of jealousy watching GamesRadar US managing editor Rollin Bishop deal with the zone—he stumbled right into a deep underground vault with a hidden miniboss, and in addition found out methods to deploy a Jak 2-style hoverboard that seemed sick as hell.
In any other case there’s nonetheless some work to be completed on traversal: for hills and climbing partitions I used to be in a position to do a combo of dashing and leaping that felt good, however very inconsistent, and the Breath of the Wild-style glider is a little bit of a disappointment presently—the factor simply drops like a lead balloon. I may see not desirous to let gamers simply sail over all the pieces in a zone, particularly with procedural technology to think about, however I hope they will discover a higher stability.
Talking of that procedural technology, that is nonetheless an open query for Hyper Gentle Breaker. The zone I performed in felt improbable and bespoke, and that is as a result of it was—a Coronary heart Machine developer current on the occasion confirmed that the demo zone was specifically assembled. It is sensible to desire a polished and directed slice of gameplay for Breaker’s first public reveal, however that additionally means one in all its foremost options, poised as a driver of infinite roguelike replayability, stays untested.
However no matter occurs with that system, Hyper Gentle Breaker has already efficiently translated Drifter’s fight and legendary vibe into full 3D, and that is no imply feat. It is difficult too—I received into sufficient of a groove to get previous three guardian minibosses and unlock the zone’s foremost boss combat, a werewolf-looking man with a giant sword and a few robust Darkish Souls Artorias power, however I used to be positively a very good few makes an attempt away from beating him.
A vital lesson was making full use of a set of cooldown timer skills—they felt virtually like an MMO hotbar, and primary assault spamming simply did not minimize the mustard. My favourite assaults have been a kind of AoE anime teleport slash assault—suppose Fiora’s ult from League of Legends—and a proximity mine I’d kite enemies by way of. Restricted ammo had me saving my assault rifle for ranged and flying enemies.
Issues are wanting good for Breaker, and it passes essentially the most essential take a look at for me—I wish to play extra of it. I nonetheless need to take one other crack at that werewolf greatsword man, in spite of everything. Hyper Gentle Breaker is ready to launch in early entry this summer time, and you may wishlist it on Steam.