An effective Early Access phase can shape a game’s legacy well beyond its launch, particularly for titles that aim high, such as Hyper Light Breaker. By blending roguelike elements with an expansive open world, Heart Machine has shared its strategy for maximizing the benefits of the Early Access experience.
Michael Clark, the lead producer for Hyper Light Breaker, shared insights with Game Rant Advance regarding the studio’s Early Access strategy. Heart Machine has consistently kept an open dialogue with its community, and that commitment will persist. Players can look forward to a significant increase in content, potentially doubling or even tripling, throughout the Early Access phase.
Hyper Light Breaker Breaks in to Early Access
Instead of simply repeating the formula of Hyper Light Drifter, Hyper Light Breaker is taking a fresh approach by embracing the open-world 3D roguelike genre. The main gameplay revolves around Cycles and Runs. Each Cycle creates a new world for players to explore, and they can embark on Runs until they either conquer or fall to the three available Crowns (boss battles). Defeating these Crowns will eventually lead to the Abyss King, who won’t be accessible at the Early Access launch. On the first day of this phase, players can challenge two of the Crowns, explore the world, and dive into its various progression systems.
As this content grows, Heart Machine will be paying close attention to the wishes of its community. As Clark mentioned,
Early Access is a way for developers to include their fans in the development process, and we want to take full advantage of the amazing community we have … Players should expect frequent updates of varying sizes – some updates will be small, with large updates every few months.
Regular updates are essential for enhancing the Hyper Light Breaker experience. Additionally, the Heart Machine team has dedicated time to consider and incorporate feedback from fans. Regarding the focus of these updates, Clark mentioned that content will be a top priority and will continue to grow during the Early Access phase. When discussing the main priorities for the Early Access launch, Clark shared that…
Our top priorities for the game after Early Access Launch on January 14th are pretty straightforward: First, we’re focused on adding a lot more content (we want to double-to-triple most types of content, like player characters, gear, boss fights, narrative systems, etc). Next, we’re adding more variety and depth to the world and gameplay (we want more to change between runs in the same cycle, add end-game difficulty systems, add more unlocks and progression mechanics). Finally, we’ve protected time in our schedule to account for fan input, expecting that our audience will have feedback, suggestions, and improvements that we’ll want to incorporate into our game.
Early Access has significantly benefited several games and is becoming increasingly popular as we head into 2025. For example, GreedFall 2 has adopted a careful and targeted strategy for its Early Access phase, while Nightingale made rapid improvements to its game based on player feedback during its Early Access period. Many developers utilize Early Access to refine their games before the official launch, along with enjoying a variety of other advantages.