2025 has arrived, and with it comes a plethora of upcoming video game releases. Almost nine years after the original game was released, Hyper Light Breaker is launching on Steam Early Access later this month. From developer Heart Machine, the sequel chronologically takes place long before the events in Hyper Light Drifter and fully transitions from 2D into a stylish, fast-paced 3D roguelike.

It's an ambitious game, with plenty to offer both fans of the original game and newcomers alike. Players must traverse vast procedurally-generated maps, growing stronger with each run as they work toward toppling the Abyss King. Game Rant recently caught up with Heart Machine lead producer Michael Clark to discuss Hyper Light Breaker, and he broke down what players can expect from the game in terms of build variety and playstyles.

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Hyper Light Breaker Will Offer Plenty of Weapon and Build Variety

A roguelike's longevity is made or broken by the depth of the builds offered to players, as too little variety makes repeat runs less compelling. Deeper customization that tailors to niche play styles, as well as more traditional, familiar archetypes, is enough to keep players hooked for one more roguelike run. When discussing how builds were designed in Hyper Light Breaker, Clark revealed the team's approach to build variety:

''We started designing our gear by envisioning a large number of specific archetype builds - tank, summoner, sniper, etc. The gear supporting these builds forms an initial pool, but this approach generates a lot of narrow-use gear that doesn’t mix and match well - so once we have that pool, we start changing things up to make things more flexible.''

Starting with traditional archetypes and incorporating more nuanced gear is a smart approach, and it means that players can devote as much or as little time to tweaking their build as they like. Hyper Light Breaker's arsenal of weapons features both melee and ranged options, forming the foundation of a playstyle. Meanwhile, various unlocks and upgrades help players hone in on more specialized approaches to combat in the Overgrowth.

It seems that Heart Machine envisions Hyper Light Breaker's player base racking up many hours on the game, some of which will be devoted to experimenting with different builds and gears. Each cycle takes place in a procedurally generated map, and players can have multiple runs per cycle before the cycle ends and the map resets. Releasing the game in Early Access means that Heart Machine can tweak and perfect Hyper Light Breaker's mechanics based on player feedback and user experience.