It's a miracle that games are ever made, given the sheer number of problems developers and publishers face from beginning to end. These problems often require complex behind-the-scenes solutions that players never see, while some require quick and decisive design changes (possibly derailing the original vision). Sacrifices sometimes have to be made due to constraints like time and budget. Not catching the worst of these, often known as impossible or cursed problems, can result in a final product that doesn't know what it wants to be. But interestingly, Heart Machine's Hyper Light Breaker is a game borne of an impossible problem.

If developers want a highly tactical game, where decisions weigh heavily in moment-to-moment combat, but they also want turns to be short and quick, that's an impossible problem. It can certainly be overcome, but not without creative solutions - you cannot inherently be quick and tactical. Another good example is wanting an open-world game to play like a roguelike adventure. Open-world games are meant for players to go anywhere, at any time, and take in the entire world, while roguelikes feature multiple runs through changing locations. But that's exactly what Hyper Light Breaker is: an open-world roguelike game.

For Game Rant Advance, we spoke with several developers at Heart Machine about this "impossible problem" in Hyper Light Breaker's development, not just in tackling the title's inherent design contradiction but overcoming it to develop a strong identity as well as a unique game that fits into its Hyper Light universe. It's rather obvious how different Hyper Light Drifter and Hyper Light Breaker are on the surface, but digging deeper reveals the passion that keeps developers pushing past incredible design challenges to deliver the promised experience to players.

Game Rant Advance Speakers

• Alx Preston (Creative Director)
• Michael Clark (Lead Producer)
• Chris Forseth (Sr. Gameplay Engineer)
• Len White (Lead Technical Artist)
• Danny Moll (Art Director)
• Ben Strickland (Sr. Designer)
• Troupe Gammage (Composer)
• Alex Johnson (Audio Lead)
• Laura Michet (Narrative Director)
• Yiyi Zhang (Community + PR Manager)

Hyper Light Breaker Was Born Out of an Impossible Problem

While many games understandably want to avoid impossible problems - a term used to describe contradictory features in a game - Hyper Light Breaker began with one. Lead Producer Michael Clark and the team knew what they were getting into, explaining open-world games are "about retreading spaces, learning them and becoming familiar, and approaching things at your own pace" versus roguelikes, which are about "fast action and disposing of everything and starting fresh." This, understandably, required several iterations to get right, especially since Hyper Light Breaker is a 3D game.

Clark explained that Hyper Light Breaker had a classic roguelike formula early on, but making it also feel like an open world wasn't working, even with a small one. It captured none of the things the team wanted from an open world. Runs took too long, missing out on the "just one more" design of the roguelike genre. Trying to achieve both in simple terms felt neither good nor fun. The answer to this impossible problem came in the fall of 2023 after Heart Machine decided it needed radical changes. According to Clark:

"We wanted you to spend hours with each procedurally generated world, but we wanted a run to be short enough that you could do a few in an hour."

From day one, Preston explained that there had been a "tremendous amount" of design iteration on every component of the game, trying to get this all right from how runs work to gear and combat abilities. This is the kind of stuff that designers cannot just put on paper and it works; developers have to see it in action. Describing the first weeks, months, and year of the project, Preston said,

?A lot of building of key combat mechanics and more importantly procedural generation systems. A lot of trial and error - you have to feel these, you can¡¯t just look at them on paper. A lot of exploration of scale and determining what could be bespoke/curated elements and what would be handled strictly by math.

In a conversation with Creative Director Alx Preston, Clark mentioned that dying in an extraction game felt a lot like dying in a roguelike. From that came the idea of using extraction mechanics to "capture the feeling of an open-world game and the highs and lows of a roguelike game." Doing so decoupled the scale of the world from a run, fixing the impossible problem at the heart of Hyper Light Breaker. With this idea, the team built a bespoke world to help figure out what the team wanted from a procedural open world. Three things stood out, according to Clark:

• "Space: The biggest frustration with our old model is the world was too small and too dense. It felt like you were Godzilla stomping through Disneyland - you¡¯d frequently aggro several different enemy groups while fighting one. We made the worlds larger, giving us space between each element, allowing us to build bigger structures, etc."
• "Unique, memorable terrain: Our early versions were built with multiple islands, and while each biome is vibrant and radically different in aesthetic, there just wasn¡¯t enough space on those islands for big mountains, long beaches, etc."
• "Terrain that matters - this was the most important element. In early versions, we had undulating terrain, but you could always beeline your way over any terrain. It rendered all the world useless - you didn¡¯t have anything to learn or remember or notice. You had no surprises."

To create terrain that matters, adding to the overall open-world game vibe, Heart Machine's proc gen team had to completely rework how Hyper Light Breaker generates worlds. The new process involves laying out key locations that players must be able to reach, Crown Arenas and Prisms, and connecting these locations with paths. Terrain came next, and finally, paths were used to add variety where necessary, like a bridge, a switchback, or jump pads. Of course, how these elements work is never going to be visually seen by someone playing Hyper Light Breaker, but its procedural generation is always working to resolve this impossible problem in the background.

Senior Gameplay Engineer Chris Forseth described the last year of Hyper Light Breaker as being a lot of "quick iteration and a lot of bug fixing." In a game with a lot of systems, all of it coming together can be quite challenging, but also "fun to see," according to Forseth. After all, it's the result of years of work coming together. Preston also echoed this sentiment:

"This is a systems-heavy game, which means that having all of those systems feed into each other the way you¡¯ve been planning for years is really nice - but once they¡¯re all connected, that¡¯s when you can start making them feel right."

Hyper Light Breaker's Universe

Just like the procedural generation will constantly be addressing that impossible problem in the background, the dev team will be adding more and more to the universe throughout 2025 and beyond. Hyper Light Breaker enters Early Access on January 14, and fans can expect it to continue to expand beyond its initial launch limitations. Still, what has been shown for Hyper Light Breaker's Early Access so far is incredibly promising.

Because Hyper Light Breaker is entering Early Access, anything can change, expand, and develop further throughout that period.

Become a Breaker

The premise is simple: players control a Breaker who ventures into the Overgrowth to defeat the Abyss King. However, the Abyss King will not be available in Early Access, but plenty of bosses, challenges, and worldbuilding will. To explore the world of Hyper Light Breaker, players will be able to choose between a couple of playable character species. These include a male and female Blu (feline humanoids with blue fur), a male and female Crow (lanky bird people), and a male and female Tanuki (a Raccoon-like species). Not all of these species will be available at Early Access launch.

These characters will grant players Sycom loadouts for their runs, although fans can expect to fine-tune their build beyond that. A quick example: the male Blu named Vermillion has loadouts called Gunslinger and Tank, while the female Blu named Lapis has loadouts called Lightweaver and Warrior. Goro, the male Tanuki, has loadouts called Astrologer and Sniper.

Regardless of who players choose, they'll be accepting quests from Pherus Bit, who both Clark and Narrative Director Laura Michet are excited about players meeting. Nicknamed PB, Pherus Bit is the first Breaker to have ever existed and is the leader of them. She's desk-bound now, instead of being active in the field, and has lived in the Overgrowth since the area was sealed away from the rest of the World of Light. There is some personal connection to the Crowns, but what that is remains to be seen.

Hyper Light Drifter vs. Hyper Light Breaker

Many fans of Heart Machine are no doubt fans because of Hyper Light Drifter, and knowing Hyper Light Breaker is set in the same universe is a huge draw, even if it's not the same type of game. When asked how the two relate, Clark explained that the Drifter's experiences took place a long time after HLB, but the Drifter did spend a lot of their time walking through history. As such, the team started with that shared history and fleshed out the world and factions. Another way it relates is by using comic book panels for storytelling. Clark described it as showing, not telling, which is an age-old writing rule. Michet also added that,

We think that there are some cool structural opportunities available in breaking up the story this way and in challenging the player to speculate and investigate as they start to put the story together from different perspectives. Drifter also told its story with enigmatic images representing the perspectives of different characters¡­ so that gave us an opportunity to try and use those techniques in new ways in Breaker.

Another area where players can see the connection between the two is in their art. Art Director Danny Moll explained that the team "put tremendous effort into translating the spirit of Hyper Light Drifter's impressionistic and painterly pixel aesthetic from 2D to 3D." Sometimes this required major changes, as there are more differences between a 2D and 3D game than many may think at first blush, but keeping that aesthetic as closely knit as possible was a goal. As an example, Moll also explained,

A key part of Drifter¡¯s color identity is its use of gradients and impressionistic color variation. The Breaker art team has worked hard to translate these kinds of treatments into 3D space to vivid effect. In most cases we've targeted unique color palettes, but in some places (that Drifter fans will recognize) we've referenced things more directly. The sky color, just to name one :)

Overall, there may be more differences between Hyper Light Drifter and Breaker than similarities though. 2D/3D is one example, but there's also the fact that Hyper Light Breaker is a co-op game. Clark was hesitant to dive into themes too much, assuring us players would learn this throughout the game, but Breaker is more social in its themes than Drifter was. Drifter was solitary in its theme and told a strong story about living with an illness, and it would seem that having more social themes would remove this inherently isolating theme. Clark assured us, however, that the team couldn't remove illness as a theme from Hyper Light.

Overall, while there will be two different takes, both Drifter and Breaker are important elements of a unified Hyper Light universe.

Exploring the Overgrowth

Hyper Light Breaker, as explained by Senior Designer Ben Strickland, is broken into cycles and runs. The cycle rolls a new map, populating its landscape with monsters, treasures, challenges, and so forth. Players can take multiple runs at this map, effectively extracting to their hub known as The Cursed Outpost as necessary. In each roguelike run, the player's goal is to collect gear and become strong enough to defeat the Crowns. If players defeat all three Crowns on a map or die to them, the cycle is reset with a new map. Defeating the Crowns is the way players will eventually open the way to the Abyss King. In many ways, the Cycle creates the open-world feel of Hyper Light Breaker, while the runs give players the nitty-gritty of the roguelike genre.

According to Clark, each map created by the Cycle will be roughly the same size. There are a handful of traversal features that help encourage exploring the world, like the Hoverboard, but ultimately each cycle will create a world composed of 3 biomes (of a total of 4 at the Early Access launch). This will increase during the Early Access period, but because of the map's natural features, each world will feel distinct early on. Summarizing the relationship between cycles and runs, Clark said,

"You¡¯ll do multiple runs in the same world per cycle, but each cycle comes with a whole new world, with new terrain and biomes and structures and everything. There are a few things that change right now at launch from run to run, but over the course of Early Access, we¡¯re looking to add a lot more dynamic changes to each run."

When it comes to exploring the world of Hyper Light Breaker, Lead Technical Artist Len White points toward the team's 2021 game, Solar Ash, as their prime influence. Fans can expect a similar structure between Solar Ash's world and the Overgrowth. As White said,

"Solar Ash was a large world made up of a number of unique sub-worlds. In HLB we¡¯ve created a similar structure with the Overgrowth being composed of several unique biomes to explore. Also the traversal mechanics share DNA, especially when on your hoverboard in Breaker. I think some of what we learned about balancing exploration and fighting in Solar Ash came in useful in designing HLB."

The Sounds of the Overgrowth

Matching the expectations of Disasterpeace's soundtrack for Hyper Light Drifter might as well be an impossible problem itself, as its minimalist, electronic approach successfully complemented the other audiovisual elements of the game. As Composer Troupe Gammage explained, the team hopes to capture the "same ephemeral combination of sights and sounds that made the original game so intoxicating, which means a brand new aesthetic tailor-made for the 3D open world." Gammage described this approach to Hyper Light Breaker's world as "electronic maximalist."

Beyond the soundtrack, of course, Hyper Light Breaker's audio design must complement the atmosphere of this 3D open world.

Alex Johnson on How HLB's Audio Design Complements its Atmosphere

Breaker is set in an open, procedural world, so we made it our goal to leverage that as an advantage. We built dynamic systems that provide these experiences in a deliberate, organic way, emphasizing the flow between exploration, combat, and rest. We also found key moments where we could reliably strike a clear feeling, like the moment you ride up an elevator for the first time in a new world. As for sound design, we had a goal to keep this world colorful, yet grounded. We always considered the sounds to be emanating from real devices, real characters. To add depth, we used retro techniques such as FM synthesis, frequency shifting, and ring modulation.

Troupe Gammage on How HLB's Audio Design Complements its Atmosphere

During gameplay in the open world: awe and wonder. This is a game that surprises even the dev team with its vistas due to procedural generation. During confined encounters, and in the game¡¯s hub area, we wanted to dig deeply into the culture of the Hyper Light world. What instruments did they make with the technology they had? What voices of the past would still be echoing in the present day?

Heavy is the Head That Challenges the Crowns

Because they serve as the path to the Abyss King, the main boss fights¡ªThe Crowns¡ªfit both into the universe and heart of Hyper Light Breaker. Gameplay-wise, the world is shaped around their arenas and each run is about taking down the Crowns. For the Early Access launch, players will be able to fight two Crowns: Dro and Exus. The Abyss King won't be a boss battle available at the Early Access launch, but he still has a huge impact on the Overgrowth. As Clark explained, the Abyss King will be flinging meteors down on the world, dropping enemies on top of players, and dispatching powerful assassins.

Dro (Explained By Clark)

"Dro [is] a giant, blindfolded wolf who wields a gnarly sword. She¡¯ll leap and slash and stomp throughout the arena, and when she is injured, she¡¯ll start sending out swarms of ¡°bullet hell¡± style projectiles."

Exus (Explained By Clark)

"Exus has powerful flaming attacks, filling his arena with flaming whirlwinds as he dash-punches players and flings fireballs."

Story-wise, however, it's clear that Crowns are just not generic baddies. Clark explained that players will learn more about what happened to the Overgrowth, how the world has changed and is changing, when the Abyss King gained power, and who the Abyss King and his Crowns "were, are, and aspire to be." Michet also added that the story for Hyper Light Breaker began with the Breakers and the Crowns. Each is described by Michet as having,

"...their own experience of the world and their own goals, fears, and relationships with one another. The story focuses on these things."

Hyper Light Breaker's Roguelike Design

Defeating the Crowns may be the goal of each run, but obtaining the power to do so is where players are going to spend most of their time per run. Progression and builds are just as important to its roguelike design as its bosses and general gameplay. Strickland explained that the dev team went back and forth on Hyper Light Breaker's metaprogression (how progression overall works vs progression between runs).

He explained that, early on in the project, it was very punishing. Players would either lose everything at the end of a run or everything would be melted down at the end of the cycle. Permanent upgrades between cycles and SyCom improvements were consistent, but how to treat weapons and mods was a big question. From this question eventually came an answer, which Strickland explained,

"Eventually, we started folding in some elements that would allow gear and mods to persist for longer - introducing the concept of gear durability or the ability to stash gear in a vault."

??Clark also explained the four major progression systems in Hyper Light Breaker:

• "Your vault, which is the gear you¡¯re collecting - you¡¯ll lose gear when you die, but amassing a vault of gear will keep you going into the next run with the power you need to succeed. You¡¯ll find gear everywhere in Breaker - killing enemies, finding secrets, buying them from vendors, and looting chests."
• The second system are your SyComs - each character has multiple SyComs, which provide unique abilities and stats, and those stats are upgradeable - want more health, or want to hit harder with your Rail? That¡¯s how you¡¯ll do that. You upgrade your SyComs by spending Cores - rare items that are found throughout the world."
• Next up are Player.EXEs - these are permanent upgrades that add new functionality to your Breaker - making your starting gear more powerful, letting you reflect projectiles with a parry, carry medkits, etc. These are unlocked with Golden Rations.
• "Finally, you can also gift those Golden Rations to the various vendors and build your relationship with them - this will unlock deals, weapon upgrades, and other abilities with the vendors."

Player builds are also important in any roguelike game, with Clark explaining that the Hyper Light Breaker development team started by envisioning various archetypes: tank, summoner, sniper, etc. The initial loot pool focused on gear supporting these builds, but it couldn't stop there or there would be a lot of narrow-use gear that doesn't mix and match well. Once that pool was established, developers began tweaking things to make them more flexible. As Clark said,

"From there, it¡¯s mostly a matter of playing a lot and asking ¡°What do I want to find next to make this cooler? Is that in the game?¡± Ultimately, it comes down to playing the game a LOT and trying a lot of different combinations."

The Cursed Outpost - A Constant in the Chaos

In between runs, players will visit The Cursed Outpost. Like many game hubs, players will access different shops, upgrade stations, and characters. It'll evolve over time, introducing new characters (who have their own stories), upgrades, and customization options. However, what's worth noting is that this Outpost is the only place in the Overgrowth that isn't changing. Given there is a story and lore reason that the Overgrowth goes through world-changing cycles, it stands to reason that there's a lore and story reason that the Cursed Outpost doesn't (and that's ignoring the ominous name). Describing The Cursed Outpost, Strickland said,

"The Cursed Outpost is the one part of the game that isn't constantly changing - it¡¯s a fixed point in a world that is always reshaping itself. Sure, there are things to unlock and critters who want to sell you things, but it¡¯s a calm, vibe-y place to return to after the chaos of a run."

Early Access Launch is Just Hyper Light Breaker's First Cycle

Hyper Light Breaker's core gameplay loop involves players completing runs until they either win or lose, restarting a brand new cycle with a brand new map after that. In many ways, Hyper Light Breaker's Early Access is just the game's first "cycle" too. Heart Machine has ambitious plans to fine-tune its characters and builds, the game's roguelike and open-world content, and its overall scope through each Early Access "run." That would be impossible without a community to support the devs, and Heart Machine has always excelled at fostering community.

Clark made a point of describing Heart Machine fans as "people...not metrics, KPIs, demographics, market share, or whatever." The inverse of that is that the community has come to know Heart Machine as people as well: "as artists, as designers, creators, not as a faceless corporation." This personal relationship makes each person a "stakeholder" in so many ways, according to Zhang, who also recalled how Heart Machine began as a "group of artists operation out of Alx's garage." In her own words,

Community has always been core to our success. Given our studio¡¯s grassroots beginnings as a small Kickstarter launched by a group of artists operating out of Alx¡¯s garage, we know we wouldn¡¯t be where we are today without the support of our fans and industry colleagues...Our supporters become stakeholders in our projects because they're able to feel the impact they've individually made to the games we're making. And as stakeholders, they feel excited to share our games with their communities. The relationship we have with our player base gives us a huge advantage in this increasingly competitive market and will ultimately be critical to our post-Early Access launch plans.

The Early Access cycle of Hyper Light Breaker begins on January 14 and, beyond that, the priorities of Heart Machine are pretty straightforward. As Clark explained, the team wants to achieve the following throughout Early Access:

• Double or triple most content, including playable characters, available gear, the available boss fights, narrative systems, and so forth.
• Add more variety and depth to the world and gameplay systems, like more changes between runs of the same cycle, end-game difficulty systems, and more unlocks and progression mechanics.
• The team has also built in time to their schedule to account for fan input like feedback, suggestions, and improvements.

Hyper Light Breaker is an open-world roguelike game, a contradiction and impossible problem that Heart Machine has already solved. That alone is a resume-worthy commendation for every Heart Machine dev, but HLB is not a one-and-done moment for Heart Machine. Through each run and cycle of its Early Access period, Hyper Light Breaker will get bigger and better¡ªproving that, sometimes, an impossible problem is an incredible opportunity.