Hyper Light Breakerwill be entering its Early Access period soon. After earning high praise and finding success with 2016’sHyper Light Drifter, developer Heart Machine is returning to the setting and taking the franchise in a new direction.Hyper Light Breakermarks a shift from the original entry’s retro 2D pixel presentation and isometric action into a fully 3D “open-world roguelike,” along with a change in art style that more closely resembles the studio’s 2021 outing,Solar Ash.
Similarly, but not exactly likeHyper Light Drifter’s story delivery, Hyper Light Breakerdoesn’t communicate its narrative or information directly to the player.Hyper Light Breakerinstead relies on illustrated comic panels in lieu of standard dialogue to create a “show, don’t tell” effect. In a conversation with Game Rant, narrative director Laura Michet and lead producer Michael Clark further detailed why this device is so effective, and howHyper Light Breakerwill continue to utilize and integrate it to convey its story.
Hyper Light Breaker’s Unique Narrative Presentation
One ofHyper Light Drifter’s most fascinating aspects is that the titular Drifter or most NPCs ever utter a word. Still, players can learn a great deal about each character’s past and current state from interactions with them that are communicated through a short series of pictures.
Clark stated that the team took the maxim of “show, don’t tell” to heart, noting how doing so instead of explicitly spelling everything out can draw players further into the narrative.
“It operates on a different level than text or speech, and plays very well into the worlds we create. We create deep, interesting worlds, and our players enjoy discovering them and discussing them.”
This was certainly true forHyper Light Drifter’sworld, leading to satisfying and meaningful moments for fans, as well as feeding the lore and history of the setting itself, much of which is up for interpretation. By doubling down on showing and not telling,Hyper Light Breakerwill allow players to again absorb the story on their own terms, inviting them to share their reactions and connect with the wider community as they do.
Fittingly to the above, Hyper Light Drifteralso contains a series of inscribed monoliths that were eventually transcribed through fans' careful decoding of in-game glyphs.
Hyper Light Breaker Will Expand on Its Predecessor’s Storytelling Sensibilities
Michet explained thatHyper Light Drifter’s use of enigmatic images provided the grounds to apply those techniques inHyper Light Breaker. PresentingBreaker’sstory componentsin a similar way to the first title, while accounting for changes in design, will aid how players discover and unravel the new narrative:
“We wanted to try and lean on and extend the storytelling techniques fromHyper Light DrifterinBreaker. 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.”
With its distinctive narrative interactions inserted into aprocedurally generated world,Hyper Light Breakersets out to followDrifter’s established storytelling conventions while incorporating them into a fresh take on the previous formula.Hyper Light Breakeradheres to the “show, don’t tell” philosophy for its story, promising to create memorable experiences for players as they uncover its mysteries and likely foster lively discussion around them.
