Hyper Light Breaker devs address Mixed reviews after open-world roguelike's early access launch: complaints are "extremely reasonable," expect "improvements ASAP"

News
By published

"Receiving large quantities of the same actionable requests actually helps us determine how to prioritize future updates"

Hyper Light Breaker early access launch
(Image credit: Heart Machine)

Heart Machine, the studio behind the new action roguelike Hyper Light Breaker, knows the game has a Mixed rating on Steam after 24 hours in Early Access and is actually pretty cool with it.

In a tweet chain, Heart Machine acknowledges the fact that not everyone's happy with Hyper Light Breaker in its current state and suggests it's simply a product of launching in Early Access. It's a valid argument; the whole point of Early Access is to release an unfinished game into the wild, usually with the intent of receiving constructive criticism in the form of player feedback, i.e., reviews.

"All the feedback about the lack of keybinding and sensitivity controls, FPS drops, etc. is extremely reasonable. And, receiving large quantities of the same actionable requests actually helps us determine how to prioritize future updates.

"It's encouraging that these are the issues folks are pointing to as a) it's stuff we were already planning to add in, b) accessibility advocacy is important and good to see in the industry, and c) they are straightforward fixes!"

Heart Machine assures it's working on Hyper Light Breaker issues "immediately" and that "performance / accessibility improvements" are coming "ASAP." There's no official timeline on all of that just yet, but the dev says we'll learn more tomorrow.

Honestly, I'm not much of a roguelike guy myself, but Heart Machine's response to early negative feedback makes me want to give it a shot. That, and my colleague Austin's glowing Hyper Light Breaker hands-on preview from last year.

Or maybe, but probably not, I'll pick something from our guide to the best roguelikes, which I most definitely didn't write.

Jordan Gerblick
Jordan Gerblick

After earning an English degree from ASU, I worked as a corporate copy editor while freelancing for places like SFX Magazine, Screen Rant, Game Revolution, and MMORPG on the side. I got my big break here in 2019 with a freelance news gig, and I was hired on as GamesRadar's west coast Staff Writer in 2021. That means I'm responsible for managing the site's western regional executive branch, AKA my home office, and writing about whatever horror game I'm too afraid to finish.