Heart Machine Ends Development on Hyper Light Drifter Sequel Just Months After Its Early Access

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It’s been a rough start to the week for indie game fans, including myself. Development on a highly anticipated game has been cancelled after the studio had to let some employees go.

Heart Machine, the studio behind Hyper Light Breaker, recently announced (via Game Developer) that the game is moving out of active development and into its final polishing stages – earlier than they initially anticipated.

Heart Machine Wraps Up Its Sequel Sooner Than Expected

This game is a sequel to the popular Hyper Light Drifter, originally released in 2016. It keeps the open-world, roguelike gameplay but features a big visual change: instead of the original’s 2D pixel art style, this new game uses 3D graphics.

This update arrives only nine months after the game first became available in early access this January. Player reviews on Steam were mixed, with around 67% of nearly 2,600 reviews being positive.

With the development of Hyper Light Breaker now finished, Heart Machine announced they will be reducing staff, though the exact number of layoffs hasn’t been revealed.

The team at Hyper Light Breaker has unfortunately had to say goodbye to some skilled colleagues. The studio explained this wasn’t the outcome they hoped for, but it became necessary due to the current situation.

This project will wrap up soon, but its outcome is also affected by things outside of our direct control, like changes in funding, mergers of companies, and the challenges currently facing small studios like ours.

Heart Machine aims to release a refined version of their work on Hyper Light Drifter in January 2026. They won’t be sharing any further updates or answering questions for the remainder of the year. According to a studio representative, they’re focused on delivering a polished and complete experience given their current resources, and plan to do so in January.

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2025-10-09 17:09