Exclusive Interview: Hyper Light Breaker Devs Reveal Massive ‘Buried Below’ Update

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In a major overhaul titled ‘Buried Below’, Hyper Light Breaker is preparing to roll out a substantial update filled with significant alterations to game mechanics, tutorials, and onboarding, along with an abundance of fresh content. Debuting alongside this release will be a brand-new character called Rondo. Players will also encounter a new Crown (one of Hyper Light Breaker‘s final bosses), named Maw, in their quests. The update features revamped tutorial sections, weapons, points of interest, and a complete redesign of the roguelike gameplay structure, reflecting player feedback.

In a chat with Game Rant, Hyper Light Breaker’s main producer Michael Clark shared details about the significant changes and additions that will be part of this major update. He discussed the team’s decision-making process regarding these modifications, highlighted the prominent traits of the freshly introduced Breaker and Crown characters, and mentioned some of Heart Machine’s focus areas for future Early Access improvements. (For conciseness and clarity, this interview has been condensed.)

The Biggest Changes Coming to Hyper Light Breaker

Q: What would you say are some of the most impactful changes arriving with this update?

Clark: This update focuses on two significant modifications: getting rid of the storage vault for gear between sessions and doing away with multiple lives. The game has been adjusted to accommodate these alterations, and most of the new features and adjustments in this update reflect this major transformation.

Furthermore, we’ve made significant changes to the Breakers based on valuable player input suggesting they lacked distinctiveness. These alterations are quite substantial.

Could you share some examples of player feedback that greatly impacted the team’s decisions during this update process?

Clark: The most significant input we’ve gotten so far comes from players who joined our experimental beta in February, testing a preliminary, unbalanced version of the new run structure for the game. Despite its raw and unpolished nature, it was well-received and generated a lot of feedback. This feedback supported our theory – it gave us great confidence to make major changes with the Buried Below update.

Participants frequently pointed out that the Breakers didn’t seem distinctive enough, as the variations among them were too intricate and delicate to serve as the significant distinction they desired.

Q: Despite numerous modifications made following player suggestions, are there elements that both players and developers agree should stay consistent?

Clark: When we announced Fog of War in our March update patch notes, some players expressed concerns or doubts. After experiencing it themselves, many of those skeptical players acknowledged that it improved their gameplay and conveyed a more authentic sense of discovery and unexplored territories.

As an enthusiast, I view our studio as one that greatly values feedback. To me, every piece of feedback we receive serves as precious data points. The more feedback we gather, the richer and more comprehensive the information becomes for those who are responsible for making decisions. Yet, it’s not just about collecting feedback; it’s about those key decision-makers – the designers, leads, and so on – who carefully sift through this input, shape it into a coherent narrative, and devise an action plan that best serves our game.

In simpler terms, what we have here isn’t a democracy, and it’s not feasible to please everyone who offers suggestions because their feedback often conflicts with each other. Instead, understanding the underlying issues and finding a solution that works best for the game is more about the creator listening to the input they receive, rather than relying on the community to make decisions.

Question: A new manager is coming on board. Could you describe your strategy when designing for them? In what ways is this different from the managers that players have encountered previously?

Clark: Maw stands out from our other Crowns because she appears to be bigger than the entire battlefield where Dro’s fight occurs. Unlike our other Crowns, who loom over the player while still being characters within an arena, Maw doesn’t move around the arena. Instead, she towers above it and extends to attack the player directly.

A: Could you discuss the latest Glaive and Saber weapons for me? What kind of gameplay strategies do they focus on, and what are some potential builds using them?

The weapon known as the Gloom Shiv (Skill Glaive) is an excellent tool for managing crowds due to its wide sweeping attacks. It also deals additional damage and stagger damage when used with a Flash Step, and its blade’s special feature allows you to charge into groups of enemies to inflict quick, powerful multiple hits.

In our recent update from March, you’ll recognize the Dreamblade (Balanced Saber) as the weapon of choice for the Swordmaster Assassin. By charging it up, you can perform a series of powerful strikes, while activating its special blade ability will cut down any enemy within range.

In the latest update called “Buried Below,” Breakers will no longer have access to all weapons at their disposal. However, an innovative new Breaker named Rondo can wield both of the newly introduced weapons. Additionally, the Gloom Shiv’s flash-step ability complements Rondo exceptionally well due to its Bladedancer SyCom Perk, which enhances your own flash step.

Question: Has there been a significant overhaul to the entire running system? Could you explain how the runs have evolved as a result, and the thought process behind this restructuring?

Essentially, we transformed the previous Cycle system (where multiple lives were possible within each Cycle, with equipment being saved between Cycles) into a more traditional roguelike pattern – only one life, and losing all your equipment upon death.

That change does two things:

Initially, it kept every gaming session isolated, ensuring each playthrough felt fresh and self-contained. Previously, with gear carrying over between sessions, the game could be excessively challenging at the start and almost too simple once I’d accumulated a dragon’s fortune of half-used, extremely rare items.

2. It significantly alters the situation: It boosts the significance of your experiences, causing you to approach them differently. It intensifies the balance between danger and reward – the “is it worth taking a chance?” mindset.

Considering these factors, we made numerous adjustments to enhance various aspects of the gameplay: We optimized extraction processes, eliminated the danger meter and radiation meteors which significantly influenced the speed of each run within a Cycle, introduced individual leveling systems for each run, altered the functioning of SyComs, and essentially revamped every aspect of the game in some fashion.

This significant update is beneficial and we’re thrilled about it! We unveiled a trial version for our players way back in February, which garnered tremendous positive responses, and we couldn’t be more content with how the game has evolved since then.

Question: Why did you decide to remove the mechanic where players have to fight off enemy waves during an extraction?

Clark: We didn’t completely eliminate its use – you’ll employ the previous extraction pads following the defeat of all three Crowns in a Cycle. Games involve a succession of significant decisions, with “Extract now or continue taking risks?” being the fundamental choice players should be weighing repeatedly throughout a cycle.

Through this specific method of regulating access to extraction, we eliminated the option – extracting resources demanded such a level of commitment that most individuals decided against taking unnecessary risks.

As a gamer, when using the new system, I can withdraw from a shrine whenever I want, but it means losing any stored echoes of power (bright blood). Plus, leveling up happens at these shrines – using my collected echoes to do so. This regularly puts players in a tough spot: should I extract now and lose whatever bright blood remains, or keep going and try to gather enough to level up one more time before withdrawing?

As a gamer, I’ve discovered that the simplicity and reduced risk of extraction makes it an enticing prospect. With just a single tap, I can clear a group of foes, earning me an entire level in return – a moment that never fails to exhilarate!

Hyper Light Breaker’s New Character

Question: With the upcoming update, we have a fresh tutorial in store. What strategies can you use to blend guidance and exploration effectively? Are there elements that you prefer players to discover independently?

Clark: Our goal is to ensure our players understand the rules rather than the strategies. It’s impossible to enhance your gameplay without first grasping the rules. While someone might use a sportsball analogy here, I might drop it, so let me rephrase instead. To excel at Balatro, you need to distinguish between a full house and a straight before you can truly master it. We aim to teach you defensive techniques like parrying and dodging, allowing you to eventually realize that perfecting the parry in response to Dro’s leap attack is crucial if you want to avoid meeting an untimely demise again.

Question: A fresh character is joining the game. Could you discuss their abilities, possible playstyles, and whether their design was influenced by player feedback?

Rondo, the latest Breaker character, possesses two SyCom advantages, each enhancing one of your fundamental battle techniques. The Reaper skill induces bleeding in nearby enemies when you successfully execute a precise counterattack, while the Bladedancer tags targets for heightened damage upon striking them with a Flash Step. Our team has both draft and preliminary designs for all upcoming Breaker characters. Since Breakers are intended to pioneer playstyles rather than be used reactively during design phases, they won’t be held back for later adjustments.

Question: With Hyper Light Breaker, there has been a shift towards character development based on classes. Could you highlight some advantages observed as a result of this change?

Clark: In simpler terms, this change makes things more efficient by limiting the weapons each Breaker can choose from. This simplifies the process of comparing new gear with what you already have and potential options, and provides clearer guidelines for creating builds. Contrary to what one might initially think, having fewer choices doesn’t mean less meaningful decisions; instead, when confronted with too many options in a short timeframe, humans tend to simplify the choices by creating abstract concepts, bringing the number of real choices down to a manageable level.

Narrowing down our choices leads us away from general ideas and towards specific comparisons instead. It’s like walking into a well-stocked grocery store where you’re asked what to have for dinner tonight – with so many options, you might not even explore. But if I ask whether you prefer a supreme pizza or a BLT, the decision becomes more tangible and deliberate as your mind instinctively considers each ingredient and their impact on your evening plans.

Moving forward, could you share some insights about the priorities of the Hyper Light Breaker team following this update? Which aspects of the game do you feel require your immediate attention and development?

Clark: Our focus now shifts towards enhancing the open world experience, making it more engaging and worthwhile to discover, while expanding the variety of activities within the world. Additionally, we aim to enhance multiplayer functionality by introducing new methods for team coordination.

In our Summer update, you’ll find all that along with a couple of fresh Crowns. As we approach version 0.6 (The Buried Below update), we’ll focus on end-game advancement, complexity levels, and so forth. And just as before, players can anticipate new Weapons, Breakers, Holobytes, Foes, and additional content each month, with monthly updates continuing and quarterly major ones leading us to version 1.0.

Q: What are you most interested in hearing feedback on with this update?

Clark: We’ve undergone significant transformations. We’re not at v1.0 yet, but what really gets us pumped up is listening to players’ feedback about these changes – Are they finding the change enjoyable? Did we head in the correct direction with this? Is there something they want us to focus on even more?

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2025-04-24 19:05