With Hyper Light Breaker, Heart Machine finds itself doing something that is increasingly rare. When polygons first took over from sprites, it was more commonplace. But a series moving from a top-down perspective to a fully three-dimensional world doesn’t happen often in 2024. So you can forgive a few teething issues translating combat that works beautifully from an overhead view on a single screen to a world where enemies can attack from any angle. Or perhaps the issue is ours – and we simply need to adjust to the fact that we can’t play Breaker as we did Drifter. Either way, the studio has the chance to fine-tune the game in Early Access. And when we’re not getting repeatedly destroyed, there is much to admire.
Were Alx Preston seeking inspiration, he could perhaps look to Visions Of Mana, the latest entry in a series that also began with a top-down perspective and attractive sprite work (and, for that matter, an Edge 9). Back in 1993, Square’s action-RPG series was already exploring three dimensions: the trickery of the SNES hardware’s Mode 7 gave the illusion of 3D flight as you took to the skies on Flammie in Secrets Of Mana. The latest entry has an appealing traversal mechanic of its own (and rideable mounts besides), though it will have to go some to match its illustrious predecessor.
