My most-anticipated open-world game looks better with each new trailer: Hyper Light Breaker shows off a fiery boss ahead of the roguelike’s summer launch

The Hyper Light universe is expanding, and man does it look cool

When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

Open-world roguelike Hyper Light Breaker is launching in Steam Early Access this summer, as developer Heart Machine affirmed in a new trailer showing off another slick boss fight.

Heart Machine was one of the many indie devs included in today’s joint Triple-I showcase, and as ever, Hyper Light Breaker was a personal highlight for me. The follow-up to the 2016 classic Hyper Light Drifter, which builds mechanically on the stellar 3D movement Heart Machine demonstrated in its previous gameSolar Ash, expands the universe with an ever-changing 3D world that’s functionally bottomless.It could well be one of the biggest roguelikes of the yearin more ways than one, and this new boss is yet another challenge to look forward to.

The star of today’s trailer is the aptly named Flame Wizard, who packs a mix of melee and ranged attacks, teleports, and seemingly a chunky melee buddy who I’m going to call the Flame Warrior. The Flame Wizard fight looks a little less bullet hell than some of the other bosses we’ve seen, though there are still clearly a lot of attacks to dodge.

Hyper Light Breaker has been described as a combat-first experience glued together by slick movement, mounting progression like gear unlocks and light settlement expansion, and an evolving narrative tied to the mysterious Overgrowth. Boss fights are front-and-center, with rich lore backing each one,like the Last Master swordmasterwho could just about slot right into aFromSoftwaretapestry. The Flame Wizard joins a rapidly growing ensemble of threats, and I’m as eager as ever to take them on for myself, and maybe again with some buddies in online co-op.

We recently spoke to Heart Machine about two key details: roguelike build-crafting and cool hoverboards.

Sign up to the GamesRadar+ Newsletter

Weekly digests, tales from the communities you love, and more

Austin freelanced for the likes of PC Gamer, Eurogamer, IGN, Sports Illustrated, and more while finishing his journalism degree, and he’s been with GamesRadar+ since 2019. They’ve yet to realize that his position as a senior writer is just a cover up for his career-spanning Destiny column, and he’s kept the ruse going with a focus on news and the occasional feature, all while playing as many roguelikes as possible.

After 3 years and over 30 updates, Vampire Survivors finally has vampires - and even Baldur’s Gate 3’s Astarion actor is here as Dracula

Cult of the Lamb dev says the roguelike is “just like Animal Crossing” except “more realistic, since you can’t buy a house”

In a first for Dragon Age, The Veilguard director reiterates the RPG won’t have DLC as BioWare pivots to work on Mass Effect 5