Like many of its predecessors, Hyper Light Breaker is a challenging, but rewarding roguelike. Or, at least it can be if you play your cards right. When diving into the game’s maps, known as the Overgrowth, it can be tricky to know exactly how to approach each world without the proper guidance.
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PostsBut, Hyper Light Breaker is a game that rewards patience and careful planning more than anything else. So, before each run, make sure you’re armed with the proper intel. Here are some early game tips and tricks for beginners to make sure your breaker survives as long as possible.
Currently, Hyper Light Breaker is in Early Access. This guide reflects info based on our playthrough of this version of the game, but is subject to change.
Prioritize Upgrading The Cursed Outpost
The Cursed Outpost is your hub world, your sanctuary, that you return to in between runs. At the start of play, however, not all of it is unlocked.
Two vendors are not available at the beginning. Reference the below table to see who these vendors are and what they can do.
Vendor
Cost To Open
What It Does
Skeksis the Tinkerer
12 Materials
Buy, sell, and upgrade Holobytes, Amps, and Armor
Cobra Balta the Rail Mechanic
12 Materials
Buy, sell, and upgrade Rails
In your first couple of runs, prioritize earning Materials so that you can open these vendors. It may seem like a low priority early on.
But, you’ll soon discover how much the right weapon or gear can improve a run, and there’s no other way to guarantee getting the right ones without having these vendors unlocked.
Don’t Get Too Attached To Gear
While there are ways to upgrade your breaker permanently, you shouldn’t get too attached to any one item.
Every piece of gear in Hyper Light Breaker has a durability score (typically from one to five) that reduces after each death.
Usually, within one full cycle, you’ll be starting from scratch.
Think carefully about when you want to purchase and use certain gear from vendors. But, you shouldn’t hold onto things for too long. Use it or lose it anyway!
Going For Prisms First Isn’t Always A Good Idea
Hyper Light Breaker starts with one basic tutorial – the game tells you that prisms are your primary goal.
And, while this is true, it’s not always a great idea at the start of a run to dive headfirst into earning a prism. Try to prioritize finding other resources or weapons first:
Resource Or Weapon
Type
Benefits
Rail
Ranged Weapon
Improved Rails with unique abilities.
Blade
Melee Weapon
Improved Blades with unique abilities.
Utility
Resource
Health, Holobytes and other resources are usually found near this icon.
Equipment
Resource
Items like Cores, Brightblood, keys and more can be found here.
Stash
Resource
Typically items like Materials are found here or even keys.
Oftentimes, prisms are locked behind doorsthat require keys. Or other times, they are swarmed with the deadliest of enemies you’ll find on the map.
You’ll most likely want to spend some time exploringbefore you start hunting for prisms immediately.
Spend Time Looking For Medigems
Medigems are an important resource in the Overgrowth. Especially at the start of the game, healing is hard to come by.
Sometimes enemies will drop health, but usually it’s only a +5 to your overall HP.
At the start of each run, for every three Medigems that you have in your posession, a conversion will occur transforming these into Medpacks.
Medigems are small plant-like objects in the Overgrowth.
By collecting them, you can use various Shrine locations to refill your medkit, which allows you to heal yourself over the course of a run.
Just make sure you have the medkit capacity first by upgrading your storage in The Cursed Outpost.
Look For Vendors In the Overgrowth
It can definitely be fun to dive headfirst into combat in the Overgrowth. And oftentimes, things like weapons or prisms are guarded by tons of enemies.
However, it’s also worth taking the time to explore other locations like Vendors which sell a variety of resources. Here are just some of the things Vendors can sell.
- Keys
- Medkits
- Cores
How Long Does It Take To Beat Hyper Light Drifter?
This one depends a lot on personal skills.
PostsExtract Earlier Rather Than Later
Extraction may seem like a get-out-of-jail-free card, but it’s most certainly not.
At the beginning of each run, you’ll see an extraction point labeled on your map to return to the Cursed Outpost.
Extracting assures that you hold onto items for longer, and that you don’t lose a life in your cycle.
However, when you extract, you’ll have to contend with a few waves of enemies. So, if you think you can extract with minimal health, you’re running the risk of dying anyway.
If your run is not going well, extract earlierrather than later to preserve resources and lives.
Focus On Permanent Upgrades Over Temporary Ones
While it can be tempting to spend Brightblood and other resources on high-powered gear each and every run, remember that these carry over and can be converted into Golden Rations, one of the most valuable resources in the game.
Golden Rations and other resources like Abyss Stones can be used to unlock the following permanent upgrades:
- Better Sycoms - Sycoms have different skillsets and perks depending on which one you equip at the start of a run, so pay close attention to these.
- New Breakers - Each Breaker (your player character) also has different abilities. These require
- Permanent Upgrades - Upgrading your stamina or Medkit storage can be a lifesaver out there, so pay attention to the permanent upgrades stand in The Cursed Outpost.
- Garner Favor With Vendors - Using Golden Rations to garner favor with vendors can lower costs.
Don't underestimate Golden Rations and other resources. Don’t spend all your Brightblood or Materials toward the end of a cycle just because you think you have to.
Don’t Worry About Reactivating The Telipad Early On
At the end of each cycle, you’ll find Pherus Bit, your mission captain, standing by the Telipad which launches you into the Overgrowth.
She’ll offer you the chance to reactivate the Telipad for a certain number of resources. Early on, this is almost never worth it.
As mentioned before, these resources carry over and can be converted into permanent upgrades.
Unless you’re incredibly close to defeating a boss or finding something valuable that you had your eye on, spending these resources early on is not recommended.
Wait until you’ve got more permanent upgrades and a few boss victories under your belt before reactivating the Telipad.
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