Hyper Light Breaker studio will end the game’s development and lay off staff

Heart Machine will wind down development on the third-person roguelike Hyper Light Breaker, seemingly confirming that it will never make it out of early access. The follow-up to indie darling Hyper Light Drifter was first in 2022 and after several finally entered early access at the of 2025.

But it looks like a 1.0 release won’t be arriving, with the studio confirming that it is ending development on the game and has had to lay off an unspecified number of its staff as a result. In a , Heart Machine said: “As we wrap up our work on Hyper Light Breaker, we’ve had to make the difficult decision to part with a number of talented team members. This was not our ideal path, but rather the only one available given the circumstances. While this path will include a conclusion on the project, it reflects broader forces beyond our control, including shifts in funding, corporate consolidation and the uncertain environment many small studios like us are navigating today.”

The studio said it plans to continue making games with its consolidated workforce — the Devolver-published sci-fi side-scrolling action game  is still due to launch next month — and indicated that Hyper Light Breaker won’t meet an entirely abrupt end. The studio said it plans to “deliver something meaningful and as polished and complete as we can given our current circumstances” in January, but added that no further updates are planned for the remainder of 2025.

Engadget’s Jessica Conditt of Hyper Light Breaker in March of last year, and called it the “perfect amalgamation of Hyper Light Drifter and Solar Ash” (the studio’s other game), while praising its hoverboarding gameplay.