HAWKEN REBORN News

With Patch 0.1.1.0 around the corner, July has been particularly busy as we took player feedback that dissected all the elements of Hawken Reborn and did a bit of our own dissecting by prioritizing the entire month towards reformulating the First Time User Experience (FTUE). While this is only the tip of the iceberg, it’s a significant part in how we address the “survivorship bias” comments that we’ve seen relating to how much great constructive feedback we’ve highlighted from the community, but seemingly ignoring others who simply put the game down due to their negative first impressions.


There are many more areas of improvement that we’re tackling, but this one in particular is this massive undertaking that requires a pivot from a heavy story lead experience into one where a pilot can truly explore at their own pace without the initial 3+ hour grind to get into Patrol Mode.

If you need a refresher from our Dev Blog #3 - Baselines, Patch 0.1.1.0 will let pilots hop into Patrol Mode after completing the game’s first mission (Starfall) and then they’ll be able to learn the ropes of repairing, crafting, and upgrading mechs at their own leisure. This will take approximately 15 minutes and from there, a pilot can choose to explore the free roam areas of the Refuge (Zone A) or hop back into the game’s narrative driven Story Arc for the remaining 5 missions, which will give a preview of the other zones in the game.


[h2]PATCH 0.1.1.0 OVERVIEW[/h2]
Even though it may not seem like a lot of changes if you’ve already played a few hours of Hawken Reborn, it’s still a critical detour on this Early Access journey that paves the way for some really exciting things to come. Here’re a few notable adjustments that we’ve made that all players will notice immediately.


[h3]Pre Launch Settings[/h3]
Right out the gate, pilots will be greeted with a settings page before starting the first mission. This will allow you to set up the game how you want to play without having to worry about the always online server instance (for future co-op) that you’re about to load into. Unfortunately this settings page does not have a key binding option, but it’s definitely something that we know is a much desired feature and on our list to tackle.


[h3]Dash Cooldown[/h3]
Just a small, but critical part in dialling our movement formula is the dash which will see a noticeable cooldown reduction that will allow for more agile close quarters combat experience. Future updates will factor in mech weight and thrusters which will open up a lot of customization options based on your specific playstyle.


[h3]Mission Director[/h3]
The Refuge has 30 total Patrol Missions available, but due to the current Mission Director programming, most players were only able to experience a handful of the same missions over, and over, and over again… So instead of getting your fill of vitrolum laced wine runs or escorting our favorite tragic poet Neil around, heading back into Patrol Mode will now surface several new missions that were previously very tedious to obtain.


[h3]HUD Improvements[/h3]
Similar to our update to the dash ability, our HUD is going to get a revamp factoring in feedback that we’ve received from the community. Things such as clear ammo indicators in the center, better health/shield bars, and an array of other design changes that will do a better job in communicating critical information are in the works. For now though, you’ll notice that the ammo indicator has significantly been increased in size and damage markers will now vignette as you take hull damage in combat.


[h3]Climate Change[/h3]
Illal gets a little dose of climate change as the green haze has been dialled down for a cleaner viewing experience. We’ve seen some feedback that the game has a bit too much green haze that can blur the lines between what’s part of your cockpit vs the external environment. This aesthetic is mostly relegated to the Refuge, but since you spend most of your Patrol Mode time here currently, it’s a much needed change to make things easier to distinguish when combat can get a bit chaotic.


[h2]FEATURES IN DEVELOPMENT[/h2]
We’ve talked a bit about the changes that are coming with Patch 0.1.1.0 so let’s get back on track to some of the big developments that are going to make an exciting impact on your gameplay experience in the future.

[h3]Multiplayer Co-op[/h3]
Originally listed as an Early Access Phase 3 feature in our road map, Multiplayer Co-op is now being moved up in our development plans. We felt that making sure multiplayer co-op has ample time to polish in Early Access is an extremely critical variable. Since its earliest inception, the game has always been built with co-op in mind, which is why there is no pause button in its current single player experience. You, as a player, are on an active real time server, which means that you’ll be hosting fellow pilots in the future. When specifically we aren’t able to say just yet, but know that co-op is currently in high priority development.

[h3]Arsenal Additions[/h3]
In addition to the existing 5 Mech Platforms, 6 Thrusters, and 9 weapons that launched with Early Access, a few new additions are going to be added to the garage to increase the variety of options available to take into battle.


[h3]Ostentum Heavy Mech[/h3]
Released only as a cosmetic in H1 as the Falum, Hawken Reborn’s Ostentum is the next tank-like heavy platform that will be unlockable as its own dedicated mech for your garage.

Description: Every specialist soldier is an investment in training, time and equipment. Protect that investment with the Ostentum luxury heavy mech. A single Ostentum can protect your snipers and e-war units, needing only seconds of rest for a full recovery. This is not just any mech, this is the Sentium Ostentum heavy defensive platform.

[h3]New Weapons[/h3]


[h3]Ultra Rapid Fire SMG[/h3]
Loaded with small calibre rounds at a medium effective range, this new Sub Machine Gun will dispel targets easily with its extremely fast firing rate and even larger clip than your standard SMG.


[h3]Loren Missile Launcher[/h3]
Boasting semi-automatic high velocity lock-on missiles, the Loren is your answer to dealing with distant waves of enemies at a time. Don’t be fooled by the low clip size, these missiles pack an explosive punch.


[h3]Wyndham Moors (Zone B)[/h3]
Currently only the Refuge (Zone A) is available in Patrol Mode. This is because the start of Early Access meant having a complete Story Arc 0 and one zone featuring 30 patrol missions with full voice acting to enhance the narrative. During your playthrough of the Story Arc, you’ll get a preview of the other zones in Hawken Reborn, but they are still locked out because their Patrol Mode missions are still in development.

For context, these are the areas and their respective missions.

Mission 4: The Dead Body Problem - The Fracture
Mission 3: Love, Death and Giant Robots - Korelev Pass
Mission 6: Use of Weapons - Wyndham Moors

Wyndham Moors (Zone B) will be the next area that we’ll be dropping the barriers to explore. In contrast to the Refuge, you’ll see a much more vibrant pop of color as this area has several facilities that are utilized by the inhabitants to thrive in Illal's harsh environment.

[h2]CLOSING REMARKS[/h2]
With Patch 0.1.1.0 soon to be released and the curtain lifted for some new developments, we hope that you’re walking away as enthusiastic as we are! The upcoming development cycles are going to be an exciting time on Illal as we start to roll out new game features that’ll layer in more and more polish to the Hawken Reborn experience. Until then, we encourage you to take this time to level up a few mechs and find the right combination of loadouts that feel right to you.

[hr][/hr]
Hawken Reborn is now available on PC Steam Early Access. To learn more visit our Early Access Blog and Steam Page https://HWKN.link/Download.

To stay up to date on all the latest Hawken Reborn news and connect with fellow pilots, join us at our official social media channels.

Discord: https://HWKN.link/Discord

Reddit: https://Reddit.com/r/HawkenReborn

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/HawkenReborn

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/HawkenReborn

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/HawkenReborn

YouTube: https://YouTube.com/@HawkenReborn

Now that we’ve had a chance to dust ourselves off from the Hard Landing that inaugurated Hawken Reborn’s Early Access, our team has been at work pushing updates and doing deep dives into all of the feedback that we’ve been seeing.

In the six weeks since launch, our priorities have been focused on tackling major game breaking bugs and optimizing pain points that lead to a negative overall experience with the current game. These changes came by way of three “hotfix” patches that addressed soft locking bugs, combat balancing, refactoring difficulty curves, resource farming adjustments, and a slew of other gears that needed retuning. As of version 0.1.0.3, the game is in a pretty good position with a few lingering bugs, but we’re overall happy by how stable things have been this early into production.

In terms of feedback, we’ve been pouring over the vast amounts of posts across Hawken social channels, Steam reviews, analytics, and direct community conversations to establish some insightful baselines to guide our development decisions. Many thanks to everyone who has engaged with us and shared their thoughts! Here are just a few of those baselines that we’d like to point out.

COMMUNITY FEEDBACK
Our number one priority is engaging with all Hawken players and the amount of feedback that we’ve seen has been immense to say the least. We’ve seen the impassioned critical walls of #forumposting and just on our Discord Server alone, there are over 200+ feedback posts made by players. While we can’t comment on every single one, our community team has been working behind the scenes to flag them with our development team and have started to tag the feedback in our Discord Server to give players some visibility into how we’re sorting their posts.

STEAM REVIEWS
As of today, our Steam reviews sit at a “Mostly Negative” rating from 1,591 reviewers. At surface value, that’s a pretty disheartening number and obviously something that’s of concern as it detracts potential players from wanting to try the game. On the other hand, it’s also a pretty impressive number of reviews considering we intentionally pursued one exclusive interview before launch so it goes without saying that the Hawken community is a passionate bunch.

Just like playing Hawken Reborn, if you look past the current review rating and take the game for a test drive, you’ll find some interesting things that point in a positive direction. Here’s what we’ve gleaned from the reviewers.

Of the 1,591 reviews giving Hawken Reborn a 23% Mostly Negative rating, 606 players (38% of total reviews) have played more than 1 hour of Hawken Reborn. Those 1+ hour players have rated the game at a 39% Mostly Negative rating, but just 1% shy of Steam’s “Mixed” 40% threshold. That’s a 16% difference just by playing the game an hour or longer. As we dive into the longer play times, the numbers look more promising and help surface other additional insights.


We have other back end data to help analyze the above, but looking at these public reviewer numbers, we know that players who spend 2 hours or more in the game will average in the “Mixed” rating. That to us is a playtime milestone that we need to improve since the current heart of Hawken Reborn resides in its Patrol Mode gameplay loop that’s only made available after playing the first 4 of 6 Story Arc missions during our First Time User Experience (FTUE). Our data shows that the median to this Patrol Mode threshold is approximately 3 hrs 15 mins so you can see that we have a significant time barrier that we need to truncate.

The stats also shows that as players approach the 5+ hours mark, we get closer to the “Mostly Positive” 70% Steam rating and starts pulling back around the 9+ hour mark. This leads us to believe that players are having fun with the game after they familiarize themselves with it, but are likely running out of fresh fun factor sustaining content to play beyond that 9+ hour mark.

Some of our more acrobatic pilots have already gotten a preview of our upcoming Zone B area and while it’s not ready for show time just yet, know that we are actively working on getting new content out to players so that you can stretch your gameplay experience outside of our current Zone A Refuge area.

FIRST TIME USER EXPERIENCE (FTUE) MENTALITY SHIFT
In the course of designing our Hawken Reborn FTUE, we focused on building an introduction to the game to help onboard all types of players and not specifically built for those only familiar with the original Hawken. This is attributed to the game’s PVE pivot making it a new game for everyone. Now that we’ve gone public, it’s obvious to us that for most gamers, piloting a Hawken mech and acclimating to a looter shooter environment isn’t their first joyride. Due to this key learning, we’re making a concerted effort to decouple our Story Arc FTUE as a requirement to unlock Patrol Mode.

What this means is that after our next patch, all you’ll need to get into the Patrol Mode is to complete the first Story Arc Mission “Starfall” which will take approximately 20 minutes and gives you the choice to play the rest of our Story Arc or go straight into Patrol Mode with the first base Apex platform to looter shoot at your own pace. We’re hoping that this change will let players freely test drive Hawken Reborn and see how much enjoyment potential they can have.

PATCH VERSION 0.1.1.0
We mentioned the 3 hotfixes that were released previously and with the much larger change to the FTUE and Patrol Mode changes, the next update will come by way of an actual “Patch”. This is an internal term for larger updates and Hawken Reborn Patch Version 0.1.1.0 is going to be that first of these large updates. This patch also means that we’re going to focus a significant amount of development efforts in the trenches and less on hotfixes which means our previous 2 week cadence is going to take a lot longer for this next patch. We’re currently estimating it to release sometime in August.

In the future, we hope to not have such a long lull in between big patches, but think of it like the Great British Video Game Development Bake Off. We fired all cylinders on high to get the hot fixes out during this initial cook, but now it’s time to dial it back down to medium so we can ensure Patch 0.1.1.0 is properly developed without burning our development team out.

QUALITY OF LIFE UPDATES
Other than the above mentioned changes to how quickly players can hop into Patrol Mode, the next patch will address a few other quality of life changes amongst its extensive list of patch notes that we’ll be publishing.

Threat Level Indicators
One of the biggest balancing acts in Hawken Reborn and a core component to its gameplay loop is Threat Level. Whether it’s Pilot, World, or Enemy Threat Level, this measure of difficulty is structured across all elements of our UI, crafting meta, and combat.

We spent the first weeks prioritizing how the game’s world scales up the Threat Levels as players hop into Patrol Mode and now that we’ve got a good base for this scaling, our next phase is to update the UI to better indicate how much of a risk a pilot wants to take. This information will be displayed in a dynamic HUD graphic at the top of your screen that will show your Threat Level relative to the zone’s Threat Level. With this critical information, you’ll know when you want to rush in guns blazing or head back home to avoid getting one shotted by enemies and risk losing your hard earned loot.

Patrol Mode World Building
Our current gameplay loop is Build mechs/weapons in the Hangar > Hop into Patrol Mode to farm loot & XP in an active battlefield > Head back to the Hangar to repair/upgrade/build > rinse & repeat. One balancing issue that currently exists in Patrol Mode is that periodically there isn’t an active mission or spawned enemies on the map to keep the action going.


In our next build, you’ll notice a stark increase in activities in the map with more instances of Random Encounters to occupy your time while waiting for missions to pop up. This should make things feel more like an active battlefield to ensure that there’s always something to shoot at to maximize your valuable time. We’ve also got other activities in the works, but will save those for a future update.

FREQUENTLY SEEN QUESTIONS
Before we wrapped up this third installment of our developer blog, we wanted to address a few questions that are still lingering amongst the community.

Can you make the original Hawken playable on PC again while you work on Hawken Reborn?
This was a topic we’ve seen since the beginning of Early Access and while we won’t go into the technical reasons why this isn’t a simple flip of the switch, we can discuss it from a practical perspective. In short, no, the original Hawken will not be made available to play on PC again. Not only does it cannibalize potential players from playing Hawken Reborn, but we have made a 100% commitment to Hawken Reborn’s development to continue to improve the game over time.

How big is the development team behind Hawken Reborn?
Our team has gradually scaled up during the development of Hawken Reborn to its current size of roughly 50 members. As the game evolves, so too will our team as we continue to bring in additional talents to support the title and have no plans of slowing down.

Why is there a store in Hawken Reborn when the game is this early in development?
Hawken Reborn’s Early Access is about testing ALL facets of the game and that includes the store. Since our first interview, we’ve always stated that our foundational philosophy around MTX is based on the premise that any item purchased from the store affecting core gameplay such as mechs and weapons can be obtained through gameplay with no inherent advantage.


Take for example our resident mech thicc boi, the Atlas that is in our store rotation. That mech’s blueprint is unlocked to all players who hit Pilot Level 7. Once a blueprint is unlocked, a player will need to farm schematics and use materials found in Patrol Mode to eventually craft their mech. The store acts as a way to shortcut getting an item quicker with no other advantage beyond avoiding the grind since both methods of obtaining the item will yield the same result.


Like many similar games in the market, this grinding element is and will continue to be an ever evolving part of the game’s core design. Our philosophy has always been that we want to be as generous as possible in terms of loot unlocks to avoid the perception of a heavy grind. In cases where this does happen such as the recent bugs resulting in the Impure Explosives scarcity, we’ll be actively working to address the issues head on.

That’s a wrap for our third installment of Hawken Reborn’s developer blog! If you’ve read down this far, you know that we’ve got a ton of work ahead of us and we look forward to sharing more news and eye candy in the future. Until then, be sure to follow us on our official social media channels and visit our official Hawken Reborn Discord Server to join the discourse with other pilots!

To stay up to date on all the latest Hawken Reborn news and connect with fellow pilots, join us at our official social media channels.

Discord: https://HWKN.link/Discord

Reddit: https://Reddit.com/r/HawkenReborn

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/HawkenReborn

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/HawkenReborn

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/HawkenReborn

YouTube: https://YouTube.com/@HawkenReborn

Hey Pilots,

We're back with another update to address a number of core known issues and bugs raised by the community. Make sure to drop by the Discord to leave any and all feedback you have for Hawken Reborn.



[hr][/hr]


Gameplay

• Asteroid Drone’s excessive damage has now been significantly reduced
  
• Aggro has been fixed on some passive infantry who did not fight back when being attacked by pilots
  
• Heavy drones no longer enter an idle state in some instances

Patrol Mode

• Zones with lower Threat Levels than the player's will catch up at an accelerated rate
  
• Random encounter's Threat Level will increase with the zone's TL
  
• Resource nodes have been adjusted to drop more explosives
  
• Threat Level should no longer increase every two seconds after transferring items through the MTP
  
• Certain instances of Threat Level increasing too quickly have been balanced

Quality of Life

• The cursor should no longer clip outside of the game

UI / Text

• Jetpacks will no longer display the weight stat in the hangar as it's no longer a contributing factor
  
• Miscellaneous missing dialogue and hangar text has been fixed
  
• Hitting Alt+Enter to toggle between windowed and full screen mode will now accurately display in the Settings page

Misc.

• During the repair tutorial in the First Time User Experience (FTUE), pilots will no longer be stuck in an infinite loading state
  
• Hawken Reborn's application icon will now be HR themed
  
• Legacy menus should no longer be accessible
  
• Player ID copy button in the hangar now works as intended
  
• Miscellaneous improvements to various cogs, axles, bearings, and doodads greased up for a smoother ride

[hr][/hr]
To stay up to date on all the latest Hawken Reborn news and connect with fellow pilots, join us at our official social media channels.

Discord: https://HWKN.link/Discord

Reddit: https://Reddit.com/r/HawkenReborn

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/HawkenReborn

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/HawkenReborn

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/HawkenReborn

YouTube: https://YouTube.com/@HawkenReborn


https://store.steampowered.com/app/705040/HAWKEN_REBORN?snr=2_9_100003_

Hey Pilots,

Our latest patch endeavoured to fix a number of known issues and some UI tweaks. As always, make sure to join our Discord to leave any and all feedback you have for Hawken Reborn.


[hr][/hr]


Gameplay

• After destruction, some enemy weapons should no longer remain floating.
  
• Pilots will no longer clip through Renegade Asteroids.
  
• The payload's shields and health should now update accurately in real-time.
  
• In-game mouse sensitivity should now be unaffected by external DPI settings.
  
• Players should no longer be soft locked during FE4's tutorial after restarting the game.
  
• During the second Story Arch Mission (A0E2), progression will no longer be blocked if a pilot does not collect a corroded metal node.

Patrol Mode

• Random encounters difficulty will now scale up along with the zone Threat Level
  
• Playing certain missions several times in a single Patrol Mode will no longer reset the mission's Threat Level to the zone's base Threat Level.
  
• Threat Level increases for random encounters will now factor in a Pilot's activities that impact the Threat Level of the Zone, such as taking down enemies, completing content etc.
  
• Issues with loading times/delays in starting Patrol mode should now be fixed.
  
• Players attempting to go in and out of Patrol following completion of A0E4 and FE4 should no longer be stopped from progressing through gameplay.

UI/Messaging

• Players should no longer see debug messaging when assembling a platform in the workshop.
  
• Nyx's text during the tutorial has been revised to avoid confusion.
  
• Fixed some missing text strings in the hangar for weapons, thrusters, and platforms.
  
• Missing Scrip will now correctly display during the Mission Complete menu.
  
• Elements of leftover submenu elements should no longer appear in the hangar.
  
• Players should no longer see references to the "beta" on in-game messaging.

Misc.

• Pressing TAB during the A0E2 Mission where Sun Mi prompts you to hit tab to open mission details no longer goes straight to the settings menu.
  
• The "QUIT GAME" option is now available from the mech pad settings.
  
• Players accessing the game on a new account should no longer fail to reconnect to servers after restarting the game.
  
• Pilots should no longer be stuck in an infinite loading screen that requires a restart to fix.
  
• Additional bolts tightened and gears greased.

[hr][/hr]
To stay up to date on all the latest Hawken Reborn news and connect with fellow pilots, join us at our official social media channels.

Discord: https://HWKN.link/Discord

Reddit: https://Reddit.com/r/HawkenReborn

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/HawkenReborn

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/HawkenReborn

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/HawkenReborn

YouTube: https://YouTube.com/@HawkenReborn


https://store.steampowered.com/app/705040/HAWKEN_REBORN/

Hawken Reborn Early Access has officially started and to say that we’ve hard landed back on Illal would be… an understatement. Making a video game is a hard enough endeavor for any company, but with Hawken, it’s even harder because you’re also making an emotion.

The emotion of piloting a nimble yet deadly mech for the first time against others experiencing that same adrenaline rush.

The emotion of hopping into a cockpit so realistic that you still feel its diegetic UI over a decade later.

The emotion of building comradery amongst your community only to have it thrown around from different industry hands with a fleeting hope that it’ll make a triumphant return.

We know it’s been an emotional rollercoaster for the Hawken community and we don’t blame you. Hawken Reborn in its current state is not meant to be that triumphant return. What it is however, is a first step in engaging with the community, both old and new, to bring Hawken back into the gamer conversation and ensure that history doesn’t repeat itself as we try to honor its predecessor’s legacy. And that discourse is the Vitrolium shot we need to make this a great game for the community, with the community.

[h3]Why did you go into Early Access?
[/h3]
There were two options we considered before going public. Continue to develop Hawken Reborn in our own bubble with private internal testing or go public to get feedback from the hardest of hardcore Hawken veterans and other gamers who might enjoy a different experience from the original. All this of course with the caveat that this is an “early Early Access” title.

We obviously chose the latter and it’s probably the best thing that could’ve happened to Hawken Reborn because it opened our eyes to how passionate the Hawken community is across the globe.



[h3]Why is the game in this state after all those years of development?
[/h3]
The last few years have not been the optimal world for anyone to live a productive life. Especially for a team as international as ours, developing Hawken Reborn outside the norms of production has not been an easy road to navigate. In addition to that, the ideation process of taking an iconic game from a PVP environment to PVE is an almost limitless sandbox in and of itself. After all these years, the co-op free roam & narrative driven single player approach was the route that we finally landed on as the potential glue we needed to stitch elements of the original Hawken into Hawken Reborn.



[h3]Why such a dramatic pivot from PVP to PVE?
[/h3]
Making a Hawken game is difficult and when creating a game without one of its original pillars, PVP, it compounds that difficulty. In our Early Access blog and PC Gamer interview, we stated that in order for a Hawken game to succeed, it needs a hard pivot to a PVE business model to ensure a long lasting player base. That’s a very difficult task to achieve with PVP and a hard barrier for an audience wanting to enjoy a game without the skill cap difficulty barrier.




There’s also a player base out there who appreciates great narrative and the world of Illal is ripe with them. This was an issue that the original game faced and left that narrative to fall on the shoulders of the critically acclaimed Genesis comics. Our aim with Hawken Reborn is to branch those narrative and gameplay pillars into an experience that casual players can enjoy slowly and hardcore pilots can still experience with an increased heart rate. It’s a tough balancing act, but the bones of what Hawken Reborn has to offer we feel can bridge those divides with our 6 current Story Arc missions, 30 narrative driven “Patrol Mode” missions, and a high risk/high reward increasingly difficult free roam mode for all pilots to explore.

[h3]AI Art and its usage in Hawken Reborn
[/h3]
Last week we briefly addressed AI’s influence in our in-game cutscenes and unfortunately, it only served to fan the flames of distrust since there were obvious signs that AI was used in the final images. We were looking at the conversation from a “who made the artwork” perspective, which was produced by multiple artists on our team instead of focusing on what the final image looked like. For that, we take the blame and want to confirm that yes, this cutscene will definitely be updated in the future. Meanwhile, we want to share the original Dr. Loomis storyboard character concept as well as the original A0E1 cutscenes that were in the game before going into Early Access.



[h3]Community First Feedback
[/h3]
The fervor generated by just one interview was extremely exciting to see and the tsunami of reviews into our Steam page has been sobering, but invigorating. You’ve told us everything that you hate about Hawken Reborn. You’ve torn it to pieces in almost every aspect. You’ve also given us a shot in our new yet familiar pilot seat and took time to acclimate to this new Hawken PVE experience. While Hawken Reborn is not the Hawken 2 that veterans were expecting, it is a Hawken game too and some players have flexed their mecha piloting prowess to take our toolkit to some breathtaking heights.

They’ve also used this Early Access window to help guide our team in the right direction in nearly all aspects of the game. From dialing in the “floatiness” of Hawken Reborn’s mechs with comparison videos to becoming our advocates in onboarding new rookie pilots, it’s an experience that has humbled us with the reminder that not all Hawken players have given up on us from this initial debut.



At the end of the day though, we all want to relive the original nostalgia of what it’s like to play a Hawken game. We just ask that you work with us as we continue to gather feedback, make changes, and dial in all of the mechanisms that make piloting a mecha such an exhilarating experience. We’re listening to player feedback and continuing to iterate on all the things that you dislike and like. Here’s only the tip of the iceberg of feedback that we’re already prioritizing once we get out of our initial Phase 1 of our roadmap.

1. Movement movement movement. With a PVE free roam game trying to balance the frenetic feel of a PVP mostly close quarters combat game, movement is one of the most difficult areas to lock in and will continue to be one of our number one priorities. As development continues, look for more noticeable improvements in this area as we fine tune this critical area of gameplay.
   
   
2. Repair Drones have been something we’ve seen players wanting to see back in Hawken Reborn. Although they won’t be returning in the same way, they will offer some limited healing utility to a few mechs. Why not all mechs? Because unlimited healing with a repair drone would essentially break our high risk/high reward Patrol Mode which is intended for players to hop in, play missions, gain more rewards with higher Threat Levels, and return to base for repairs.
   
   
3. Mech Enemy Archetypes will start to slowly evolve more and more as we get out of our initial phases of Early Access. These changes will offer more combat variety as we start to instill a bit more personality into how they engage players. This feature will require a lot of time to bake, but will increase the degree of difficulty, make combat less repetitive, and increase the challenge players face.
   
   
   
4. Crit spots will be introduced to increase your options for attack as you engage your enemies. Not only will this add an additional layer of complexity to our Enemy Archetypes, but being able to see an enemy severely incapacitated across the battlefield after you’ve disabled their utilities is so dang cool!

Other than the sheer amount of feedback that we’ve received from fans, another pleasant surprise from going public was the GIGASIZED amount of tweets we received from the Japanese community! In what was such a “no duh!” moment, we were floored by the immense excitement for Hawken in Japan and look forward to engaging with these pilots in the future. Until then… みんなさん、初めまして。よろしくお願いします!



Finally, to all the players who downloaded Hawken Reborn, wrote impassioned reviews, hopped back into your old communities, joined new ones, and did all you could to bring the word “Hawken” back into the minds of gamers, THANK YOU! We’ve got a long journey ahead of us and can’t wait for you all to once again strap in for an action packed ride in Hawken Reborn to make it a title worthy of the “Hawken” moniker. We CANNOT do this without you.

[previewyoutube][/previewyoutube]
Hawken Reborn is now available on PC Steam Early Access. To learn more visit our Early Access Blog and Steam Page https://HWKN.link/Download.

To stay up to date on all the latest Hawken Reborn news and connect with fellow pilots, join us at our official social media channels.

Discord: https://HWKN.link/Discord

Reddit: https://Reddit.com/r/HawkenReborn

Twitter: https://Twitter.com/HawkenReborn

Facebook: https://Facebook.com/HawkenReborn

Instagram: https://Instagram.com/HawkenReborn

YouTube: https://YouTube.com/@HawkenReborn