Hawken, the mech shooter last seen in the wild some five years ago, is getting revised as Hawken Reborn – and it hits Early Access on 17 May.
Featuring some of the coolest mech designs of its day, multiplayer shooter Hawken first emerged in 2011, but after years of dwindling player support, eventually closed in 2018.
Thanks to 505 Games, though, the game of heavy ordinance and even heavier stompy war machines is making an unexpected return as Hawken Reborn. Due to hit Steam Early Access on 17 May (as spotted by Kotaku), the revived Hawken is billed as a free-to-play, PvE experience where you’ll get to “shoot your way through hordes of enemies to uncover the mysteries of Ilall”.
505 Games is keen to impress on us that Hawken Reborn is still in its early stages, and that the launch of the more complete, 1.0 version of the game will likely take about 18 months.
“We’re currently in Phase 1 of our Early Access plans – focusing on polishing the game and optimizing the gameplay and combat experience while improving critical elements like the UI, enemy interactions, and more,” the studio writes on Steam. “As we progress and take in community feedback, we’ll move into our next planned phases with additional content to unlock once our key foundations are in place.”
There’ll be plenty of stuff to do in your mech in Early Access, though, with six playable story missions and five war machines available to select and modify to your liking. There are also plans for a second phase, in which 505 Games will “provide free updates with new missions, new mechs, and more content to enjoy. Expect the official release to be the start of Hawken's next chapter with cooperative multiplayer, exciting new content to explore and collect, and an epic storyline to dive into.”
There isn’t yet any word on how the otherwise free-to-play Hawken Reborn will be monetised – for example, whether it’ll have paid-for seasons, in-game purchases, or both. Given that the world is somewhat starved for decent mech action games, though (still no Titanfall 3 – sigh), the return of Hawken could well be a Good Thing.
