Having tried the final version of HAWKED, I think this is a diamond in the rough.
I played an hour of the upcoming free game and I’m hooked
The free-to-play video game scene tends to be particularly saturated, or rather monopolized, by certain games that tend to stay on top for many years. You only need to look at the list of the most popular games on any platform to realize that the same titles are always repeated, leaving little room for innovation. Despite this, the tides seem to be changing recently, with games like The Finals offering different but recognizable experiences. Today exactly I’m here to talk about HAWKED, a game that perfectly fits these characteristics..
Many of you already know this as this game launched in early access on PC late last year, but now it’s getting its final release and we’ll also be getting console versions. I’m not going to hide I didn’t know HAWKED until recentlybut I was lucky enough to try it out on the PS5 version recently, and the truth is that I was fascinated not so much by how they implement all their ideas, but by what we’re talking about another offer with your soul.
Explorer’s life, better life
In this case, we will not be soldiers or anything like that, but we will be explorers. Our main mission will be to return certain artifacts from the peculiar island on which we find ourselves, and then extract these elements, that is we are faced with an extravagant shooter, another genre that is especially fashionable today and which, one might say, I managed to fall in love with recently. Likewise, you should know what’s in it we will meet PVP and PVE battlewhich, on the other hand, is also very common in this genre.
It may seem that innovation is limited to offering a modern but not differentiating concept, but Fortunately, this is not the case. When we enter this island, we will do so with very limited weapons and we will have to loot weapons of all kinds in the chests that we will find around the stage, precisely remembering another very popular genre: the battle royale. Likewise, and continuing the similarity with names of this type, We may meet other explorers and, of course, kill each other. among us to get more resources that will be especially useful to us.
Regardless, everything I’ve told you so far are experience-related elements, but when it comes to talking about the purpose of the game we should mention the artifacts. Your goal is to get these items marked on the map. In any other game, you’ll probably have to defeat enemies to get them, and while that’s sometimes the case, there are some differences in the experience, especially when You need to solve a puzzle to get these artifacts..
Once you have them and you have the amount you think is correct, you will have to find an extraction point that you will need to activate, which in turn will put you in the spotlight (pun intended). In many cases this will ensure that quite a lot of enemy teams are coming to stop you from extractingand thus, you will be able to save the desired prey. If, fortunately, you manage to survive these confrontations or you simply do not encounter any enemies, you will be able to extract the items you received during the gameafter which you can decide if you want to continue playing to try to get more loot or if you want to go back.
As explorers, we will encounter many creatures of all kinds.
Better with friends
In this test I was able to play in teams of 3, which is the standard way to play HAWKED, but the truth is that my team was filled with strangers and without using voice chat. This gave me a good experience as the game is designed to be fun, including the rating system that made Apex Legends fashionable at the time, but the truth is… I believe that communication with friends should be much more satisfying.
Obviously, this is a cliché and maybe even funny, because almost any multiplayer game is more fun to play with friends, but I didn’t want to talk about this specifically.. HAWKED presents a visual style that makes it simple, friendly, and accessible, and while it ticks all of those boxes, I felt like the experience could be very tactical. This is what all tow shooters have in common.but in this case I think that you will have to make a lot of decisions in the game and obviously you will be able to find a lot of dangers in the scenario, the reasons why I think that the experience of chatting with friends, using voice chat and especially taking all this into account , could be the best possible.
Of course, you don’t have to worry if you want to play alone. This game has a single player mode, but also offers certain possibilities if you want to play with unknown amounts. From the already mentioned marker system to the various warnings that characters give to themselves and which are passed on to the rest of the team; everything in HAWKED seems to be made so that you can enjoy it yourself, without depending on others, although it is obvious that the collaboration experience is much better.
The experience of hanging out with friends can be much more rewarding and interesting.
Not everything is online
Before you start playing Those responsible for HAWKED gave us a short presentation, which not only gave us some details about what we were going to find, but also told us about the studio’s intentions for the game. At the time, there was a lot of emphasis on how it didn’t want to be just another free online game, and that great attention was paid to creating an interesting story.
Obviously this It’s not something I can test in less than an hour of play., but I can say that it was noticeable that there was an attempt in this direction. Not only did I have some sort of chat with NPCs after each game, which seems to be important to the overall experience, but also in the lobby itself. It seemed tailor-made to say something.. This was not an empty stage, and it was created not only for users to test their skills when searching for a match, but also to be a multi-functional area. In addition, around him you can meet various characters who are not only useful in their own way, but also useful. seem to offer more detailed information about themselves, about you and the world around you.
It remains to be seen whether the intention to offer an interesting environmental narrative will be realized or simply ends up becoming a nuisance for the average player, but the truth is that I think it could be interesting. Of course, this is not the first time I have seen something like this, and it will be difficult to stand out in this aspect, but the truth is that this is an approach that cannot always be seen, and that may be your defining feature.
It seems that the HAWKED experience extends far beyond online.
Bright future
To be clear, I liked what I tried from HAWKED. The ideas were good, in some cases even brilliant, and although he doesn’t seem to invent too much, he knows how to combine different elements to create an engaging experience and it makes you want more. I can’t say for sure that it will be a success, and I can’t say that after a few hours of playing it will be fun, but I can say that It’s an experience that feels fresh.which speaks very well of a game that belongs to a genre that is thriving right now.
The future is bright for HAWKED, but we already know what it’s going to be like. The studio will have to put a lot of themselves into it, and the public will have to know that such a title exists. Despite this, If all the chess pieces fit together, we can have a long and satisfying game..