In recent years, extraction FPS games have become very popular. It is still a young genre, so there is always room for new proposals that try to offer a unique and special experience. HAWKED, the latest project from MY.GAMES, aims to find its place in the market.
Recently, LEVEL UP had the opportunity to attend a roundtable with other members of the press. There, Executive Producer Andy Duthie and Public Relations Lead Imre Schouten spoke in-depth about the present and future of this new project.
For those unfamiliar, HAWKED is a PvPvE shooter where players must explore an island and solve puzzles with the aim of extracting treasures and special artifacts. Obviously, it will be a complicated task because there are monsters in strategic areas on the map and other people with the same goal.
This new free-to-play debuted in early access on November 30, 2023, through Steam and the MY.GAMES launcher. During this period, developers gathered feedback from players to improve the experience for the future.
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HAWKED debuts on PC, Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, and PlayStation 5
Now, HAWKED is ready to make its debut. The best part? It has also made the leap to consoles, as promised.
Specifically, the free-to-play is now available for Xbox Series X|S, PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, and PC, while a port for Xbox One will arrive at a later date. Good news is that there is crossplay, so users can play together regardless of the platform. To celebrate the release, fans can get free rewards through the Twitch Drops initiative.
On February 15th, Number 1: Renegades, the first season of content that introduces a new mission, unreleased artifacts, new power-ups, and more, was also released. Likewise, the game received a day 1 patch that implements changes to the user interface and more quality-of-life improvements.
The importance of early access for the future of HAWKED
The official launch of HAWKED on consoles and PC is a significant milestone for MY.GAMES, although reaching this point required a lot of behind-the-scenes work. Precisely, the early access period was vital to shaping the current version.
In the roundtable, Andy Duthie reflected on the importance of listening to user feedback, even before the early access period began. In that regard, he explains that the game was built around the opinions of studio collaborators, content creators, and, of course, players who participated in Alpha sessions and early access.
"I had never had the opportunity to do this in the past, so it was something I really wanted to do with HAWKED. So, we did it before early access. We did a lot of playtests directly with players before the game was ready and started listening to them," commented the Executive Producer.
"One of the things about players is that they always point out the problem but don't tell you the solution. So, we listen to what the complaints are, and then we try to work so we can give them what they need instead of what they always want," he continued.
Fan feedback was vital to refining certain aspects of the game. Specifically, Andy Duthie points out that the character movement improved significantly during the early access period, among other aspects. On the priority list for the future is the PvP ranking.
"The movement wasn't ready at the level we wanted, and that's why we launched the game in early access because we wanted to understand where players focus and where they saw problems, and then incorporate that into the game (...) We spent a lot of time focusing on that to get fluidity and a good feeling. The shooting mechanics were always decent, but the movement was less so. Now, we're really happy with it and believe it's ready for the console launch," commented the producer.
But tell us, what part of this free-to-play caught your attention the most? Let us know in the comments.
HAWKED is available for PS4, PS5, Xbox Series X|S, and PC, with an imminent release for Xbox One.
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