GamerEscape

Publisher and developer MY.GAMES is soon releasing its new extraction shooter Hawked and we were able to get an early look ahead of its Open Beta Test. The PC exclusive beta will go from August 3-17 and will release as a free-to-play title on both PC and PlayStation consoles at a later time.

Hawked mixes comic aesthetics with Fortnite-style gameplay that sees players live out their dreams of jumping into the role of Indiana Jones, stealing rare artifacts from a wild and untamed island. As an agent of a corporation named GRAIL, players will be dropped on a mysterious island only known as “X-isle.” Your job is to uncover and obtain relics from a lost civilization while fighting off monsters, hostile NPC characters, and other human players.

After the initial tutorial that gave us a glimpse into the overarching narrative and story, we immediately jumped into one of the main modes of the game: the squad-based “Pack Hunt” mode. Your squad will be randomly dropped onto the island where you will need to find weapons, upgrade your gear, and lookout for the real treasures of X-Isle. At the same time, your party will need to defend themselves and their plunder from up to nine other teams of players, who all try to find special glyphs to unlock the ultimate artifact and extract it safely to win the game.

In between matches, players can explore the underwater hub and base of operations, sell their acquired artifacts, adjust their loadout with different skills and talents, and of course customize the look of their player character. Thanks to the comic-style of Hawked, the character options are quite varied and adapt very well to the overall look and feel of the game.

Sound effects and speech bubbles are a constant companion and not only show up during the cutscenes in the tutorial but also during the actual gameplay. Whether it be shooting exploding barrels, sliding across the floor, or avoiding traps, players will not only hear but actually see “Bang” and “Boom” on their screen while they battle enemies and other hazards.

In the end, the comparison to Fortnite cannot be ignored. But with the unique spin of the extraction-style gameplay and the very different art style, Hawked may very well be able to carve out its own niche within the squad-based shooter genre and steal away a sizable player-base for itself. Developer MY.GAMES also already announced that the game would come with an ever-evolving map, new spins on quests, and storyline that will grow with the game.

The Open Beta for Hawked will be launch on August 3 on PC and last until August 17.

Images courtesy of MY.GAMES.