What is Hawked? The new game from developer Upwake.Me might look like a Fortnite-like battle royale that’s gunning for Epic’s popular battle royale, but beyond the familiar stylized visuals and vibrant colors, it’s a completely different game at heart. Ahead of its free open beta period from August 3-17, a new gameplay trailer has gone live for the game and offers a deep dive into its extraction shooter mechanics, the mysterious island that you’ll explore, the monsters that you’ll battle, and the loot that you’ll fight tooth and nail for.
As shown in the trailer, Hawked’s social space is a submarine filled with good vibes, shooting ranges, and a quartermaster who’ll buy the artifacts that you’ve recovered. Once you’re ready to explore X-Isle, you’ll be tasked with collecting five valuable glyphs from across the island alongside your fellow players who are known as Renegades. These locations are guarded by dangerous monsters and using these glyphs will unlock a treasury full of loot that you can turn in for rewards, if you can survive the extraction process.
You’ll be able to equip up to two weapons–which are available in three quality levels–powerful items can be found scattered across X-Isle, and some treasure can be claimed by solving puzzles. While there’s no shortage of monsters and beasts to watch out for on this island, the real danger here are the roving squads of Renegades who are looking to steal your loot from you. Death isn’t the end as you can be revived at designated checkpoints by your teammates, but you’ll be brought back to life without any loot, weapons, or items on you.
If you can survive the monsters and other players who employ dirty tactics, while also opening a treasure vault to claim the loot inside, you’ll be ready for the endgame. At this point, you’ll race to an extraction zone where you can offload your artifacts, but doing so takes time and you’ll need to be ready for a potential ambush as other teams close in you. It’s an idea that’s similar to the Dark Zone extractions of Ubisoft’s The Division games, and even if you miss out on raiding a tomb to get the treasure inside, you can hunt down a caravan that is guarded by beastly Disciples and has the potential to be very rewarding. If you don’t fall in battle when dealing with other teams of Renegades in this free-for-all, that is.
Beyond the loot-em-up action, players will also be able to work on improving and customizing their avatars with a wide range of cosmetic and functional upgrades. Anyone who participates in August’s open beta will get access to Hawked’s first premium battle pass for free and they can keep any of the premium cosmetics that they unlock during this period. To gain access, you can download the PC beta through Steam or the MGLauncher.
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