Despite facing what the team called a ‘collective oops, we might have overcomplicated things moment,’ Hyper Light Breaker stands by its early access launch, despite the mixed reactions. With a clear roadmap now in place, the developers are focused on helping players improve and master the game, encouraging them to ‘git gud.’

Although I had an excellent time with Hyper Light Breaker at last year’s Summer Game Fest, the game’s had a rough go of it since hitting early access a month ago. The game currently sits at a 63% Mixed rating on Steam, with players put off by tech trouble, issues with the controls, and the simple fact the game might just be too dang hard.

But the devs at Heart Machine tell PCG they’re undaunted, and despite a “teamwide ‘oops, guess we made it too hard’ moment” when the game first hit Steam, they’ve got “No regrets” about releasing in early access. “There is no amount of time you can spend in isolation that will make the game great,” says lead producer Michael Clark. “You get the best version of a game by maximizing the amount of feedback-and-iteration loops you can go through, and Early Access is the way to do that for a title like this.”