Hawken, a mecha shooter that got a new life, has received a mostly negative reception from players.
Online shooter Hawken, which was shut down five years ago, returns this week, albeit in a completely new form. Former PvP battles turned into a free-to-play cooperative game, where players fight together against enemies in control of familiar mechs.
Hawken Reborn came out yesterday, but the game’s reception has been anything but warm. The game has received over a thousand player reviews on Steam, of which only 22 percent are positive.
As Games Radar tells us, Hawken Reborn has received a lot of criticism for so-called pay-to-win purchases. In the in-game store, you can use real money to buy equipment that makes playing easier, and micropayments don’t just apply to extra cosmetic stuff.
Players also criticized the fact that the developers used AI-generated content in the cutscenes. The use of AI in game development has attracted a lot of criticism lately, and some Steam reviews have explicitly stated that they don’t want to support the game because of it.
In addition to the above, criticisms have also been leveled at the gameplay, bugs, and visual style of the game. Hawken Reborn has only been released as an Early Access version, so the game can still change a lot. Based on the debut, however, the developers will be hard pressed to win over players.