Hawked Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Tail Chasing

Hawked Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Since online multiplayer games kicked the gaming industry and its profit potential into high gear, the amount of multiplayer titles that flood the market has only gone up.

Recently they’re all of a similar flavour, free-to-play live service games that are likely squad based, PvPvE, and also potentially an extraction looter-shooter.

Hawked is a new, free-to-play, 3-person squad-based PvPvE third-person extraction looter-shooter, but this time you’re looting ancient treasure, and it’s available now.

Developed by MY.GAMES, the studio envisioned Hawked as a multiplayer treasure-hunting adventure, where you’d solve puzzles and avoid traps like Indiana Jones, and at the same time fight off other players to take home the most treasure.

Except unlike Indiana Jones, you’re collecting the treasure for this giant corporation called Grail, and you’re also trying to find this big treasure before these ancient creatures find it, because they’ll use its power to take over the world.

And even though your only real enemy is the ancient creatures, you still have to compete against other treasure hunter teams of three (called Renegades) and the creatures.

I got to go hands-on with Hawked for a short time ahead of launch, and while I must preface that I’ve not spent a whole lot of time with Hawked, I don’t really feel like I need to.

Unfortunately Hawked feels more like a game chasing the tails of other giant, successful multiplayer games through a paint-by-numbers model that ultimately lacks any conviction, and feels empty.

Hawked Hands-On Preview (PS5) – Tail Chasing

I’ve Got A Bad Feeling About This

When I first jumped into Hawked, if the treasure hunting aspect didn’t already make me think of Indiana Jones, Harrison Ford would’ve still come to mind for one of his more iconic lines during his time as captain of the Millenium Falcon.

Even before that, I should say, I began to have my doubts. Before getting controllers in hand, myself and other members of the press mixed in with some content creators got to hear from the developers what we needed to know about Hawked. Not just what the game is or how to play it, but about their inspirations and the kind of experience they want players to have in Hawked.

The idea that it’s meant to feel like an old treasure hunting-adventure tale is clear, once you get in a match. The map is huge, and I can easily imagine matches where you spend a fair chunk of time not seeing other players.

Your time will instead be spent dodging saw blades or solving a puzzle, mostly through matching symbols or shooting the odd crystal. The ones I experienced struck a fair balance between being simple enough to figure out, but also time-consuming and potentially distracting enough to make you vulnerable to other teams. A good risk v. reward feature imbedded in the gameplay loop.

When I actually got to playing Hawked, going through the tutorial first and then getting into matches, my real first impression was as I feared.

Worse than being bad, it was bland. There was almost nothing about Hawked that really stood out, a surprising feeling to have considering how colourful Hawked is.

The movement felt stiff, the shooting and melee combat felt weightless, and it didn’t improve when I was getting deep into matches. It felt bland to play, and that was really disappointing.

It Gets Worse, Exactly How You’d Expect It To

With poor gameplay at its core, there’s really only one way you could see this live service, free-to-play game get worse. Of course that’s with egregious microtransactions, and a grind-heavy progression system.

Your player progression is tied to the gadgets and abilities you unlock. Gadgets are unlocked through spending in-game currency, and abilities are unlocked through finding treasures in matches that you can then equip to give you passive abilities, like a speed boost that makes you run faster for a short time. These abilities aren’t one use either, they just have a short cooldown time before you can use them again.

This is actually one of the aspects that makes Hawked more unique. You can equip three ability-granting treasures at a time, and really create a playstyle for yourself. I didn’t get to experience this in my short time with Hawked, but I could see how that would be very cool, and evolves the character customization a bit beyond its contemporaries.

Adding more of these treasures to your collection isn’t what’s grind-heavy. It’s the gadgets, the other feature that can more directly affect your playstyle, where the grind can be found. To unlock a gadget, you spend an in-game currency, but it’s not the case that each gadget is simply more expensive than the last.

You also need to spend that same currency on “loyalty levels,” and your level determines which gadgets you can purchase. So for example, say the Grapple Hook gadget requires you to have a level 6 or higher loyalty level, so before you’re allowed to buy the grapple hook, you have to spend thousands of this currency to get your loyalty level up to 6.

Only then will you be able to buy and use the grapple hook, after what I can only imagine would be hours of grinding in matches. You can also sell smaller treasures you find for this currency to help get you there faster, and I could very well be wrong in how long it would ultimately take to get your loyalty level up.

But when the core gameplay already isn’t enjoyable from the jump, even if the Grapple Hook or other high loyalty level-gated items drastically make it more fun, it’s not enticing to think I’d have to spend anywhere from maybe two hours to 10 just for the game to be fun.

Shiny Things And A Glimmer Of Hope

Despite my many issues with it, I wouldn’t say that it’s all doom-and-gloom for Hawked. I also want to reiterate that these are preview impressions for a game that I had very little time with. You could even be reading this as someone who has spent tens, even hundreds of hours in Hawked, since it’s been available as an Early Access title since November 2023.

The puzzle solving and the focus on treasure hunting is cool, and while the movement didn’t connect with me I do think it’s great that there are clearly plenty of ways to customize your character and playstyle.

I also like the narrative angle Hawked is trying to take in its multiplayer setting, that all the ‘renegades’ you play as are working together to find powerful ancient relics to fight against an evil force who would use the same power to take over the world.

But those things I think are good about Hawked don’t mesh with everything else it’s trying to do. The PvP aspect of it is a big one, since it seems to go against both the game’s narrative and the flow of the gameplay, because whenever you find a relic, everyone else in the match can see where you are.

Which means you’ll likely be overrun by players who instead of running to find the relic were just waiting for someone else to do the heavy lifting. You’re unlikely to actually extract with the relic, further stunting your progression and adding to the grind.

It’s even more disappointing, as Hawked fully launches everywhere today, to read nearly half of the reviews from players on Steam who’ve spent time with the Early Access version, to be voicing the same issues I had in my short preview.

Along with some new ones, like how the matchmaking has a habit of putting brand new players into matches with high-level players who simply have better gear, do higher damage, etc.

All those issues on top of new players being in no-win situations from the jump don’t spell a fun time. Of course matchmaking issues can get fixed and are reportedly being worked on, but the real issues Hawked has goes beyond what a patch can fix.

If Hawked had better movement, combat, and removed the PvP elements entirely, I’d be a lot more excited about this game finally coming to PS5 in its full launch. It would also be a different game, and there’s no use in wishing it was something it’s not.

What it is then is a confused game that doesn’t do any of the things it tries extremely well, that still needs a lot of tuning up. All while still trying to chase the financial success of free-to-play titles that simply offer a better playing experience.

Hawked is available on PS5 and PS4 now.