Dev Diary #5: The Next Update and Current Priorities

Hey, Renegades! I’m Andy Duthie, Executive Producer for HAWKED. I want to start with a huge thanks to the 1,000,000 plus Renegades who joined us since the launch of HAWKED on PC, PlayStation, and Xbox on February 15. This was a fantastic result for the team, and we’re all thrilled to see so many of you making X-Isle your new stomping ground. 

But our work doesn’t end here. We aim to make the game stable and satisfying on all platforms so we can continue bringing new Renegades to X-Isle and actively support HAWKED for years to come. To that end, we have a full slate of content planned for the rest of 2024 (and beyond). We’re also paying close attention to your feedback via Support, social media, and reviews, and we're hammering out bug fixes, balance improvements, and quality-of-life updates as fast as we can.

In today’s Dev Diary, join me for a look at our current priorities, the next content update, and our plans for Issue #2.

VENTURE 3 UPDATE (MARCH 19)

Issues will typically consist of four Ventures, regular updates larger in size and scope than a standard update. They will introduce new Quests to advance HAWKED’s ongoing saga, sometimes new features, and everything you’d expect from a regular patch. 

Venture 1 arrived with Early Access in November, followed by Venture 2 with the launch in February. Now, let me give you an overview of Venture 3, the next major content update arriving on March 19:

• The Story Continues: New Quests will be available in Venture 3, continuing the events of Venture 2. Familiars have chosen their champions in the form of Cynthia, Nellie, Bjorn, and Bodhi, and it’s up to you to help them find their destiny. How do you think the story for Issue #1: Renegades will pan out?
• Weapon Upgrades: If you’re looking for more ways to spend your CRED while staying competitive, we’re adding the ability to upgrade your weapons via X-Isle's Extraction Points.
• More Loot: Three new Artifacts will be available to find across X-Isle that can impact your accuracy, cooldowns, and healing.
• Class System: We want to help you understand how your Loadout works and how it affects your gameplay. Factoring in the number of weapons, Boosters, Artifacts, and Gear, HAWKED has over 100,000 possible Loadout combinations. That can be pretty overwhelming, and players gravitate towards ‘meta builds’ rather than their personal preferences. But there’s no wrong way to play, and with this update, you’ll be able to see your current Class from your Loadout screen. That will show you the type of buffs and advantages you can expect from your current Loadout. You won’t be able to choose presets, but it should offer more insight into how changing a component such as your Exo Gear can impact your gameplay. Tweak it to find your ideal playstyle!
• Improvements: We’re still stamping out bugs thanks to your reports. Additionally, you can expect a few other changes, including updates to the in-game Shop UI, to make it more user-friendly.

Keep an eye out for the update notes for more details. We hope you look forward to playing Venture 3 soon!

CURRENT PRIORITIES

We are still laser-focused on improving HAWKED based on your feedback. Here are a few of our current projects:

• Shop: You told us the Shop needs more stock and that the current offerings are too expensive. With that in mind, we will be massively expanding the Shop in a forthcoming update with even more items and adding spotlight discounts and limited-time items. We are reviewing your feedback regularly and may make more adjustments in the future, too.
• Matchmaking: While we’re trying to grow the HAWKED audience, we’re constantly making changes to ensure the matchmaking experience is solid for current players.
• Movement: We hear you, and this mechanic is high on our list for improvement. I hope to have more to share in future updates.
• New Mode: Our first new mode is currently in development! We’re working out the best time and way to release it for now, but you can look forward to a new way to play HAWKED in the coming months.
• UI Revamp: With the launch of HAWKED, we completely overhauled our color palette and made many other UI improvements. We’re working on even more changes, including changes to the Loadout menu and making other menus more straightforward to navigate. As this is an ongoing project, we would appreciate your feedback on areas you’d like us to improve, so be sure to share your requests with us.
• Prestige Changes: To help keep you pro Renegades engaged with X-Isle, we’ll be altering the way the Prestige system works, and it will soon be reintroduced. Instead of reaching GRAIL Loyalty 10 to access it, you must have a Player Level of 100.
• Other Improvements: We’re looking at overhauling Contracts and expanding the story with more Quests.

Think something else should be on our agenda? Let us know on Discord!

WHAT’S COMING UP?

We plan to end Issue #1: Renegades on May 23, 2024, and Issue #2 will immediately follow. The next Issue is shaping up to be an amazing evolution that lays the groundwork for how HAWKED will evolve in the future, and I can’t wait to share more with you.

The Codex, initially listed in our 2024 Roadmap for Q2 2024, has been moved to Q3 2024. This is designed as a way for you to easily keep track of the story, characters, and monsters in HAWKED. In the meantime, take a look at the Guides section on our website if you’re stuck with anything.

Your feedback is so important to us. It helped us launch HAWKED from Early Access, and we’re confident you can help improve HAWKED in the future. If you’re digging HAWKED, or if we’ve squashed your major bugbears so far, drop us a review or revisit your score on Steam, the PlayStation Store, or the Microsoft Store. 

If you’re experiencing issues or have ideas to improve your HAWKED experience, jump on Discord. We read everything, and your voice really can make the difference.

Thanks again, Renegades! See you on X-Isle.