Beginner’s Guide to HAWKED: Join the Renegades!

Welcome to the prestigious ranks of GRAIL, an adventurers guild dedicated to uncovering the secrets of X-Isle. As a Renegade—a treasure hunter for hire—your job is to explore this brave new world, find its ancient treasures, and extract your plundered loot safely back to base. Before you take your first steps on X-Isle, GRAIL is keen that you brush up on the basics. Nothing personal. We just need to ensure you can get the job done!

We recommend playing the Tutorial before jumping into online battles if you're a new player!

THE RIFTWAKE

Behold GRAIL’s submersible, sub-aquatic headquarters! The Riftwake is a remarkable piece of engineering and one of the few ways Renegades can visit X-Isle safely. This submarine features plenty of areas to prepare, upgrade, and hone your Renegade skills before putting them to the test.

Check in on your Renegade Pass rewards and visit the in-game Shop, where you can purchase GE-0 Cash and Customizations. You’ll also find your Quarters here, a place wher you can chill out, apply new cosmetics, replay the Tutorial, and adapt your Loadout. Elsewhere, there’s a Shooting Range where you can practice your sharpshooting.

GRAIL doesn’t shy away from recruiting outcasts, and there’s a cast of resident Renegades to help you prepare for your hunts on X-Isle. You’ll find cutthroats, survivalists, and an overall madder sort of crowd around the Riftwake—everyone wants a piece of the fame and fortune X-Isle’s mysteries promise! Chat with characters to progress Quests, take on Contracts, and discover more about the world of HAWKED.

There’s also a massive, swirling portal called the Moonpool at the far end of the lower deck. Can’t miss it. This is your ticket to X-Isle, so ready up and make the jump!

Bonus Reconnaissance: Riftwake Guide: Headquarters, Sweet Headquarters | Riftwake Guide: Introducing GRAIL’s Finest | Contracts: Tackle Dangerous Missions for Lucrative Rewards!

FLY SOLO OR SQUAD UP

You can play HAWKED in Lone Hunter (Solo Mode) or Treasure Hunt (2- or 3-player Squads).

If you’re playing in a squad, communication is key to victory. Use pings to mark out treasure, dangers, and rival players, or to rally your squad. Be sure to revive allies if they fall, or take defeated Renegades to a Revival Shrine. Focus your fire to bring down big foes, and work together on tricky puzzles to find the solution and get the ultimate treasure!

LOADOUT (GEAR, BOOSTERS & ARTIFACTS)

Adapt your Loadout for the heist at hand before every X-Isle excursion! Check your Loadout menu to maximize your buffs, combat potential, and treasure-hunting prowess with:

• Gear: Coming in two types, Exo Gear allows you to activate a directional tactical ability, while Ward Gear provides a non-directional support ability. Renegades can equip one of each type of Gear in their Loadout. Use Gear to attack enemies, defend yourself, heal allies, grant buffs, and much more.
• Boosters: Available from GE-0, Boosters are comic books filled with daredevil tales of legendary Renegades. Add them to your Loadout to gain passive benefits, as if imbued by the legends themselves! Depending on your GRAIL Loyalty level, up to five Boosters can be active simultaneously. Remember, walking the path of legends is not without its risks. In the case of defeat, any equipped Boosters will be lost to the wilds of X-Isle!
• Artifacts: A golden bounty unlocked from Treasuries on X-Isle. Loot, extract, and upgrade them to add special abilities to your Loadout!

Switch your Loadout on the fly while on X-Isle by adding weapons, ammo, Glyphs, Food, and Mods!

Bonus Reconnaissance: Gear Guide: Tactical Support with Exo and Ward Gear | Boosters Guide: Comics for the Hunt | Artifacts: The Ancient Treasures of X-Isle | Food and Mods: Snack and Adapt

EXPLORE X-ISLE

X-Isle is your mission. This mystical, storm-ridden island was once home to a long-lost human civilization. GRAIL needs you to explore every inch of it, uncover its mysteries, and bring home its treasures for further research. Who knows what you’ll find here?

This new world is lush with verdant vistas, dense jungles, gorgeous beaches, and no shortage of ancient ruins to raid. Get around using your trusty Traverser and Hoverboard, standard-issue GRAIL equipment. Your Traverser is a multitool you can use to whack Disciples, ascend and descend cliffs, cross ravines, ride ziplines, or get out of a tough spot. If you want to make use of X-Isle’s plentiful waterways (and look cool in the process), your Hoverboard is the right tool for the job.

One of the first things you’ll want to do when you land on X-Isle is arm yourself. Loot chests to obtain weapons and ammo, a last resort in case you’re assailed by rivals or monsters.

Bonus Reconnaissance: Traverser & Hoverboard Guide: A Renegade’s Best Friends

ENCOUNTERS & GLYPHS

Keep your eyes on the prize. Waypoints on your minimap will lead you Encounters, events that will reward you with Glyphs once completed. There are many different types of Encounters to be found across X-Isle, and as the island shifts and evolves, more may become available in the future. Follow your minimap to solve puzzles and battle monsters to unlock Glyphs.

Glyphs are mystical symbols that lead to an even greater treasure on X-Isle. Collect five of them to reveal the location of the Treasury, a vault that contains your ultimate prize!

Glyphs will also provide temporary bonuses as you collect them, only available throughout the current match. Collect more Glyphs to discover new ways to assist your treasure hunting!

ENEMIES

You might have heard X-Isle is crawling with monsters. When GRAIL sent the first Renegades to X-Isle, they weren’t entirely sure what they’d find there, but a nation of terrifying reptilian warriors wasn’t at the top of the list. 

GRAIL calls them the Disciples. No one knows what they want, but uncovering their motives should be considered part of your Renegade duties. This invasive, otherworldly species comes in many varieties, all of them hostile. They’ll attack you on sight, so tread carefully and make sure you’ve got enough weapons to take them out if it comes to it.

Rival Renegades are also out for loot; by nature, they don’t deal well with competition! They might be a bit trickier to dispatch than Disciples, especially in a squad. Keep your guard up!

Bonus Reconnaissance: Disciple Guide: The Comprehensive Bestiary

WEAPONS & COMBAT

You can’t face down an island full of loot that’s crawling with hordes of monsters without a little firepower. Renegades land on X-Isle armed only with their Hoverboard and Traverser, but seek and you shall find armory crates dotted about the island. Use them to wield, switch out, and upgrade your arsenal, keeping you firmly locked and loaded. 

There are loads of firearms, armaments, and grenades of varying rarities to suit every strategy and playstyle under the storm! Wield assault rifles, sniper rifles, LMGs, SMGs, shotguns, pistols, or more unique weapons like the mine-flinging Hotstepper or crushing Ultra Hammer. Weapons are also a great way to flex your Renegade style sense thanks to customizable Weapon Patterns (more on that later).

Outfox rival Renegades by securing a formidable Loadout, and ensure you’ve got enough ammo to outgun the Disciples!

Bonus Reconnaissance: Weapons Guide: A Renegade’s Arsenal

EXTRACT ARTIFACTS & TREASURES

Your goal is to overcome Encounters, retrieve enough Glyphs to unlock the Treasury, and then claim the shimmering Artifact that lies within. Take it to an Extraction Point (along with any other treasures you’ve unearthed) for the ultimate payday. Artifacts can even be upgraded as part of your loadout — enhance and wield them to unlock game-changing new powers!

GRAIL’s researchers have found ways to upgrade the Artifacts to Legendary Quality, improving their mysterious effects and making them, well, a bit more legendary. GE-0 can upgrade Artifacts at the cost of Hawks and Wonderium.

Bonus Reconnaissance: Artifacts: The Ancient Treasure’s of X-Isle

CUSTOMIZATION

You can customize your Renegade with countless unlockable cosmetic options and styles. Avatars are full-body options for your Renegade, while Outfits can be worn by the character you’ve created. You can add some extra flair to your Outfits by changing them up using Color Schemes. Apply Weapon Patterns to wrap your arsenal in wild and wonderful designs. Don’t forget about Emotes to express yourself on the Riftwake and X-Isle!

Your Traverser, Hoverboard, Backpack, Exo and Ward Gear, and personal Renegade Quarters aboard the Riftwake can also be customized. 

New customization options can be unlocked via free events by purchasing them in the Shop, from Twitch Drops, via the Renegade Pass, and through certain other methods. Play HAWKED regularly to keep your style options up to date, and be sure to follow the game’s social channels for special distributions in the future.

ISSUES & THE RENEGADE PASS

HAWKED’s story unfolds in Issues, free seasonal events packed with gripping questlines, special missions, and exclusive rewards to earn from the Renegade Pass. Join the ranks of the adventurers guild GRAIL as a Renegade. Work alongside your allied rogues and rapscallions aboard the Riftwake. Witness X-Isle change and evolve as new threats rise, alliances shift, and adventure calls. This story is just beginning, and you’re at the heart of it!

Rise through the Renegade ranks by completing Quests to progress the Free or Premium tracks of the Renegade Pass. With a new one available every Issue, this battle pass features many rewards to unlock, including unique customizations for your Backpack and Traversers, Color Schemes, Outfits, GRAIL+, currency, the opportunity to add new Gear to your Loadout, and so much more. 

Bonus Reconnaissance: Issue #1: Renegades

HAWKED is now available to play for free on PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X|S, and Windows PC via Steam and MY.GAMES Launcher. Join the ultimate treasure hunt today!