I love how Microsoft Flight Simulator exists in the background now, like the distant roar of an overhead flight path. Not only is it just nice to have a shiny, new version of one of the gaming OGs there to pick up and play at any time, every now and then it drops an absolutely gorgeous new trailer showing off some wild technical wizardry or hyper-detailed new cityscape. That's exactly what's happened now, with Flight Sim's latest update inviting you to pay a flying visit to an eclectic collection of European cities.
Hawked is the rare extraction shooter not trying to copy Escape From Tarkov, and it's out today
30.11.2023 - 18:59 / pcgamer.com / Rare / And It
The PC Gaming Show: Most Wanted is here to spotlight our most anticipated games of 2024 and beyond, but not everything in the show today is far off. A new multiplayer shooter promising to be «the most accessible extraction shooter» to date, Hawked, launches today in early access. It's free-to-play, sports a massive map out of the gate, and seems more focused on quick, simple fun than laborious looting.
Developed by My.Games, a Dutch studio with a portfolio of PC and mobile games, Hawked is among the most unique takes on the extraction shooter in recent years. Its art, goofy costumes, and uncomplicated third-person shooting will be instantly familiar to Fortnite players, but its match format is much closer to one of our favorite shooters at PC Gamer: Hunt: Showdown. AI hazards can be just as dangerous as other players and matches have a clear end point once the big prize has been collected.
Squads deploy at different corners of the map and race to solve mini-puzzles and collect «glyphs» that lead to the ultimate treasure; an artifact that grants a powerful perk. Extract from the match with it, and it can be used in subsequent matches and upgraded. That's the ideal outcome, but the beauty of extraction shooters, and a point that My.Games tried to drive home in a remote press presentation, is that you can freely extract from the map at any point and decide what a «successful» run means to you.
Case in point: I got nowhere near the main artifact in the preview matches I played last week, but I still felt like I made progress as I got used to the controls. I was way more relaxed playing Hawked than I usually am in an extraction or battle royale game, possibly because my matches played like a primarily PvE experience with a small side of PvP. My squads were able to rack up lots of XP (used to unlock gadgets and such at a home base) just by casually running toward glyph puzzles and fighting AI critters, tribes of lizard jerks, and minibosses we ran into on the way.
One complaint I've always had about Warzone DMZ and Escape From Tarkov is the lack of a concrete objective. When my only real goal in an extraction shooter is to loot guns and check off arbitrary account challenges, I tend to aimlessly wander around the map and get bored before deciding to extract. I really enjoy that Hawked doesn't have that problem. While it's possible to ignore the artifact and do side activities that fulfill a challenge instead, the artifact is centered as the clear primary objective, so players who want the most XP are pushed into encounters with each other.
The artifact does seem worth the trouble, too: there are 18 different ones that can be randomly chosen as the prize for your match, and they all grant powerful perks like
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