Quick Links
Hyper Light Breakeris a difficult game, and it only gets harder the longer a run drags out. Players who crave a challenge should have no issues when bigger and badder enemies start popping up, but for everyone else, it can result in gear loss and heartbreak.
What the game doesn’t explain from the get-go is that it has a Danger Meter mechanic that players have to worry about. It’s a fairly simplemechanicthat’s similar to onesfound in other roguelikes, and it’s one that players will want to know more about if they want to maximize their runs without compromising their odds of success.
What is the Danger Meter?
The Danger Meter inHyper Light Breakeris theyellow bar under the mini-map. This gradually fills up while you’re exploring the Overgrowth, and the more full it becomes, the harder everything gets. More enemies will spawn around the map, and they’ll generally be tougher too. You’ll eventually encounter stronger enemy types that might be too much for you to handle if you haven’t been upgrading your gear.
Defeating enemies and looting chests also contribute to the Danger Meter’s incremental increases, which is why players should consider the purpose of their current expedition every time they head to the teleporter in the Cursed Outpost. Ideally, you should separate your loot and boss runs — going for Prisms while the Danger Meter is high can lead to complications leading up to a Crown fight, and since most chests and weapons are guarded by enemies,it’d be wise to loot equipmentwhile the Danger Meter is still low.
How to Reset the Danger Meter
The Danger Meter resets every time you return from the Overgrowth, whether it’s from dying or manually extracting from the map. If things are getting a little too spicy, consider escaping by heading to the Extraction marker on your map. You’ll have to fight a few waves of enemies while extracting, so be ready to tussle.
Dying will reset your Danger Meter, but this is obviously not ideal. Death will reduce the durability of your Holobytes and equipment, potentially breaking them if they don’t have enough life left in them. Also, this will reduce yourRez count inHyper Light Breaker— if it reaches zero, you’ll have be forced into a new cycle (or you can pay to stay).
