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Free-to-play mech FPS Hawken is staging a fan-led comeback thanks to a new project called Hawakening. It’s certainly not the first effort to bring Hawken back to life, but after the ill-received Hawken Reborn took the game in a whole different direction, this unofficial revival might just be what the fandom truly needs.
“Hawakening is a community effort to bring multiplayer back to life for the defunct CL142579 build of HAWKEN™,” as explained on theproject’s website. “We have made this possible through cleanroom reverse-engineering, injecting our own code into the client and writing our own infrastructure from scratch. It is a labor of undying love. Our servers are self-hosted. We will never monetize anything.”
From rust and ruin… - YouTubeWatch On
From rust and ruin… - YouTube
From rust and ruin… - YouTube
This might sound familiar to Hawken superfans - after all,Hawakening first launched way back in 2020. But that was a single-player revival intended to let players get back in to play with bots. This new relaunch is a full custom server job letting you play PvP online. This is, to be clear, a beta, and onDiscordthe devs warn that progress might be wiped at the 1.0 launch, particularly since they’re still deciding what progression looks like in a now microtransaction-free revival of a formerly free-to-play game.
PC servers for Hawken shut down back in 2018, though the game has remained playable online with admittedly dwindling player bases on Xbox One and PS4. An official sequel called Hawken Reborn launched in 2023, but it was pretty muchimmediately skewered for adding a pay-to-win cash shop- plus it was a PvE game that got away from the PvP action the original fandom loved.Steam reviewsfor the sequel remain “mostly negative,” but it did get a new update on September 24. It reached a total of25 concurrent playerson Steam following that update.
The Hawakening devs eventually plan to take the project open source, as it’s “the key to making Hawken truly immortal.” But, they add, that “will take additional time, effort & considerations.” In the meantime, it looks like the Hawken fans actually want to play is well and truly back.
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1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
1Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
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Nemesis review: “A magical sense of tension”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
2Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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Arcs review: “A whole lot of game in a small package”
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3Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
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Path of Exile 2 review: “A stellar start to a thrilling and brutal dark adventure”
4Indiana Jones and the Great Circle review: “The best adventure Indy has embarked on in over 30 years”
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2Mufasa: The Lion King review – “It’s no Hakuna Matata but this Disney origin story is a class above the 2019 movie”
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3Kraven the Hunter review: “The insistence on an R-rating helps save this, with a decent helping of bloodthirsty action”
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4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
4The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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The Lord of the Rings: The War of the Rohirrim review – “An uninspired expansion of the most iconic screen take on Tolkien”
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5Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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Nightbitch review: “Amy Adams' disappointing dark comedy is all bark and no bite”
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2Doctor Who 2024 Christmas special review: “Ncuti Gatwa is as magnetic as ever in this delightful festive treat”
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3Secret Level review: “An uneven experience with serious highlights that ultimately make up for the misses”
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Skeleton Crew review: “Perfectly captures the vibes of classic Star Wars with a swashbuckling twist”
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5Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”
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Creature Commandos review: “James Gunn’s heartwarming, R-rated tale about super-monsters proves that the DCU is in good hands”