HAWKED | PS5 Review

Hawked is a newly released free-to-play PvPvE extraction experience centered around puzzle solving, and third-person combat. The game takes place on X-Isle. A treasure trove of a location that harbors bygone relics sought after by an ancient race of reptilians known as Disciples. You come in as a renegade recruit for hire doing work for the GRAIL corporation. A secret society that aims to beat the Disciples to the punch, so-to-speak. As one of their hired operatives you will suit up and ship out in hopes of bringing home trinkets imbued with power. 

At your disposal are a grappling device for traversal, a special slingshot for interacting with puzzles, a melee weapon for close quarters combat, and the ability to arm yourself with guns. That and two special Gears (Exo & Ward) abilities as well as three artifacts of the Utility, Hunt, and Survival type that work on a cooldown. You'll even find limited use boosters that can be bought using the lesser currency for brief advantages on a given outing. 

Your character, which can be any gender given the male and female body types accompanied by masculine and feminine voices, can be customized further with cosmetics. At first you'll choose from a limited selection of clothing items, hair styles, and eye colors. Creating, with detailed sliders, a unique character all your own. 

Should you feel like spending some real world cash the game also has a seasonal Renegade battle pass which will reward you things like taunts, cosmetics, currencies, and other useful items for a price. These battle passes are usually themed according to the season. There's also a Grail+ premium battle pass with extra bonuses for the subscription. The Grail+ can be bought with the premium currency which is available for purchase from the PSN store.

Through talks with resident NPCs at the GRAIL HQ you will effectively learn the ropes of gameplay via hands-on tutorial, make use of the vendors there, and will learn over time the various mechanics tied to the core modes of play. 

Seeing as treasures are the sought after reward in Hawked you will be acquiring valuable trinkets, artifacts, and gears if you make it to the final vault room and extract after collecting the glyphs from several puzzles. The puzzles themselves incorporate things like image matching, target shooting, and crowd clearing among other things. 

Along the way you'll deck out your loadout with weapons of different rarities and types from chests as well as things like Hunt, Survival, and Utility Artifacts and Gears which will act as your special active and passive abilities in combat/traversal situations. That and comic book character style cards which will also effect in-game performance in a similar fashion. All of which can be leveled up using the earned currencies, or by meeting upgrade quest requirements. Leveling up your loyalty through donations of said currency for access to bigger and better loadout items is also a thing.

While questing via the contracts vendor will be your usual go to for amassing currencies, artifacts, and gears the endgame will have you grinding for rank, and earning your place in Hawked history through said contracts. This is done mainly through the casual and ranked playlists, and will net you special title cards that can be customized along with other profile items. Whether you wish to go solo or play in squads that are filled or not you can experience the game as intended. All objectives remain pretty much the same across all modes of play, albeit the number of players per team.

The point, in general, is extraction with loot in hand. You will need to get to the extraction point to do this, and stand your ground until the portal opens up. As you're there you can stock up on ammo, weapons, and other items via a shop. Using this you will either need to face off and win against the main boss and his goons or approaching players. All of which will be beckoned to your location as the startup of the extraction point will give an indicator on the mini-map.

Given the simplicity of the main objectives Hawked does manage to spice things up in-game with alternative events including boss battles, caravan encounters, optional quests, and their own version of treasure goblins. Each of these things will net you better weapons, consumables, and items. The caravan in particular sees you tailing at large lumbering creature that's carrying boxes of loot. It is guarded by Disciples and will require you to shed it of it's loot boxes and armor to fully capitalize on it's offerings.

The boss battles, which are an entirely different beast, come in different varieties featuring larger than life enemies that will take a lot of damage to kill off. Depending on whether the boss is a glyph boss or an open world won will determine the type of loot. Glyph bosses will usually drop a powerful melee weapon of higher rarity. Good for that final race to the extraction point.

All said you will rinse and repeat the casual and ranked playlists to gain trinkets that can be disassembled or sold back at HQ for currencies, and will manage found or earned artifacts, gears, and cards using the leveling currency to max out their effect. Either that or by meeting certain gameplay oriented requirements. This will give you the best advantage going back in, and will help you with things like survivability, traversal, and damage output. Each artifact, gear, and card affords damage or defensive buffs, and other added effects depending on what it is. Some of which grant game changing skills like conjuring up a wall, or electrifying a crowd. Only one Exo and one Ward can be equipped for Gears at any given time. Artifacts, on the other hand, can have three, and cards only one. 

The Presentation ...

Visually, Hawked has a comic book style appearance that reminds me a lot of the old Sunday paper detective comic strips. It's very stylized and has a certain secret agent or adventurer vibe about it. It comes with cell shading, and a cartoonish look that is somewhat reminiscent of games like Fortnite. The game voices include voice acted NPCs with unique personalities that liven up the experience. Often times with distinctly diverse ethnic accents. As far as the character customization goes it is surprisingly detailed for a game of this caliber, and with the battle pass offerings that can obviously be expanded upon if you are willing to support the game.

The Verdict ...

From a guy coming from a dedicated Fortnite background I can say that Hawked is it's own beast. It is a blend of PvP, and PvE that perfectly melds exploration, combat, and puzzle solving without making it a trial by fire. It is doable even for casuals or newcomers to this type of experience. That being said the game does not explain away everything, and I found that if you search for beginner guides online you'll be more than prepared to play competitively. 

I found one guide that told about the different types of Disciple enemies, and little looting tricks that will make the tasks at hand easier. Since MY.GAMES did provide me with a battle pass I will be grinding the game, and uploading some gameplay through streams, and to my Youtube channel. I hope you join me on Twitch (MadHatter1134) to learn more about it if you are interested. For now my verdict for Hawked is positive, but with a catch. I do not like DEI content in games, and there is definitely that in Hawked, especially with the character customization options. The only reason I think it's any good is, because that DEI isn't pushed too hard, and that the gameplay loop is fun. You will have to decide on your own as to whether or not you're willing to support this game or not. Always vote with your wallet.