Upwake.me unveils zany Hawked extraction shooter

Publisher and developer Upwake.me has announced Hawked, a new extraction shooter.

The new title will be coming soon on the consoles and PC, and the closed alpha test will start on November 24 for PC players on Steam. Starting that day, players can take a first look at the Hunt mode, playable either solo or in squads of three.

Upwake.me — which has offices in Amsterdam, Limassol, and Dubai — said Hawked is an online shooter in which teams or solo players race to collect and extract treasure from a remote island. It’s a player-versus-player-versus environment game. Extraction games are all the rage, with titles like Escape From Tarkov, Call of Duty: Warzone 2’s DMZ mode, and Shrapnel.

Players must explore a mysterious island, compete with each other, and battle greedy saurian Disciples in a quest for treasure and mystical artifacts. But it’s not just the monsters they’ll have to worry about. Other players are gunning for their treasure too. Players will also have to contend with puzzles and traps, hazardous environments, and a variety of other challenges along the way.

The title will be available on the on PlayStation 4, PlayStation 5, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One and PC.

For the closed Alpha, the core game mode will be Hunt in which players will be scouring the island for Artifacts. However, the Artifacts are not just for scoring points, they are usable items providing in-game benefits that, once a player extracts them, are theirs to keep for future games.

During the game, you have multiple ways of getting Artifacts. They can be looted from defeated players but also via PvE encounters such as a Glyph encounter. During these encounters, a player can secure four glyphs with which they can open the Vault which contains multiple Artifacts. The player with the most Artifacts will be the grand winner, however it’s intended by the developer that extracting even one Artifact is also rewarding enough that any player feels they can achieve something worthwhile in every game.

In the world of Hawked, the adventurers guild Grail has recently made the discovery of a lifetime: X-Isle, a mysterious island that harbors powerful artifacts from a lost civilization. However, Grail’s attempts at extracting the artifacts fail when the island’s monstrous inhabitants attack.

That’s where the Renegades come in. They are treasure-hunting mercenaries with a penchant for plundering. As Renegades, the players will have access to a large collection of weapons and gadgets, battle vicious monsters, outwit enemies, and gun down each other while roaming the island. Players will run, jump, surf, zipline, and soar through an ever-evolving world filled with deadly hazards, lush jungles, and ancient ruins.

Players need to solve puzzles and dodge traps to steal treasure, extract them, and escape the island. Reclaimed riches can be used to upgrade gear and abilities, and players can extensively tweak their Renegade with customizable loadouts and abilities. Wield new weapons and equipment like katanas and grappling hooks to specialize in stealth, defense, or lightning fast looting.

Hawked’s closed alpha test will be playable from November 24 until November 28 on Steam. Alpha players will be testing the Hunt Mode of the game, more information about closed alpha participation can be found on the official website. The developers said they are are eager to gather feedback during this formative period for the game. Feedback from testers will be important for future development and honing the vision of making a fast-paced, kinetic extraction shooter.