Savage Planet series developer Raccoon Logic announced a new game at Gamescom today, and it’s not what anyone would expect.
Breakaway Hockey League is a new “high-skill” 4v4 ice hockey game with five-minute matches, ranked play, and what the studio called “larger-than-life spectacle.”
In development for PC, Breakaway Hockey League has players controlling just one member of the team, not the entire lineup like you might find in EA’s NHL series. Raccoon Logic is promising things like realistic puck physics and “physical checking,” along with other things you’d expect from a hockey game, including skill moves like dekes and picking your corners with precision shooting.
Raccoon Logic is hoping Breakaway Hockey League will lead to “highlight-reel moments” with its more arcade-y setup, which in turn people may share online. The game promises players “dramatic breakaways, clutch saves, and bone-rattling hits.”
Raccoon Logic’s marketing boss Hugo Agostinho said the team created Breakaway Hockey League in part because of a gap in the market with hockey games vanishing from PC. That’s not totally true, as Steam is filled with hockey games like Bush League Hockey, Hoser Hockey, and Backyard Hockey ’02, just to name a few. In any event, Raccoon Logic sees an opportunity for Breakaway Hockey League to stand out with its blend of “skill, speed, and violence.”
“We’re aiming to keep the soul of hockey while adding the purity of modern competitive action games,” game director Steve Masters said.
Agostinho acknowledged that there are fantastic indie-style ice hockey games on Steam, but these do not scratch the specific itch that Breakaway Hockey League is going for.
“Growth of the game on a global scale”
Speaking to GameSpot at Gamescom, Agostinho said ice hockey continues to expand into new territories and reach more people, and Breakaway Hockey League is coming to market against that backdrop. He pointed out that a team from Florida, the Panthers, have now won back-to-back Stanley Cups, and he admitted he’s feeling pretty salty about a US-based team doing so well. But it’s also helping grow the game.
“The growth of the game on a global scale and then the types of audiences has also expanded significantly,” he said. “We see places like Japan, China, France, Italy, all having their own hockey scenes. We have a professional hockey league for women in the PWHL. Montreal won the first cup, which is where the studio’s based, so it’s very exciting there.”
He also pointed out how the HBO series Heated Rivalry recently helped introduce even more people to ice hockey. He said the show, along with other factors, has helped make hockey appealing to people other than the typical “hockey bro with a missing tooth.”
“One of the funniest things I’ve heard is a lot of the fans who’ve gotten into hockey from Heated Rivalry … they’ll go to games and call it ‘hockey boy aquarium.'”
Raccoon Logic is planning to launch Breakaway Hockey League via Steam Early Access, but before that, the studio is hosting alpha and beta playtests with a focus on “rapid iteration” as the studio develops the game alongside the community.
“We are making this not so much for like hardcore hockey fans as we are for like the Overwatch, the Valorant player, the Rocket League player, the Counter-Strike player,” Agostinho said. “And a lot of our inspirations for design even actually come from shooter shooter games, and not so much sports games, which is a really cool place to start for something like this.”
On-ice action
Unlike EA’s NHL series, Breakaway Hockey League has players controlling just one skater, and not from a top-down presentation. Instead, the game is presented with a third-person, over-the-shoulder camera. The third-person perspective is aimed at making you “feel like an athlete” as opposed to watching a hockey broadcast, Agostinho said. Additionally, this perspective makes the game feel “more immersive,” he said.
Unfortunately, no gameplay footage for Breakaway Hockey League has been released so far, but that’s coming soon, the developers said.