Mech shooter Hawken is returning as a free-to-play PvE title

After over half a decade of the free-to-play multiplayer mech shooter being offline, 505 Games is resurrecting the title as a PvE game called Hawken Reborn.

The details:

• A new version of the original mech shooter titled Hawken Reborn now has a new Steam store page, with an early access version available as a free-to-play title on May 17. On the page, its developer, 505 Games, explains why it chose an early access strategy, stating that while it already has a "foundation in place, with the initial story missions set and various initial mechs and weapons to acquire," the "opportunity to work directly with players and collect feedback is essential to [its] development approach." The developers anticipate that the game's early access period will last approximately 18 months before the full launch.
• Hawken Reborn is still "very early in its lifecycle," with the first release featuring six story missions, radio missions that allow for "initial early replayability and exploration, and a single zone." Five mechs with various weapons and thrusters will also be available, with more content to be added in future updates, which will fall under phase 2 of the game's early access plans after "critical elements" have been optimized.
• Hawken received a work-in-progress trailer in 2011, with an early access period beginning in 2014 before being shut down. After that, a "relaunch" update arrived in 2017 and met the same fate as the first attempt, with the servers being shut down in January 2018 and nothing officially happening with the IP until now. Following its closure, fans attempted to resurrect the game under the title "Hawakening," though only a single-player version against AI bots has so far been playable.

Other upcoming games:

• Amazon Games has announced a collaboration with Embracer Group's Middle-Earth Enterprises on the development of a Lord of the Rings MMO. The new project has nothing to do with the canceled 2021 attempt to create an MMO in the Lord of the Rings universe or the still-supported Lord of the Rings Online from 2007.
• CD Projekt has confirmed that Project Sirius is back in development after the company wrote off $10 million in expenses after evaluating "the scope and commercial potential of the original concept of Project Sirius." It's unclear how the "reformulated framework" will affect the game's vision, but it appears to still be a multiplayer Witcher title.