Hard Reset Redux

Hard Reset Redux is a single-player science-fiction shooter set in a cyberpunk future where machines threaten Bezoar, humanity’s last closed city. As CLN soldier Major Fletcher, players cross besieged districts, fight mechanical forces and improve two modular weapons. Redux revises the original campaign with updated visuals and gameplay changes, including a cyber-katana, dash, and new enemy variants.

Hard Reset Redux takes place after the collapse of the world as it was known. Humanity survives inside Bezoar, described as its last closed city, while machines control much of the surrounding Barrens. At the centre of the conflict is the Sanctuary, a network holding billions of digitised human minds that the machines seek to control and assimilate. The city’s defensive barrier is breached, prompting the Corporation to send Major Fletcher into the damaged area. The campaign follows this response through a hostile industrial science-fiction setting, where the immediate task of clearing a route is tied to Bezoar’s defence and the struggle over the Sanctuary.

Fletcher serves in CLN, a corporate combat unit established to protect Bezoar. The opening places him inside the breach rather than in a separate base-management role: he moves through the affected districts, confronts the machines attacking the city, and advances through connected combat spaces. The story presentation includes graphic-novel-style panels, while the in-level action is played from a first-person perspective. The larger conflict is framed through the opposition between the human settlement and machine forces, with the Sanctuary providing the stakes behind the assault. The opening premise sets up a direct defensive mission without requiring an extended account of events beyond the campaign’s initial situation.

The core arsenal is built around two weapons with multiple firing configurations rather than a long list of separate guns. The CLN Modular Assault Rifle begins as a conventional machine gun and can be developed into other ballistic options, including a shotgun, grenade launcher and rocket-propelled grenade launcher. The NRG EEF-21 Plasma Rifle starts by firing plasma projectiles and can gain energy-based modes such as a lightning gun and a mortar that launches explosive electric charges. Switching between these configurations gives Fletcher responses for different ranges and enemy groupings while keeping the ammunition system organised around the two parent weapons.

Weapon development is tied to N.A.N.O., the campaign’s upgrade currency. As Fletcher advances, he can spend collected N.A.N.O. to unlock additional firing modes and improve the available equipment. The resulting choices shape how the two weapons handle encounters: ballistic variants provide direct impact or explosive area attacks, while the energy weapon’s options cover electrical damage and broader blasts. Enemies also differ in size and attack style, so the arsenal’s changing configurations give the player ways to meet rushers, ranged attackers and heavier machines with appropriate force. Some machines attack at close range with saw blades, while others roll toward Fletcher as bombs; later groups include charging heavy units with ground-pound attacks and firearm-carrying enemies that engage at distance. These are practical combat choices made within a compact kit rather than a character build assembled from a large inventory.

The Redux edition keeps the original’s emphasis on environmental destruction and adds movement and close-range tools to the campaign. Explosive containers and other hazardous objects can be used against machine groups, although those same hazards can injure Fletcher. The revision adds a quick dash as another way to avoid incoming attacks, along with a cyber-katana that provides a melee option when machines close the distance. The updated version also introduces cyborg-zombie enemy variants and changes enemy placement, so familiar locations can present different combinations of threats. Improved lighting and effects, faster loading, quicksave and full controller support are among the other changes listed for this edition.

Combat arenas and the routes between them connect shooting with movement and resource management. Fletcher must move through areas held by machines, keep track of the two weapons’ shared ammunition pools, and use the available firing modes to deal with the opposition. When one pool is depleted, the other weapon remains available, and ammunition can regenerate up to around half of its capacity. This means a pause in firing one system can give that supply time to recover while Fletcher uses the other, instead of making every empty magazine a permanent loss. Destructible objects add another layer: using hazards can damage groups and may reveal concealed routes, while careless firing around the same objects can create danger for Fletcher. Machines can also trigger explosive props, so their movement can change the risk around an arena. The combination rewards attention to nearby machines, environmental devices and the current weapon configuration.

The Xbox One version of Hard Reset Redux includes the original campaign and the Exile expansion, which continues Fletcher’s story beyond Bezoar into the Barrens. Exile adds five levels outside the city, four enemy types, a boss fight, two survival maps and additional achievements. Those regions replace Bezoar’s dark urban corridors with vegetation and ruined buildings. Across both settings, destructible walls, hidden lifts and elevated walkways open optional routes; searching hidden rooms and side paths can yield N.A.N.O. for weapon and armour upgrades. The survival maps add separate arenas alongside the campaign’s level-by-level progression.