Hyper Light Drifter
Survive the pixel apocalypse
Hyper Light Drifter has one of the most coherent art designs we’ve seen in a game. It may sound like an odd claim, but think about it. Most games have different aesthetics for different locations that tie together in the general theme but use different palettes and forms. Drifter maintains the slightly dreamy mix of 70’s style prog rock album art and pixel graphics throughout, developing a huge, cohesive world that sucks the player in and keeps them trapped there with the amazing electronic soundtrack. It really is a thing of beauty that tells the story as much as does the actual plot.
It’s hard to describe the story as much of it is told only through imagery or the environment, aside from saying it’s sad, beautiful and a little ambiguous. On console Hyper Light Drifter would be described as a Metroidvania style game, and even though there are few direct analogues in the PC realm the description works. Players explore the vast lands of the game finding secrets, solving puzzles, fighting monsters and gaining new skills that can then be used to access previously inaccessible areas or solve previously unsolvable puzzles.
Combat feels like a distillation of old school action games, with the Drifter capable of a quick melee sword slash, shooting enemies at range and quickly dashing to get out of the way of attacks. By defeating enemies and scouring the worlds, the player can find currency that can then be used to alter these basic skills. The implementation of new skills is very clever, as they don’t require the player to learn new abilities but rather adjust for the way that an upgrade has effected an existing ability. The sword,
It’s hard to describe the story as much of it is told only through imagery or the environment
for example can be upgraded to be able to deflect and redirect enemy projectiles, turning the melee weapon into both a defensive and ranged weapon. The dash can be upgraded to string together infinite dashes seamlessly as long as you keep the timing right and don’t run into an obstacle.
If there’s any problem with Hyper Light Drifter it’s that the game’s difficulty isn’t quite calibrated right. The game is hard and unforgiving. That’s a good, if not great thing for the most part, as it encourages players to utilise all of the skills they have accrued and play carefully rather than fast. Unfortunately, there are some areas that show that this difficulty is tuned unfairly. Nearly every combat will see the player outnumbered which is not a problem in and of itself, but some of these battles come down to luck more than skill. Likewise, autosaves snapshot the character at the time of the save. Entering a boss battle on half life with no health potions is tantamount to recursive suicide, as if you lose you be resurrected outside the battle with half health and no potions. The only option left to the player is running through the dungeon again and hoping they don’t get unlucky with enemies or item drops.
Despite the uneven fairness of the game, Hyper Light Drifter remains an excellent example of indie creativity. You might not understand the story, but you’ll have a hell of a time trying to work it out.