Years have passed since I’ve played my beloved Hyper Light Drifter. I wanna say I played this in 2016(?), a shrimple 14 year old girl who only knew it from a 20 second twitter clip that was rlly emotionally evocative. Didn’t know one thing about the gameplay, went fuck it we ball mode and played it. It was, back then, one of my favorite games ever, and over the years I began to doubt that. It’s no-dialogue story gimmick, good music, and catchy title were the only bits that stuck with me as years passed. I thought I’d been duped a bit emotionally by some easily marketable ideas, and that I wss some kinda ‘cool games poser’.

Do you know how happy I am to report that I was right in this case? I’ve been right a lot in this way recently- replaying Soul Hackers and Bastion lately showed me that I actually underrated or didn’t fully grasp how good some of these games were, and I’m really glad I hissed away my initial urge to avoid childhood joys out of embarrassment.

Here’s some history I think is an interesting little primer: I like three of the Zelda games. Played most of em. Like 15 of them probably? I genuinely hate all but three: Zelda 1, Minish Cap, and Four Swords (I’m a bit of a Game Boy Bitch it seems. Never had one growing up but I am!). Zelda 1 is like- one of the first games I recall playing. My dad’s parents sold their childhood SNES and it’s games but I did grow up using their old NES for some reason. They amassed a pretty good selection I think given the fact some weird poor kid from the middle of nowhere was making the buying decisions: Zelda 1 and 2, Blades of Steel, NES Golf, Final Fantasy 1, and Mario 2. I played the hell outta Zelda 2 the most I think. It was kinda infuriating! I wanted all the answers!

Later on in life, I really took a liking to Zelda 1. It’s simple, everything’s pretty to the point, and there ain’t many games like Just Zelda 1 made today. Like- you’ll have kinda similar things, right? But then there’ll be an extended segment that makes you go “….Oh. That’s Link To The Past, right.” and it kills the enjoyment I have, genuinely! Just think of LttP- ugh! What a- what a fucking specific and weird and unapproachable dull thing. Link to the Past.

Anyway- what I like in Z1 is it’s specificity and simultaneous lack thereof. Every time I get an item in Zelda 1, I know what it does immediately. If it’s long enough since I’ve upgraded a piece of equipment, I can feel a hankering for the eventual upgrade of it. If I ain’t seen a secret area in a bit, my mind tunes to look for them effectively.

Most importantly, though: the plot (however simple it is in Zelda 1) is a transfer of information. You don’t make a lot of active plot progress until the end of the game in Zelda 1. You have the NES game’s manual to tell you what is happening, and you have whatever story clues are contained in the individual moments. What’s happening here, though, is a structured pattern of plot-by-learning. Not exposition, really. Just other people having info, and the story forming as you’re given more context for how it all concludes. Nothing is ‘happening’, though. However, this is story a type of story I find universally compelling. Especially once you get into the nitty-gritty- who else knows that thing you just learned, and why didn’t they tell you before?

Zelda 1’s story isn’t that interesting, really. Like let’s be honest- I’m not gonna call it the masterclass in simple plot communication. But like…..I certainly remember it more fondly today than anything that happened in Ocarina looking back. Hyper Light Drifter takes the addicting and lovely parts of this structure to the extreme: information is conveyed through pure emotional connection. You see images, hear some tone-setting music, your heart does the rest of the work. You really do not need to hear words, you just need to understand at the base level what is most important in each individual scene.

Heck, it’s even got the hyperfocus on an underground dungeon world!

There’s a tendency to call this game cryptic that I really despise, though. It’s not. There’s this stupid thing where you can get the story of the game by obtaining these tablets that translate everything about the backstory and uh…you don’t need that. I’m the Hyper Light Hypewoman and I’m probably never doing it, honestly! Each part of this game is perfectly communicated. If you think there’s something missing it’s likely not that you misunderstood anything- it’s just That Simple, and your brain expects more.

What happens, as I see it- is incredibly simple. Our main character, THEE Hyper Light Drifter, awakens to find a disease they’ve had for a while worsening. They start blacking out for portions, seeing these visions of a beast killing them and sparking the end of humanity. Usually, at the end of these visions, a scary ass dog appears leading them in different directions. The Drifter trusts this dog for no good reason. Really, they shouldn’t based on the facts: these visions of the future they start getting feature the dog adjacent to themselves drowning within another creature’s maw, and civilization as a whole getting blown the fuck up.

We get context for the creature that will kill us and it’s supercomputer papaw throughout 4 episodic chapters. Universally, people are hurt by it after thinking they could approach it like any other situation. Not even the computer in some cases: just other species of lil peoples that suddenly get possessed by murderous ideology. These people have NO reason to trust others. Neither do you, kinda!

Another driftin’ sick fellow, though, dies shortly after risking life and limb to protect you. This reaffirms the Drifter’s inherent trust in others, and once the time comes, their trust is rewarded. They defeat the beast and escape alive and healthier after the scary ass dogthing leads them to safety. They’ve protected the world, but disabled their method of escape (the supercomputer that controlled the elevator system between the lower world and the surface). They will die, but alone with the dog and no one else now. Not from their painful sickness. It’s not perfect, but it could be considered better. And not to mention, life-affirming: it’s so difficult to trust others. I’ve been burned basically every time I’ve done it. It’s nice to consider this impulse still might not be worthless.

Hyper Light Drifter, overall, is a game about constant trust. It is a game full of secrets, where the artist's touches prompt you and reward you for trusting them. There's a universal Secret Symbol: you see it, you know something's there. Sometimes it's just a room with a key for ya to take. Isn't that nice? A lot of the times you land in a three-screen dungeon leading up to, you guessed it, a key. Sometimes it feels like you're being tricked. Could be a trick, even, honestly. But you always get a lil treat for your efforts. A reward for handing over your trust. There's a lot more about the game's design I think supports this philosophy but like- number one, I'm just gonna be repeating my words for like six more paragraphs if I do that, and number two: you don't want that at all. Like duh. That would blow. Not sure if what's about to follow is better, but like you'd hate it either way so I'll take those odds.

Okay, we already toyed with doing some Tim Rogers self-obsessed storytime bullshit during the Zelda Talk, but like- you either closed this review cuz of that or you’re itching for more. Ya want more? Oh, I got more.

In 2019 I was diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia. I have never told my family this, and I didnt tell a single person in my life until 2023. It's like- a fairly well known fact now. In my everyday life, things have gotten harder to manage vis-a-vis that, but y’know, back then it was simple: my inner monologue was hateful towards myself, and I would sometimes say things out loud and immediately recognize I was having a vivid memory-hallucination so strong I forgot where I was. Between then and now, we’ve got one major difference: trust issues. It’s about to get a little heavy so y’know. Trigger warnings and what not. There’s like- usually two or three things people talk about when they say that, so I hope you know to save this tab for later if that hurts right now.

In the years between then and now, I’ve lost every person I trusted for the most part. Most of my childhood friends killed themselves or were killed by their families. One of these particular suicides, which happened in 2017, I walked in on after it had happened. Which was a lot to work with as a teen. There were things I promised them I’d do I never got to, and vice versa. Obviously I dont like- blame any of them. Thats a really unfair thing to do, I think. But it really hurt my ability to trust others. Still, though, I had to actively try to trust people when I could regardless of how much it was hurting me to do so. I've always been a hopeful little soul, and people looked to me constantly for inspiration or to uplift their mood. When you're met with all that, you can't let that crack at all. You have to be this perfect emblem for others, even though it sucks. For a long ass time, I did trust like- one particular person a lot (genuinely!) and that isn’t true any more. You’ll remember when I threw out 2023 earlier? They helped me a lot starting in like- 2022 to help me get past a lot of this shit. We talked nearly every day for like a year. They were kind in the moment when I tried to talk about the symptoms of my schizophrenic disorder which was like- pretty new to me! Hadn't had much of a chance to talk about it before, but now here's someone who knows all the terminology that I'm having to use right now!

So, early 2024 rolls around and I have a crazy schizophrenia hallucination episode. I live alone with no in-person support network at this point. I try to kill myself the same way my old best friend did back in 2017, just in a public park at night instead of a house. At some point shortly after I tell them this, they just never talk to me again. I shouldn’t say never- I still text them sometimes, they might respond with a simple sentence once every month. If I try and ask how they’re doing or if we can talk soon, it’s left on read. If I say “Hey I watched that movie you mentioned.” there’s a one in five chance they say “Cool, that one’s good.”

Needless to say- much of my day now is spent grappling with trust issues. Like most of the day. It’s my fulltime job type shit. caused not exclusively by this new issue. But it's certainly not helping, right? I do not trust any one which, y’know, sucks! That used to be like- easy to do! However stupid it might be, though, if someone asks me to trust them with something I do as asked. Always.

I am a quitter in a lot of ways, and a real self-aware idiot, but let one thing be known: I try the hell outta it when I do that shit. I have crazy trust issues that make me think that every kind act done to me is part of some larger ploy. That they only intend to use and betray my trust later. Every time I’ve ever had the “oh this person’s playing nice they Actually Hate You” alarm ring, I’ve been correct.

But like- it feels stupid to let the Brain Disease Currently Putting Me Down win, right? That’s my Real Fucking Life Vow to the world right there: I will never stop trusting people no matter how hard this shit gets. That’s what the got damn game is about. #HyperLightMentality #AntiHaterLifestyle

I guess the conclusion I want you to draw from all this info is: talk to people in your life, even if it hurts or sucks to do. Ya gotta trust people, I think, maybe. And uh- Hyper Light Drifter is a really great piece on how the power of trust extends beyond logical reason sometimes. Not in a like- sometimes you just gotta have faith bullshit happy ending way. More like- you'll have these self-aware moments where you recognize your trust in something is illogical or really unfair towards yourself, but you live with it regardless. Shouts out Heart Machine, heard they're making a weird spiritual sequel roguelike to this now? Kinda weird, right? I'm super down for whatever that is.

This game has grown on me massively since I abandoned it early in its release, its a lot better than I initially gave it credit for.

I still dont like the dash system, despite the practice from playing through I still struggle to pull off the rythms needed to take full advantage.

Overall though its a neat game and I finally get why so many people are very fond of it.

Every 12 months, it seems like all of gaming media conspires to get together and collectively select THE hottest indie darling of the year. In 2022 it was Cult of the Lamb, before that It Takes Two (2021), Hades (2020), Outer Wilds (2019), Subnautica (2018), Hollow Knight (2017), etc… Well, those of you who were gaming back in the day no doubt remember which release took the cake circa 2016, that of course being Hyper Light Drifter. A visual throwback to third and fourth gen titles, Hyper Light Drifter was interesting in that its gameplay was more reminiscent of contemporary hack-and-slash titles, producing a hybrid that appealed to both retro buyers and newbies alike. Seven years later, the question remains: does it still hold up as a gold standard from the AA market?

Based on my experience, the unfortunate truth is not really, though it does have its pros, the first of those of course being the graphics. If there’s one word that perfectly describes the aesthetic drafted by developer Heart Machine, it would be calming. Take a gander at any screenshot or piece of footage from this game; let the soft hues envelope your ocular globes, the pixel-perfect geometry captivate your soul, the dark neons ease you into a slumber…

Jokes aside, this is a genuinely serene world. Every color under the rainbow has seemingly been incorporated into the environments about you, yet it all feels equilibrious, as though some god sculpted everything from the same slab of digital clay. That said, there’s no doubt HLD shines best when it embraces more aphotic overlays. These typically sprout whenever you’re underground (more on that later), and man are they a sight to behold: whether it’s decrepit tech or spunky rock formations, the red/blue/purple motif bathes it all with cool tranquility. If there was ever an argument against photorealism scapes in video games, HLD would be a pristine candidate: a promethean extravaganza of somber chroma. We’ve all played games that had one or two hubs decked in such placidity- HLD is the first time I can say 90% of its content could fall under the same label.

The biggest drawback in this category is the poor environmental storytelling. As you’ve no doubt heard, HLD doesn’t feature a narrative in the conventional sense- there are a few cutscenes you’re periodically hit with (more on that later), but it’s otherwise a tale you largely have to interpret based on the imagery around you, and the problem is HLD is all over the place in terms of its physical layout. You’ll find Metroid-esque labs, mountaintops adorned with tribal totems, crystalline forests ala Secret of Mana, etc…and it never once comes across as a cohesive package. In fact, I’d go so far as to say creator Alx Preston was more interested in paying homage to those aforementioned titles than conceiving a unique mythos for his baby, and while it may result in a bunch of visual treats, it does come at the cost of narratological cohesiveness. Each venture you take is less about learning about this society and more about finding a new 90s throwback to gaze over if that makes sense.

I also would’ve appreciated a lot more blood splatter effects given the sheer amount of slicing-and-dicing you’ll be doing, which brings me to the gameplay. Like I stated before, HLD is a slash ‘em up, meaning its mechanics are based entirely on skewering opposing forces via your laser sword. To prevent button-mashing monotony, an instantaneous dash feature and firearm have been incorporated, and, at its best, HLD truly feels like a gun kata film: bursting into close quarters, slivering some thug, and blasting his buddy at a distance before leaping back to safety in the span of 3 seconds is absolutely exhilarating, and you’ll have to master this technique should you want to proceed through the harder areas. But unfortunately, that initial excitement wears off fast the moment you realize you’re going to be doing the exact same action again and again and again. The core problem with HLD’s loop is its failure to spice it up -- enemies aren’t radically different to warrant new tactics, the grid doesn’t deviate from its standard size, nothing. It’s just nonstop action. A lot of comparisons have been made to A Link to the Past given the presence of Zelda-esque dungeons and the ability to tackle 3/4 of them at your own pace, but the difference is those dungeons provided puzzles to jumble up the constant action. In HLD, the best you’ll get are activating switches, which are either way hidden behind guys you’ll have to, yup that’s right, KILL. And contrary to what Wikipedia claims, this is not an action RPG- all that murdering doesn’t give you experience points, and customization/inventory is limited to a few basic outfits and guns. While the upgrades (more on that later) make fighting easier, they fall short of innovation, and as a result, HLD drags, feeling just as long as ALTTP despite being half its length.

Not helping either of these is the perpetual backtracking you’ll have to do. See, unlocking boss stages and upgrades requires you to harvest special collectibles strewn throughout the world, and minus two pointed out to you by a local ally, there are no pinpoints on the map, meaning you gotta explore to find them. This doesn’t seem bad on the surface, but where the issue arises is the lack of a completion mark indicating you’ve already acquired something (again, save the two aforementioned ones), meaning you’ll often find yourself revisiting the same tunnels and closed-off areas in the hopes of uncovering an additional secret. And should you leave and return to one of the main junctures, all those gremlins you slew are brought back to life.

The larger qualm with HLD’s exploration is that the developers just didn’t do a good job arranging the spaces with distinguishable strata. In most top-down video games, you can tell where a hidden ingress is located by way of how certain objects appear: there’s a strange break in the wall, the trees are organized like an arrow, why is an odd boulder in the middle of nowhere, etc…In HLD, you’ll see TONS of these in every square that don’t lead ANYWHERE. And yet, that very same tactic has been used to conceal the canisters you need, meaning you’re going to be wasting your time slamming every suspicious-looking nook and cranny until you happen upon the right one. It’s not a compliment when I have to recommend employing a walkthrough to avoid needless frustration.

It’s a shame because an easy fix would’ve been simply giving the map a normal interface alongside the ability to set waypoints, instead of this confusing excuse of a menu with multiple levels and colors that barely show anything and don’t correspond to your actual location (one section saw me enter/exit a cave, only for the map to depict me radically moving an entire yard….what?).

As you can guess, the minimalist plot doesn’t make these excursions worth the trouble. A handful of beautifully-rendered pictel cutscenes hint at an interesting backstory for the unnamed protagonist, but it’s deliberately left vague for players to input their own interpretations. If I was younger, I probably would’ve found such an ordeal enticing, but as an adult, I gotta be honest- I consider these approaches to be more lazy than anything else. The devs either couldn’t pay for writers or thought they could tell a better story with pictures over words, the result, regardless, being no fruit borne. It shouldn’t be my job as a consumer to fill in the gaps of the world’s and/or character’s backstory- even the most carte blanche RPG provides some concrete method of understanding what’s going on. Heck, even Limbo, which HLD no doubt took inspiration from, had the wherewithal to implement a clear premise- after 7 hours, I still don’t get why anything was happening or why I was doing the actions I was doing.

If I can end this review on a positive note, it’s that the soundscape is pretty dang good. While there is SFX (more on that momentarily), HLD takes the Gravity approach of boosting action beats with the score, a smorgasbord of synthesizers that pump ethereal harmonies whilst you make your way across the different realms. The various compositions you hear resemble a midway point between No Man’s Sky and Secret of Mana’s OSTs in terms of electronica complimenting the unknown zeal of your forthcoming adventure.

A decent assemblage of sound effects have been programmed for your tools and weapons. While I would’ve liked to have seen more collision noises for the sword swipes in relation to enemies and static items, there’s enough oomph to make the relentless action non-iterant (not to mention bosses are uniquely sonorous).

In the end, though, I personally cannot vouch for Hyper Light Drifter. It’s a gorgeous game full of fantastic moments, but those are sadly unable to counter the incessant gameplay loop that fails to diversify your playtime.


NOTES
-The Drifter looks cool in cinematics. However, in-game, I can’t be the only person who thinks his helmet looks like an owl?

Hyper Light Drifter é um jogo que mora no meu coração, principalmente por ter me tirado, há anos atrás, de uma semi depressão em que absolutamente nenhum jogo estava me cativando ou me divertindo mais (o que quase me levou a uma depressão verdadeira, já que jogos sempre foram a minha principal fonte de lazer). Mesmo diante desse cenário, Hyper Light Drifter conseguir atravessar e quebrar completamente essa barreira de monotonia, me ajudando a sair e me recuperar de um período difícil.

O primeiro aspecto que acho interessante mencionar de Hyper Light Drifter é a sua ausência de linguagem. Após as explicações do tutorial básico do jogo, você é solto em um mundo onde toda a comunicação é passada por imagens e símbolos - e aí entra o primeiro desafio: descobrir e aprender o que significam todos os símbolos e representações perdidos pelo jogo. Isso se mistura a outros dois grandes desafios, que compõem a essência do jogo do começo ao fim, que são a exploração e as batalhas - Assim resultando uma jornada por um mundo hieroglífico assolado por criaturas rápidas e fatais, assim como repleto de items e caminhos secretos escondidos em todos os lugares (até mesmo em plena vista).

Impossível deixar de falar da parte artística do jogo, com sua pixelart paradoxal que, ao mesmo tempo que é simples e crua também é incrivelmente rica e detalhada, e com sua SoundTrack fantástica e imersiva, que consegue intensificar a ambientação de todas as áreas do jogo (Cara, a música de Midnight Wood é um deleite sonoro).

Hyper Light Drifter é uma experiência fenomenal que vale muito a pena ser jogada, especialmente por quem curte alto nível de exploração e batalhas dinâmicas desafiadoras.

After trying and failing to get into this game a couple times in the past, I finally hunkered down and finished it. As much as I want to love this game, it just doesn't quite get there for me. The music is stunning and the pixelated visuals are so, so pretty. Despite no words being spoken, the game is able to quite effectively tug at your emotions from time to time. The combat is extremely fun and fast paced, the mix of gun and sword play is something I really enjoyed. despite that, some deaths can feel a slight bit unfair as you can be stunlocked and take damage from consecutive attacks due to a vanishingly short invulnerability window. There is also some awkwardness with the 2.5D art style where you will collide or get hit with things that visually shouldn't be able to from that far away - especially when positioned above them. These two gripes are mostly minor though, my main problem with this game is the sheer amount of secrets that I feel don't really respect the player's time. There are some areas where you'll just want to run up against every single wall to see if there is an invisible gap you can pass through. A good amount of these passages contain items necessary to progression as well. This is somewhat alleviated by there being 8 total, and only needing 4 in each area to complete the game. However, it can still be time consuming and frustrating if you don't know the tells, which are not necessarily obvious and left for the player to figure out. The sheer number of them also deflates the feeling of discovery a bit, especially when the rewards are usually just 1/12th of an upgrade. Overall, I still think it's worth playing simply for the amazing art and fun combat, but don't stress too much over finding every single secret unless you really care about a recolor for your player character.

This is one of those masterpiece games that you get hooked on for a couple of weeks and feel deep in your bones that something about your existence has changed. Hyper Light Drifter is a culmination of so many excellent and unique ideas, on every level of its design and execution, that you can't help but feel it's some higher level of art that can only be experienced in this medium of video games.

I think something that immediately stands out right from when you start the game is that there isn't any voice acting... and there isn't any dialogue or readable language anywhere in the game beyond the start menu and the pause menu. The story is masterfully crafted and told through visuals alone, and the environmental storytelling is so rich that you can clearly connect some dots with the world building, and the ancient civilizations, and the struggles of the inhabitants of the land. It is hard to explain without playing it, but it's something I really appreciated because I felt like I was the one putting the puzzle pieces of the narrative together as I recall flashes of images and the environment and string it together into a crazy weaving plot. Very cool.

Speaking of environments, these are breathtakingly beautiful. All the sprite work is phenomenal as well. There's some spots where I just sat looking at how pristine the landscapes were. Man. They did such a good job. Very beautiful game.

The soundtrack is another thing. Incredibly atmospheric. Sets the tone exceptionally well. You'll hear a few background instruments hum mysteriously as you traverse the dreary land, you'll hear a couple more frenetic yet excellent sounding battle tracks, and a couple of tracks in between. In any case, you can be certain that your time in Hyper Light Drifter will be well accented with appropriately delectable music.

And what is it that you'll do in Hyper Light Drifter? I've yet to mention the combat, and besides exploring and some simple platforming puzzles, it is the bread and butter of the game. It's simple to learn, but hard to master. You have limited ammo and a couple gun types for long range attacks, and you have a sword for short range attacks. Landing sword hits returns ammo to your equipped gun. There's also a dodge that makes you briefly invincible. You'll traverse the world fighting enemies and getting upgrades (in a very very loose metroid-vania fashion), with your main task being to collect 4 of an item, in order to face a final boss.

Combat is fast and fluid. The enemies are unique and it's fun learning to counter each one and their individual move sets. Bosses and mini bosses abound and they are really fun to challenge. But if you find this to be too easy, you get a much harder difficulty after your first completion of the game. I found the difficulty curve on normal to be perfectly paced, and when I finished I did think I was well prepared to try the more challenging difficulty.

Ultimately, I really fell in love with Hyper Light Drifter and would recommend it to just about anybody. These days you can find it for pretty cheap, as it is quite a number of years old now, but it is such a good game that I think it's well worth your time, and your money. If you're on the fence get it! I really believe it is worth the journey and experience, and I hope that many more people continue to get the opportunity to play it. Thanks to my bud for gifting this to me over the holidays! I played literally all of it on plane rides lol (hence the offline playtime that did not count)

Hyper Light Drift is a lonely game. While you do have multiple NPCs and different characters around, the way the game progresses with you travelling to the ends of the map just leaves you with a feeling of isolation and Hyper Light Drifter uses this feeling to its advantage. Throughout the game, you are often left with ambient music and visual storytelling to set the scene and build the world. Everything in the presentation is carefully crafted to fit the narrative and it all works together perfectly. The views of ancient cities, destroyed lands, and abandoned labs all are distinct, but find a way to work together in this narrative. The combat is also fluid and feels nice to control with different techniques to master. All of this makes Hyper Light Drifter a really distinct experience and its dying world left me with a feeling that continues to creep into my mind once in a while.

Puedo resumir mi opinión en 8 carácteres (9 si cuentas el espacio):
GOTY 2016
Y no tenía pocos o malos candidatos: en ese año también salieron Darkest Dungeon, Enter the Gungeon y DOOM, y antes de jugar a HLD iba ganando el último.
Pero a pesar de lo que disfruté de estos títulos, Hyper Light Drifter es tan bueno en tantos sentidos que, a mi parecer, los supera.

Pero bueno: qué es Hyper Light Drifter? Como ya habréis visto se puede describir a grandes rasgos com un hack & slash de perspectiva cenital 2D con gráficos pixelados de de mundo abierto. Pero a parte de eso también es un juego de exploración, tanto de buscar áreas ocultas como de admirar el entorno y el paisaje.

Y voy a empezar diciendo que Hyper Light Drifter es un juego PRECIOSO. Es visualmente tan bonito que creo que hasta mi madre estaría de acuerdo a pesar de lo violento que pueda ser. Y os aseguro que lo que veis en las imágenes de arriba son representativas de lo que veréis durante todo el juego.
Por si buscar recursos o explorar por explorar no fuese suficiente motivación, estos regalos visuales en colores neón quizás os den las ganas que os faltan.

Sabéis qué es también preciosa? La banda sonora. Porque no puede ser juego del año sin buena música. Y en este caso no sólo mola muchísimo sino que juega un papel vital a la hora de transmitir emociones: paz, inquietud, melancolía, tensión... Siempre en harmonía con la situación.
No quería dejar aquí temas porque no tendrían el contexto de la situación, pero tenéis los trailers como muestra y también la ost entera en [pagina de bandcamp] si la queréis escuchar de todas formas.
Y todo con un sonido retro digno de una buena peli cyberpunk (sí, me tocó en la fibra sensible al retro/synthwave).
El compositor es Disasterpiece, por si os dice algo el nome (Fez, Reigns y Mini Metro).

Sinceramente pienso que la parte artística de HLD es super importante en el conjunto del juego, de hecho lo mencionaré de nuevo más adelante.
Ahora vamos con la parte de juego en sí.

El combate, tal y como lo describe Heart Machine, es fácil de coger, pero díficil de dominar. Doy fé.
En tres palabras: rápido, agresivo, peligroso. Cuando cometes errores pagas por ellos, a menudo con la muerte inmediata, pero cando ejecutas bien os movimientos, te sientes une maestre.
La exploración es, junto el combate, el núcleo del juego. No sólo es necesaria para progresar, es la que conduce los demás elementos que componen la obra, sobretodo la narrativa. Esos escenarios espectaculares realmente cuentan la historia de la tierra por la que caminas.
Por ultimo, y con esto paso también a la narración, HLD es un juego "mudo"; no hay texto quitando un par de líneas imprescindibles de tutorial. El objetivo de les desarrolladores fué prescindir de todo texto y enseñar a jugar ala Nintendo (a.k.a tutoriales invisibles), y lo hicieron muy bien.

Y esto nos lleva a la última parte, la narrativa. La regla de no usar palabras también se aplica aquí: toda la historia y trama de HLD es transmitida visual y musicalmente.
(hay una lengua en este mundo, pero no es lehible sin descifrar y tampoco cuenta mucho detalle).
De este modo, aunque a veces es explícito, es todo libre de interpretación por les jugadores.
No quiero dar más detalles en este aspecto porque, bueno, spoilers...

Habiendo ya hablado de todos estos elementos, por qué pienso que Hyper Light Drifter es tan bueno? Quiero decir, los juegos que mencioné al principio tienen buena música, estilo artístico, muy buena jugabilidad y mecánicas... que hace a éste mejor?
Pues, en mi opinión, todas las partes que componen Hyper Light Drifter no sólo están tan logradas, sino que también están perfectamente conectadas entre sí, interaccionando de una manera que le da mucha fuerza al conjunto final.
Yo lo disfruté tanto que trasnoché dos veces jugando. Algo que puedo decir de muy pocos videojuegos. Valió totalmente la pena.
: Es un juego breve. A mí me llevó unas 20-24 horas buscando por todas las esquinas de forma exhaustiva, pero se puede pasar en la mitad de tiempo perfectamente.

Y con esto concluyo mi recomendación. Hyper Light Drifter es una maravilla y os lo recomiendo encararecidamente. Muchas gracias por leer hasta aquí!
Un saludo.

acho que uma das piores decisões que tomei na minha vida foi ter demorado 7 anos pra jogar esse jogo.

em 2016, inside ganhou indie do ano em uma categoria que continha firewatch, the witness, stardew e hyper light. a pior coisa dessas premiações (tga, oscars, enfim) é afirmar a "superioridade" de alguma coisa. tenho certeza que os desenvolvedores desses jogos possuem entre si um respeito imenso e, que sabem que ninguém ali fez algo melhor ou pior do que ninguém. pra mim isso é sempre muito mais emblemático na categoria dos jogos indie (hoje já um pouco distorcida por jogos não tão independentes assim). querer colocar uma obra de arte como hyper light drifter, que chega a ter uma honestidade que mareja os olhos ao conhecer a história de seu criador e ver o tanto de expressão que ele colocou aqui, em uma competição pra ver qual é o melhor, é muito triste.

eu poderia passar HORAS discutindo sobre as 4 regiões, como elas interagiam entre si, os conhecimentos de cada raça, as trocas culturais... mas não é sobre isso. esse jogo é especial, não apenas pela sua pixel art incrível, trilha sonora, level design, combate, história não-verbal, suas raízes em zelda, ou suas inspirações em dark souls. hyper light é especial pela sua mais sincera transparência. transparência essa, claro, com muito perfeccionismo e polimento, mas que nunca abandona a instância máxima que toda arte possui: sua inescapável humanidade.

This Kickstarter success story deserves every bit of the support and goodwill it garnered during the crowdfunding stage of its development. The pixel art, combined with a vivid colour scheme and a wealth of exotic locations brimming with detail, is impossible not to gawp at. The frantic nature of its slash-and-dash combat offers plenty of tense encounters that rely on quick reflexes, ability management and a little bit of luck (the boss battles in particular are breathless). And the music. My god the music. As a big fan of Vangelis, let me just say that Disasterpeace's atmospheric, scene-setting electronic score is highly reminiscent of the Greek virtuoso's seminal Blade Runner soundtrack, in the best way possible. It's a score so stupefyingly effective at times that it threatens to overshadow the rest of the game, and when the game looks and plays as good as this, that's quite an achievement.

Art/environment design is beautiful, Disasterpiece's soundtrack suits the game perfectly and it hits a perfect length for the kind of game it is.

But for me, there's a lot that holds it back from being great. I found the movement to be really clunky and unresponsive, even with a lot of upgrades - the combat has a very fast pace held back by a control scheme that seemingly can't keep up with it. (This might be a switch port issue? Not sure, this was just my experience with it.) I also think the progression can be weird as it's all achieved through finding hidden modules, and often means you're just hitting every wall in search of a hidden path in order to progress.

I think ultimately it just doesn't have enough going for it at its core to make it all that unique or memorable. There's a lot of great work put into the presentation and aesthetic, but as a game it's one I find to be just kind of forgettable.

The music and the atmosphere is top notch, no doubt...
In an artistic standpoint this game is genius. The feelings I got through playing the game was phenomenal. I felt so lonely in a dead and empty world. I loved it, the game felt grand and undiscovered in the best way possible. The level design was good also.

So... yeah, why just 3/5. The game for me, sometimes played like dark souls 2 (and that's not a complement xd), sh*t was unfair and cheap at times. Like why does every boss has minions? Its like a cheap difficulty bump, not to talk about the character controller. Clunky, the game is clunky sometimes. Inputs didn't register or I got stuck in an animation when hitting or dashing. Maybe this is the right game, but in the wrong time... :(( (or at least that's what my girlfriend said to me :(( ) I wanted to love this game, 'cuz its somewhat of a classic, but it just didn't aged well tbh. The way the game sometimes wants you to beat the same enemy 20 times in a room and calls it a gameplay piece... yeah. Times it was frustrating.

Very satisfying and snappy gameplay, I love the artstyle to death and the futuristic neon accented world was a joy to spend time in.
The sound design is also top tier, the pixelated sound was used in the best way to make the weapons feel sharp or meaty, and the dissonant stings for new discoveries or enemies create this otherwordly feel that really fits the vibe. The game absolutely nails the futuristic and unknown vibe, especially with its wordless storytelling and funky designs.
Enjoyable exploration, if a bit frustrating to find all the secrets. The environment is fun to traverse with the dash, and the environment itself is very beautiful too, with details all over that hint at larger story.

A stunning love letter to the SNES-era action RPG, Hyper Light Drifter presents a beautiful neon world mid-apocalypse and suffering from an event that has left its inhabitants decimated and beset by monsters. The incredibly detailed and well animated pixel art is accompanied by an equally wonderful score by Disasterpiece that captures the ethereal decaying atmosphere perfectly.

The story is intentionally enigmatic with only the animated intro providing context and while it leaves us with more questions than answers thankfully we don't need any to progress. Four directions to go in and by the time we reach the end any one we understand the game's logic - explore, fight, gather collectibles, beat the boss, grow in power.

Combat is reactive and punishing as you master dashing, slashing, and shooting. It's a volatile playstyle that lets you be aggressive - too much though and you can lunge right into attacks. The enemies are also completely different in each area offering a variety of tactics that keeps things fresh. Each boss also acts as a 'super' version of the monster faction that will test your skill against their unique style of fighting.

The world is genuinely beautiful and each biome is uniquely distorted by the on-going corruption, from crystalline forests and flooded ruins to polluted factories and frozen mountain caverns, and more. The soft world building lends to the world's mystery only offering glimpses at the larger goings on with sights that had me genuinely pause to take it in. It's also filled with secrets and collectibles that invite you to explore every inch.

In conclusion, the game is an artistic masterpiece and while combat is challenging throughout it does borrow a little too much from Souls with the narrow health, hefty damage, and instant heal mechanic (as many games seem to aim for now days). That said combat never gets tedious even if it can be repetitive, and that's a small blemish on a vast canvas with so many more positives than negatives. High scores for the grand vision and overall execution.