Hyper Light Drifter is a difficult top-down hack and slash game where you play as the titular Drifter. From the moment I started the game I was already blown away by the incredible artwork and music, which made for this eerie and kind of somber atmosphere.
Throughout the entire game the amazement at the environments stayed present. Every area has its own identity and all of them are a lot of fun to explore. You'll be moving through a number of zones to activate beacons and eventually... do something.
In terms of story this game is a bit unclear. It starts out strong and mysterious, but it never really gets any more clear. There are NPC's in the game that tell you small stories through images (there is no dialogue at all, which is pretty cool) and those stories are pretty intriguing. There are certain secret paths to what seem to be lore tablets of sorts, but there was nothing I was able to gain from that. Maybe I just haven't been interpreting it right, or maybe it's just purposefully very vague, but I think if it was a little more clear it would be even more compelling.
Then finally the gameplay. Hyper Light Drifter can be quite tough. You're going to be dashing around rooms, dodging attacks and bullets while slashing back at hordes of enemies. Throughout you'll gather materials for upgrades so you can get extra skills like a chain-dash or deflection of projectiles. The boss-fights are pretty vicious but not insanely hard. Still, there are some moments where your dash isn't working with you which makes some hits feel a little unfair. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does it's frustrating. Overall though, the combat is smooth and traversing the world works very well.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's interested, as long as you realize it can be difficult and the story is a bit too vague, but outside of that those 8 hours I spent to beat it were all worth it.
Throughout the entire game the amazement at the environments stayed present. Every area has its own identity and all of them are a lot of fun to explore. You'll be moving through a number of zones to activate beacons and eventually... do something.
In terms of story this game is a bit unclear. It starts out strong and mysterious, but it never really gets any more clear. There are NPC's in the game that tell you small stories through images (there is no dialogue at all, which is pretty cool) and those stories are pretty intriguing. There are certain secret paths to what seem to be lore tablets of sorts, but there was nothing I was able to gain from that. Maybe I just haven't been interpreting it right, or maybe it's just purposefully very vague, but I think if it was a little more clear it would be even more compelling.
Then finally the gameplay. Hyper Light Drifter can be quite tough. You're going to be dashing around rooms, dodging attacks and bullets while slashing back at hordes of enemies. Throughout you'll gather materials for upgrades so you can get extra skills like a chain-dash or deflection of projectiles. The boss-fights are pretty vicious but not insanely hard. Still, there are some moments where your dash isn't working with you which makes some hits feel a little unfair. It doesn't happen a lot, but when it does it's frustrating. Overall though, the combat is smooth and traversing the world works very well.
I would definitely recommend it to anyone who's interested, as long as you realize it can be difficult and the story is a bit too vague, but outside of that those 8 hours I spent to beat it were all worth it.