this game has ruined almost every other game i've ever played, and i mean this in the most endearing way possible

Hyper Light Drifter is one of the most visually pleasing games i've seen, the stunning pixel visuals have held up so well over the years. i've certainly found other games with incredible visuals of a similar or better caliber (Owlboy is a big contender for that imo), but the way that HLD utilizes fully saturated colors to bring the world to life makes it much more impressive to me. it can be challenging to make vibrant palettes work without them being too distracting or eye-bleedingly harsh, but HLD avoids this issue with the usage of dramatic lighting or by placing more natural, muted tones to bring the saturated colors to greater attention. a friend of mine gave me the art book as a gift recently, and seeing the amount of work it took to ensure everything was in it's proper place only made me appreciate the world of the game even more.

i'm also incredibly impressed by the masterful worldbuilding the game offers, especially due to the entire lack of dialogue and understandable written language that persists everywhere except maybe the title screen. i've always been a sucker for media that make you analyze and piece together a story's puzzle instead of being told everything right out the gate, but HLD is definitely one of the more easily understandable examples of this trait that doesn't come from a completely abstract narrative. my biggest praise of the story would have to be the intro cutscene and the ending cutscene. it seems like a pretty obvious thing to point out, i'm sure many before me have talked about them at length, but i feel the need to enumerate just how masterful they are as well. it's hard for me to put into words how i felt when i realized how the two cutscenes mirrored each other at certain points. while it's definitely made more obvious by the two music tracks that play during them, it still caught me off guard and sent me crying.

speaking of the music, Disasterpeace did a real number on every track in this game. the environments really feel alive with the atmospheric score, and the transitions between the area theme's different layers was always so seamless that, quite often, i wouldn't even noticed it changed until much later. the battle themes are also all plenty intense, and while i personally don't often relisten to them (not exactly my usual taste in music), they serve their purpose incredibly well and set the scene for the hard-as-nails boss fights wonderfully. i could also go on and on about how Panacea is the most perfect ending theme one could hope for, but i'll spare the details and simply say that the amount of times i've played a game with a friend and said something along the lines of "this ending theme is good because it reminds me of HLD's" is far more times than one should.

overall, this game is not for everyone, and i recognize that things like the difficulty or vague story might be complete turn-offs for people. these are definitely valid points, and i can't say i blame people for being hesitant to try this game because of it. regardless, though, i feel like HLD is about as close to a perfect game for me as one can get, and i'll gladly stand by that for years to come. maybe my vision is rose-tinted, as i did find the game at a very pivotal point in my life, but i'd like to think that i'm at least a bit unbiased in my views. i encourage everyone to at least give it a shot, even just watch a playthrough or something, i don't think you'll be disappointed by doing so

i feel like this game is a very underrated rpgmaker gem. while i do admit that it's very simplistic and the story lacks a lot of extreme depth, i don't think it really needs it in the first place. the story serves it's purpose very well, and i really enjoyed the characters that were presented throughout the experience. the art was also wonderful to look at, i'm not usually a fan of monochromatic color palettes, but i feel like this game really hit the nail on the head with how it pulled it off. i think my only personal gripe was how you had to sit through the bad ending every time you died, but i was personally too interested in seeing the ending to let it get to me. bleetdev is incredibly talented, and i hope that they continue to make games in the future!

definitely a game i remember being a lot better than it is upon revisiting, but still a classic rpgmaker horror game that shouldn't be skipped! the characters are all wonderful, and Miwashiba's art is stunning as usual. the gameplay is pretty basic, but the puzzles are wonderful and do take some thinking, despite how simple they may be. solid entry if you're looking for a quick rpgmaker experience!

also El Paradiso is the best credits theme i've ever heard for a game, brings me to tears every time bro

as buggy and weird as this game is, i enjoyed every moment i played it, and i'd gladly revisit it as soon as possible. the game's music is absolutely astounding, and the environments really were as original as a game could get. i followed this game's development from the earliest demo of the Yinu boss fight, maybe circa early 2019? and i'm very pleased with how the game came out in the end! maybe not the best game ever, but for something that placed innovation over anything, i really think the game succeeded where it needed to. i do wish the game were a bit less glitchy, however, as it DID kind of ruin my playing experience at times. nothing game-breaking if you're dedicated, but sometimes it was pretty rough

this game is incredibly hit-or-miss i feel. i personally LOVE it, as the different game modes added a lot of variety for me, and i enjoyed attempting to learn Puyo Puyo just so i could have a better time with the game! i can see why some people don't like it as much, since i do agree it can get grating at times (and the online mode being dead kinda sucks the joy outta it if you've done everything else), but overall worth the time if you really enjoy puzzle games and strange crossover stories lol

also fusion mode is baller if you play it for more than 10 seconds