Hyper Light Drifter

[GrainWetski]

30FPS means it's a pass for me

Yeah, I was about to say. 30 FPS action game = into the trash it goes.

 

[CryptRat]

I really like the game.
It's really beautiful, but you already knew that.
The exploration is very fun, the world is really well built with a lot of secrets and small puzzles, the best point of the game in my opinion. The storytelling is cool too, with very interesting visual environnements and NPCs talking via slides.
The combat is pleasant. Bosses apart, it is not particularly hard nor easy. I haven't beaten any boss yet, the only one I've met is very hard, which is what I expect from a boss.

 

[orcinator]

The game is reminiscent of Dark Soul

 

[pakoito]

I'm like 3 hours in, no bosses yet that I know of, only 2 crystals. Apparently going left at the start wasn't a good choice.

I really like the game.
It's really beautiful, but you already knew that.
The exploration is very fun, the world is really well built with a lot of secrets and small puzzles, the best point of the game in my opinion. The storytelling is cool too, with very interesting visual environments and NPCs talking via slides.
The combat is pleasant. Bosses apart, it is not particularly hard nor easy. I haven't beaten any boss yet, the only one I've met is very hard, which is what I expect from a boss.

Ditto every part of it.

Shutouts to the music too.

 

[toro]

The game is reminiscent of Dark Soul

World: It's open world. You can go anywhere from the start (4 main paths available) and locations can be revisited.

Story: The setting is post-apocalyptic SF with a twist. The game has no dialogues. All story is conveyed graphically. Reminiscent of Another World.

Combat: Simple but surprisingly tactical. Each mob has a pattern. Each hit counts. Dead enemies stay dead. Health is limited (no-regen).

Bosses: Hard. They have patterns and phases. Killed two of them. I barely made it with 1 line of health. Reminiscent of Dark Souls (.. or of other games with similar mechanics)

Exploration: Best part of the game. Secrets. Quests!? Keys. The game screams for slow exploration.

Atmosphere: Awesome. Sound design and visuals are complementing each other. Reminiscent of Knytt by Nifflas.

Controls: I fucking hate them but then I play with KB + M. The game is designed for pads.

Overall: Impressed. I would say this indie is good.

 

[Merlkir]

I find it very difficult. I've been trying to beat this room with a cycle of spawns (1 big evil plant, 2 guys with guns, bridge forms, 1 big evil plant, 2 guys with guns, bridge forms, 2 big evil plants...) and I can't manage. I'm like 15 attempts in and I'm still stumbling over the controls. :/
(my Xbox 360 controller has a sticking analog stick, so I hope that's why)
I'm already starting to hate the slow animation when you get up after death.

 

[Lucky]

RPS impression consists of one part praise and one part frustration at the author getting continually curb-stomped by first boss.

https://www.rockpapershotgun.com/2016/03/31/hyper-light-drifter-impressions/

Spoiler

I’m so furious. I’ve ranted about boss fights SO many times, and argh, it’s happened again. A game I was absolutely adoring is now a game I can’t play at all, because of a wildly difficult boss fight. Hyper Light Drifter [official site] is absolutely wonderful. Ridiculously lovely pixel graphics that are constantly breathtaking, a clever world that evokes classic 8- and 16-bit classics, elements of Zelda, but with a hefty focus on Nuclear Throne-like combat. And it’s tough. The fighting is surprisingly tricky, waves of enemies in small locations, early on when your arsenal is limited and your skills unhoned. Exploration is key, discovery is splendid, and it’s all a really rather superb time. I’ve been playing since yesterday, having such a brilliant time – then the first boss fight happened, and now it seems I’ll never get to play most of the game.

This might not be the case for you. You might be much better at games like Throne and Teleglitch, or the sort that revels in twitch controls and bullet-hellish waves of extra enemy attacks while trying to chip away at a big enemy who is able to attack you from any distance at any time. I’m the sort who enjoys the rest of the game, the bits where the challenging enemies take three or four hits to take down, not thirty or forty while I’m still being attacked by the other challenging enemies at the same time. I don’t understand why it’s a part of gaming, why it’s always been a part of gaming, and I don’t understand who its obligatory nature is for.

Hyper Light Drifter tells a wordless story about a cloaked figure who wanders through an abandoned civilisation, surrounded by the ruins of ancient technology, searching for a cure for a crippling terminal disease. It’s a game born of a phenomenally successful Kickstarter campaign and the small team have created a huge world, packed with secrets, where you must find various runic triangle pieces to open doors, gather the very rare currency to purchase upgrades (weapons, skills, bombs, health), and fight your way through chambers of furious foes.

It is immediately great, so impressively crafted, and doesn’t hold your hand at all. Even the basic controls are yours to discover (the game states that it needs to be played on a controller, which is certainly preferable, although there are keyboard/mouse controls in there), and what you must do is discerned from blinking icons on the map and an understanding of the genre. I was gripped, impressed by how tough the fights were compared to the classic games HLD apes (Graham talks in some detail about the combat here), and thoroughly enjoying the process of digging deeper into its world.

It’s viewed from a straight-on floating camera, which occasionally makes distinguishing pathways from walls a little confusing, but allows the pixel design to really flourish. Your caped character begins with a sword, quickly gains a gun, and has the ability to make rapid dashes forward. Those dashes allow the most interesting movement in the game, allowing him to dart over gaps from path to path, or dodge out of the way of enemy attacks. It’s an ability that can be improved by collecting yellow money-like objects, which are sparingly hidden around the world – but it’ll be at the cost of upgrading something else that feels equally important, like extra health in a dangerous land, or more ammo slots for the very limited guns. The enormous map shows off a huge world, to be explored in chunks as you gain new abilities and are able to open new doors. Doors I was having such a good time opening.

And now I’m not. But you might be. Inevitably whenever anyone in my position admits to not being able to do something in a game, a vocal few will burst forth to unpleasantly declare how EASY it is, and how dreadful I must be at everything. And I will respond as I always do:

“That’s brilliant for you. But you’re not everyone. You’re the person ‘Hard’ difficulty levels are built for, while the vast majority play on ‘Normal’. Your desire that games be so punishingly difficulty that only people of your skill can enjoy them is ultimately deeply selfish. Further, it makes no sense that such encounters aren’t optional. Those who adore them get them, those who hate them can carry on playing the game they were loving rather than have to stop and never play the game again.”

So I’m rather stuck. I’ve watched myself die so many sodding times now. And it’s not just the death – it’s how agonisingly slowly I get back up just outside the boss room, the completely unnecessary lack of controls while the boss waves a staff around, and then the next failure, before I’m even halfway through his health (at which point the attacks step up, naturally).

And I know, I know very well, that others will breeze through it and be snarky and entirely without empathy for others who aren’t them. But there goes my time with Hyper Light Drifter, a completely gorgeous game I was utterly loving. It apparently doesn’t want me to play it any more.

 

[orcinator]

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Especially egregious since the game is extremely simplistic and almost everything boils down to figuring out when's the right time to dodge and what direction you should dodge in plus the max amount of attacks you can get away with.


The closest he comes to having a valid complaint is when he complains about upgrading, but the problem with that is that you have limited resources and you're not sure if the new abilities you can buy are worthwhile rather than the scarcity of upgrade thingies alone being the problem.


Update: beat a boss with a staff, took three tries ahahahahaha

 

[Shadowfang]

I'm like 3 hours in, no bosses yet that I know of, only 2 crystals. Apparently going left at the start wasn't a good choice.

I really like the game.
It's really beautiful, but you already knew that.
The exploration is very fun, the world is really well built with a lot of secrets and small puzzles, the best point of the game in my opinion. The storytelling is cool too, with very interesting visual environments and NPCs talking via slides.
The combat is pleasant. Bosses apart, it is not particularly hard nor easy. I haven't beaten any boss yet, the only one I've met is very hard, which is what I expect from a boss.

Ditto every part of it.

Shutouts to the music too.

I also started with the West part and i don't regret it.
Defeated two bosses already and had a blast. My only fear is that the game might end being too short for my expectations.

 

[toro]

I'm like 3 hours in, no bosses yet that I know of, only 2 crystals. Apparently going left at the start wasn't a good choice.

I really like the game.
It's really beautiful, but you already knew that.
The exploration is very fun, the world is really well built with a lot of secrets and small puzzles, the best point of the game in my opinion. The storytelling is cool too, with very interesting visual environments and NPCs talking via slides.
The combat is pleasant. Bosses apart, it is not particularly hard nor easy. I haven't beaten any boss yet, the only one I've met is very hard, which is what I expect from a boss.

Ditto every part of it.

Shutouts to the music too.

I also started with the West part and i don't regret it.
Defeated two bosses already and had a blast. My only fear is that the game might end being too short for my expectations.

I cannot beat the west part boss. Did you do it?

 

[Shadowfang]

I'm like 3 hours in, no bosses yet that I know of, only 2 crystals. Apparently going left at the start wasn't a good choice.

I really like the game.
It's really beautiful, but you already knew that.
The exploration is very fun, the world is really well built with a lot of secrets and small puzzles, the best point of the game in my opinion. The storytelling is cool too, with very interesting visual environments and NPCs talking via slides.
The combat is pleasant. Bosses apart, it is not particularly hard nor easy. I haven't beaten any boss yet, the only one I've met is very hard, which is what I expect from a boss.

Ditto every part of it.

Shutouts to the music too.

I also started with the West part and i don't regret it.
Defeated two bosses already and had a blast. My only fear is that the game might end being too short for my expectations.

I cannot beat the west part boss. Did you do it?

Yes. I have to admit that i found the North Boss much harder.
He has 2 to 3 slashes before you can attack him safely. Sometimes they are a little delayed which can invite you to a very nasty trap.
Just dash at the very start until he finishes the flashier attack, stab him dash away and then shoot him. Rinse and repeat.

 

[pakoito]

I was just being silly and didn't understand what the game was asking from me. I have completed all North and most of West already, with 4 pieces and OMW to the boss. It's 3am so it's over for today.

Really good game, I keep finding secret paths and locked doors and still feels like a fraction of them.

 

[toro]

I'm like 3 hours in, no bosses yet that I know of, only 2 crystals. Apparently going left at the start wasn't a good choice.

I really like the game.
It's really beautiful, but you already knew that.
The exploration is very fun, the world is really well built with a lot of secrets and small puzzles, the best point of the game in my opinion. The storytelling is cool too, with very interesting visual environments and NPCs talking via slides.
The combat is pleasant. Bosses apart, it is not particularly hard nor easy. I haven't beaten any boss yet, the only one I've met is very hard, which is what I expect from a boss.

Ditto every part of it.

Shutouts to the music too.

I also started with the West part and i don't regret it.
Defeated two bosses already and had a blast. My only fear is that the game might end being too short for my expectations.

I cannot beat the west part boss. Did you do it?

Yes. I have to admit that i found the North Boss much harder.
He has 2 to 3 slashes before you can attack him safely. Sometimes they are a little delayed which can invite you to a very nasty trap.
Just dash at the very start until he finishes the flashier attack, stab him dash away and then shoot him. Rinse and repeat.

I did it Fuck yeah! Awesome fight after all the bullshit he made me suffer.

It took me 30 minutes to figure out his pattern, make a plan and actually execute it. In fact I found a way to cheese the fight

Spoiler

I used the charged sword attack [keep LMB pressed]. Basically when he jumps, I dash in the opposite direction two times and then I charge my sword and wait for him. One hit takes like 5 boxes from his health. With perfect timing it's possible to kill him without taking damage. In fact I only used one health pack ... but I died like 30+ times before success. First try !?

My order was: North, East and now West. I'm also done for today. I'm having a blast with this game

 

[Farage]

Why is it capped at 30 fps? Isn't it pixel art? How is pixel art heavy anyways.

 

[toro]

I find it very difficult. I've been trying to beat this room with a cycle of spawns (1 big evil plant, 2 guys with guns, bridge forms, 1 big evil plant, 2 guys with guns, bridge forms, 2 big evil plants...) and I can't manage. I'm like 15 attempts in and I'm still stumbling over the controls. :/
(my Xbox 360 controller has a sticking analog stick, so I hope that's why)
I'm already starting to hate the slow animation when you get up after death.

Don't give up. You can explore other paths and you can actually upgrade your shit.

 

[toro]

Why is it capped at 30 fps? Isn't it pixel art? How is pixel art heavy anyways.

It's just a guess but I think it's because of the animations: 60 fps requires more sprites for a fluid animation. Basically it was a financial decision: 30 fps require less assets therefore they went with 30 fps.

Another guy on RPS says:

This was made in GameMaker, and as such you can “lock” the game to specific speeds by changing a variable called room speed. The default room speed is 30, and while it probably could be increased to 60, it may have caused lag in the game so the developer lowered it. No big deal-breaker for me.

The game is really fluid and it looks beautiful. Screen shaking is the only obnoxious feature I would like to see removed.

 

[orcinator]

Why is it capped at 30 fps? Isn't it pixel art? How is pixel art heavy anyways.

Indie dev cannot into programing

 

[orcinator]

Beat the game, took 7 hours, the last part of the game was a cakewalk until the final boss (who wasn't particularly hard) since it's pretty clear the devs never bothered to balance the shotgun.

I stand by my assessment of the preview build, this shit is shallow as fuck and once you figure out the basics (hit enemies once or twice then dash away and then maybe shoot them) mook fights become a chore and the bosses aren't much better.

Devs should have focused their efforts on adding some depth to the combat and increasing the enemy variety instead of inserting more Evengelion fanart into the background.

5.5/10 It's like Fez with swords.


Also there's apparently a ton of stuff that was promised in the Kickstarter that never made it into the game, like a bunch of backer designed bosses, survival mode and multiplayer.

 

[HoboForEternity]

aww, i have great expectation for this game

 

[Merlkir]

Also there's apparently a ton of stuff that was promised in the Kickstarter that never made it into the game, like a bunch of backer designed bosses, survival mode and multiplayer.

I've seen people complaining about it on Reddit. MP is supposed to be added later, but I can see how they might've cut the rest to ship the damned thing already.

 

[toro]

Beat the game, took 7 hours, the last part of the game was a cakewalk until the final boss (who wasn't particularly hard) since it's pretty clear the devs never bothered to balance the shotgun.

I stand by my assessment of the preview build, this shit is shallow as fuck and once you figure out the basics (hit enemies once or twice then dash away and then maybe shoot them) mook fights become a chore and the bosses aren't much better.

Devs should have focused their efforts on adding some depth to the combat and increasing the enemy variety instead of inserting more Evengelion fanart into the background.

5.5/10 It's like Fez with swords.

Also there's apparently a ton of stuff that was promised in the Kickstarter that never made it into the game, like a bunch of backer designed bosses, survival mode and multiplayer.

Nope. It's not Fez cause this one has gameplay.

7h means you rushed through it. So basically you have a game which is designed for fast combat and slow exploration and what do you do? You rush it.

Yep. The devs should have done many more things that you would have missed anyway because you're too busy finishing the game so that you can post stupid things on a forum.

Solid criticism. Not a hint of shallow thinking. Fucking A.

 

[toro]

aww, i have great expectation for this game

I'm not praising it as a blind fanboi. I backed this on kickstarter, forgot about it, got the key, I said let's try it and I could not stop playing for several hours.

orcinator is just edgy because that's the local way of showing his honor. But really, play it and decide for yourself.

 

[meanwhileInPoland]

played couple hours and i did not like it. combat is shallow and exploration is not that good. yes you can find lot of hidden shit but many paths ale simply blocked until you have enough of some crystals/codes so no sequence breaking. upgrading is slow and awful you never now if that new shit is useful. for me the worst are those moving block puzzles. one pixel too far and you are dead and those graphics are not very clear. also no manual save, map is shit and shooting/auto-aim sucks. overall mehhhhh

 

[orcinator]

7h means you rushed through it.

I explored enough to get all the ability and dash upgrades and know most of said exploration boils down to wall hugging. I also happen to not suck at video games.

 

[Ent]

4 hours in and I'm enjoying it thoroughly. I really like the dynamic music in the game but I think they could have done more with the actual sound effects. I do hope they add in more content like shovel knight later on because from what I'm hearing I'm almost half way through. Has anyone unlocked some of the alternate cloaks yet?