Hyper Light Drifter

I purchased this game on Steam but want to support the developer on GOG Galaxy where I'll be doing all my purchases going forward; Steam has lost its way. I agree with reviewers who say the keyboard + mouse control method is subpar; I will admit though that because I knew what kind of game it was going in, I did not use kb+mouse for more than 5 minutes. I would recommend the developer improve this control scheme for their next IP. I disagree with any reviewers complaining about 30 FPS lock; this criticism is irrelevant. This is a 2D RPG and a throwback to 8-bit and 16-bit games. Frames per second does not impact gameplay. An extremely challenging game (for me) but rewarding with persistance. The gorgeous and mystic art paired with the minimalist approach to lore and world-building left me aching to explore and try and learn more. One of the best "modern" 2D RPGs.

The credits are a bit too long... but you can fast-forward them so it doesn't really count as a con. Very competent Zelda ALTTP homage.

Amazing art, music, atmosphere and good gameplay. There were some issues with the combat, particularly stunlocks being an occasional annoyement. The movement speed was a bit on the slower side before getting the dash upgrade. The intro cinematic is among the best I've ever seen and it took me a good while to understand that it was an allegory of the lead developer's own life and his maladies. After reading about the problems the lead developer had lived through, the entire game started making sense. Absolutely beautiful. The minimalist approach to telling a story was perfectly in sync with the rest of the game. Nothing is ever stated as a fact, but the player is instead left with an open text (or an image) that he can choose to interpret as he wishes.

Hyper Light Drifter is the kind of solid game experience that could have been way better with a touch more effort put into it. The combat feels great, when you're drifting around enemies, crwod controlling, cutting foes in half with a speedy slash, the game feels awesome, with plenty of depth. The problem is the game doesn't really require you to play it this way, for most of it's duration. On your first playthrough you have plenty of health and most of the enemies in the game are just too slow, and predictable for a game like this. Once you get to new game+ the reduced health bar solves part of the issue but enemy variety and overall design is stilll lacking sevearly. You know the game has a problem when the only enemy in the game that felt like a real challange on my first run is the final boss, and maybe one other boss. Overall the combat is still prettty good but in dire need of more content. Exploriation is a lot weaker aspect of the game. The world doesn't feel organic enough so you mostly exploration mainly consist of finding secret rooms by trying to find transparent walls and hidden switches. It's servicable but nothing amazing. the world is nice to look at. The color palette is striking the four different areas are distinct in their shapes and colors. There is a warm yet surreal feeling to the game world, which is always nice, but overall there is just simply not enough in the game to be intriguing. The game is surreal but it doesn't really have any character to it, and by now we have seen plenty of great pixel art games that had similar visuals. Same thing with the story, which is basically nonexistent. I am kind of sorry for this game as with more polish and content this could have been on the level of Hollow knight or Dark Souls, but as it is now I still had a lot of fun. Solar ash seems like a kind of successor to this one so maybe heart machine will do these concepts justice on their second try.

Loved it, would play again.