Hyper Light Drifter pulls you in through a sense of mystery
and draws you deeper with fulfilling exploration and challenging combat.
It plays from a Zelda-like perspective, creates a sense of isolation similar to Metroid,
and sports a visual flair reminiscent of 80s anime.
The tone and atmosphere are absolutely engrossing.
Fantastic music from Disasterpeace invokes feelings that are melancholy,
yet surprisingly peaceful.
In the aftermath of war, there are mutilated bodies and corpses of giants,
while woodland creatures wander among the ruins.
In the midst of this, your character suffers from some form of sickness, occasionally coughing up blood
and sometimes subject to cryptic visions.
Hyper Light Drifter feels profoundly foreign, leaving its story and direction up to interpretation.
Text only appears in tutorial form.
When you speak to a character, their tale is told in a series of images.
It’s not initially clear where to go, what certain switches do,
or what the items you pick up are for, but like traveling to a new country,
you begin to put it all together piece by piece.
The world is simply divided into clear regions, but each area is quite complex,
comprised of overworld and underground sections
full of branching routes and hidden alcoves.
While some areas are roped off for later, much of the world is open from the start,
and your experience can vary greatly based on which route you take first.
The only trouble we have with the world design is that with its intricacies and limited maps,
if you come across a door you can’t unlock,
it can take a lot of backtracking to find that place again later on.
But overall, uncovering Hyper Light Drifter’s secrets, even when they’re small, feels incredibly rewarding.
Combat is precise and challenging,
pushing you to improve, without feeling hopeless or unforgiving.
This is subtly supported by the music implementation
as songs continue to play when you die rather than abruptly restarting,
keeping you in the moment and removing frustration.
Your primary skill set consists of a sword, a gun, and the ability to dash.
Slashing enemies with your sword charges your gun, so you have to develop a balance
between short-range and long-range combat, dodging and counterattacking as necessary,
always keeping an eye out as enemies try to close-in from all sides.
You’ll find new guns in the field, each suiting different purposes and play styles.
The shotgun is an absolute beast, and the sniper rifle
allows you to activate switches that are otherwise inaccessible.
Other upgrades have to be purchased in town with currency that is quite scarce,
and they make a big difference in how you play.
Bombs can clear a room, but have a long cooldown.
Charged sword swings require smart timing, but do lots of damage,
and a dash augmentation allows you to absorb enemy bullets.
Simply completing Hyper Light Drifter can likely be done in 8 to 10 hours,
but players who want to find and unlock everything shouldn’t be surprised
if they spend more than double that amount of time with the game.
Secret pathways are easy to overlook,
and one of the techniques needed to access some areas
takes as much skill and consistency as doing bomb jumps in Super Metroid.
We did encounter a couple minor bugs
involving slowdown and looping sound effects,
but both issues were fixed with a quick restart.
Hyper Light Drifter places high value on your efforts and sense of discovery.
The impressionistic storytelling, inexplicit clues, and tough challenges,
place the emphasis on your journey as a player.
Things are never clearly laid out for you, but in the end, it’s both beautiful and satisfying.