Hyper Light Drifter
PlayStation 4
Nostalgia Factor:
I’ve wanted to play this game since the moment I first laid eyes on it. It was the Studio Ghibli-like graphical style that did it for me. It just looked so cool! Previews described its gameplay as similar to The Legend of Zelda. That’s all I needed to hear. I was in.
Unfortunately I am one of those people that refuses to buy new games until they go down in price. So I waited, and waited, and waited… until the game wasn’t new anymore. Five years after its initial release date, Hyper Light Drifter finally went on sale on the PlayStation Network. I bought it, so now I am playing it. Would it be worth the long wait?
Story:
Oh boy. I don’t even know where to begin with this game’s story. There’s no spoken or written text to be found in this game, so nothing is ever really explained. There are a lot of dreamlike sequences involving horrific Titan-like characters inhabiting a ruined world. We’ve got our oddly clad protagonist. Something seems to be wrong with him. I don’t know.
And I don’t think it is really important. You’d think in a game like this its story would matter, but no. Hyper Light Drifter is all about atmosphere and trippy visuals over a solidly fleshed out storyline. I never really knew what was happening, but the game is just so freaking cool that I didn’t mind this fact.
Usually I hate David Lynch style “it’s up to your interpretation” type vague storytelling, but in this game it works.
Gameplay:
I was a little worried based on the game’s cryptic storyline that I wouldn’t be able to figure out what to do, but that turned out to not be the case. You start out in a central hub. In each direction (east, west, north, and south) there are destinations that you need to check out. You need to battle to these marked destinations, where at each one you collect a bunch of shit and fight a boss. You get a weapon upgrade, experience some weird visions, and find yourself back in the game’s central hub. On to the next marker, you go!
After you complete all four of these “missions” a new path opens up to the final stage of the game. Finish this stage and the game ends. Fairly simple, right? I’m sure I’m leaving some stuff out, like the pieces you need to collect to unlock doors – and all the hidden items there are to find. I almost don’t want to talk about them because discovering these things and finding out how they function are part of the fun of tackling this game.
Let’s talk about how the game handles. Your main weapon is your sword, which you use to slash at enemies. You have a dash move that allows you to zip in and out of battle strategically. You use this move to traverse obstacles on the game map as well, like getting across pits or gaps that are too wide to traverse normally. You also have a gun, which you upgrade as you play. Firing this gun drains a meter on the screen, and the only way to recharge that meter is by destroying things with your melee attack. There are various ways to collect currency, and you use this currency at shops in the game’s hub area to upgrade your equipment.
One thing I need to make clear is that this game is HARD. I didn’t think it was too bad at first, until I entered a room full of bad guys with a nearly depleted health meter. I got killed immediately after entering this room. Luckily in this game checkpoints are plentiful and you have an infinite amount of lives. The game put me back outside of the room I died in. I entered the room and immediately got killed again. When I respawned, I noticed that my health didn’t fill up when I came back. I entered the room and died again. Respawned. Came back with only one hit left on my health meter. I tried backtracking but I couldn’t find any health items, as I’d already collected them on my way into the dungeon. I entered the room and got my ass handed to me yet again.
I must have died at least 30 times trying to make it through this room. There are enemies everywhere. Some are shooting at you, some are coming in for melee attacks. Floor pieces fall when you walk over them. Walls with enemies behind them go up and down. It’s nuts. Eventually I was able to fight my way through this room, and I moved on to the next room. I promptly died, and the game sent me back two rooms with one hit left on my health bar. I entered the room of horror for the 31st time and found that I had to defeat those enemies and do it all over again.
Facepalm.
You’re going to die in this game, and you’re going to die a LOT. The sooner you accept this fact, the better. What I liked about this game though is that the challenge never seems like a chore. Even though I died over 30 times in this one room, I was still having fun. It was a challenge, yeah, but an exciting challenge. When I compare this to a game like Celeste where you also die left and right, the difference couldn’t be more clear. THAT game is a chore. This game is not.
In fact, this game is so fun I beat the whole thing in one day. That’s almost unheard of for me these days, considering this game is about 7 or 8 hours long and I have a 1-year-old baby. Well, luckily the in-laws had the baby this day and my wife was feeling sick, so I had the TV all to myself. I remember the good ole days a year and a half ago where every day I had the TV to myself and could do whatever I wanted for hours on end. I miss those days.
Anyway, we were talking about this game….
Graphics:
The graphics are the star of this game and the reason why I became interested in this title to begin with. I don’t even know if these screenshots do this game justice. It’s almost something you have to play or see in action yourself. Go to YouTube, watch some clips of this game, and tell me it doesn’t look super freaking cool.
The art style is amazing. I love the pixels. I love the trippy colors and animations. The cutscenes are weird but cool. The whole atmosphere and setting of this game draws you in from the very beginning.
All this being said, my wife walked in when I was playing this game and said that it looked "ugly." So maybe it's not for everyone.
Sound:
The music and sound effects are really great too. They work amazingly hand-in-hand with the game’s graphics and atmosphere. The perfect marriage of sight and sound! Oh god, that’s corny. But it is true. Play this in a dark room with headphones on. I haven’t gotten this lost in the magical world of a video game since, I don’t know – Journey.
Overall:
This is a really good game. I expected it to be good just from the things I’d read about it, but there is really no preparing yourself for this game. It is so unique and so wonderful at the same time. The only thing that could have made it better is if it had a touching, heartfelt storyline that really made you invested in the character and his journey. Instead, I simply had no idea what the hell was happening half the time as I played. I’m sure if I looked it up there is probably some deep meaning or some kind of complex symbology behind what is happening here, but I really don’t care enough to bother.
Another knock is that the game is too short. I beat the whole thing in one day. Yeah I know I didn’t collect everything and I am sure I missed a lot as I played, but still. I wanted more of this game and I was kind of sad it was over so quickly.
Would I recommend this game to anyone interested? Yes, easily. I know this isn’t a popular opinion, but I liked it more than other similar titles like A Link to the Past and Golden Axe Warrior. There’s a lot of depth to the game’s combat. The music and the graphics are beautiful. There’s so much to see, collect, and do. This isn’t a perfect title by any stretch of the imagination, but it is super creative and fun. Definitely one of the more unique titles I’ve played in the last few years.
Final Score:
B+
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