Hyper Light Drifter Reviews
Hyper Light Drifter fuses old-school combat and attentive world design with unique sensitivity. Its world owes almost entirely to the SNES era, but this game is a tale of individual intelligence - even though it's never really told.
Hyper Light Drifter is the Indie game that we needed this year after a good amount of just plain old disappointing entries in the Indie scene. It's not perfect, but you WILL remember it if you play it, and if you can get past the difficulty, it'll be one of the most enjoyable experiences you play all year.
Hyper Light Drifter is a great homage to the generation of 8/16-bit games that came before, while respecting the sense of wonder they produced long ago. Parts can be taxing, but ultimately rewarding. Try not to break your controller.
Filled with secrets to be found, and strong foundation on core combat, Hyper Light Drifter is a deep experience. Fun for a seven hour journey of exploration, or many more hours for completion, it offers plenty of value and enjoyment for its price.
Hyper Light Drifter is a sensory overload from a visual and audio standpoint. Add in the sublime gameplay, and even with its high difficulty and lack of direction at times and players are still left with a very satisfying game.
Hyper Light Drifter deftly mixes contemplative moments with breakneck action
Heart Machine's debut game offers engaging combat, breathtaking visuals, and a sense of discovery. The game only leaves players wanting more.
In the end if you’ve been itching for a game that mixes top-down adventure with challenging combat and secrets to discover pretty well all around you Hyper Light Drifter is a very appealing package. The added Switch content is a terrific touch worth the trouble to try to take advantage of as it will make finding those critical elements that will help you on your way a little easier. There’s simply nothing quite like it on the platform and it’s well worth your time if you’re up to the challenge.
Hyper Light Drifter is an impressive retro inspired 2D action RPG. It's difficult and equally rewarding and no adventure fan should miss out on it.
Hyper Light Drifter is unique, it highlights the issues of a real person in an abstract way. This game plays very smoothly, and offers stunning visuals and rigid difficulty. Hyper Light Drifter is a lot of fun, and it's beautiful too. It's a memorable experience, and can keep you interested the whole way through.
Hyper Light Drifter is a wonderful combination of good game design and enchanting aesthetic direction. With solid gameplay backed up by slick production values and a theme of heroism and self sacrifice that runs deep through the entire runtime, this is a game which enriches any player lucky enough to spend time with it. Enter with zero expectations, slowly feel yourself become a master, and rightfully applaud Heart Machine once you have finished.
Hyper Light Drifter is a great game, but it's not going to be everyone's cup of tea. It's polished to a mirror shine, it's tuned to mechanical harmony, it's gorgeous for the eyes and ears alike, but has a plot that doesn't even try (or even seemingly care) to make sense. It can also be really, really tedious to play through, as it leans heavily on classical, trial-and-error mechanics. It's a rare and beautiful gem that only certain people will find the full, true value in.
Polished, engaging, and tough to beat, Hyper Light Drifter will stoke that part of your brain which can't resist a challenge.
Despite Hyper Light Drifter being relatively light in narrative, The combat and exploration, more then make for a fun and rewarding experience.
Sure, The Division is a great game that has hooked millions into its addictive gameplay loop and Far Cry Primal did breathe a bit of fresh air into a stale formula, but 2016 has been off to a strong start as the clear result of its outstanding independent titles.
Cameron Kunzelman tweets at @ckunzelman and writes about games at thiscageisworms.com. His latest game, Epanalepsis, was released on May 21. It's available on Steam.
In another triumph for the humble indie game, Hyper Light Drifter delivers the year’s best action-adventure hybrid so far. It’s best in class on all fronts that count, offering up razor sharp gameplay, an ultra-stylish coat of paint that, when served with a smashing synth, drips an unforgettable atmosphere.
Heart Machine delivers a great masterpiece, an impressive mixture of style and gameplay. Hyper Light Drifter is one of the best action game we ever played, and showcases a complex and enchanting pixel art. It brings you in a silent and distant world, it tests your ability with a deep an fast paced gameplay; it's the rightful heir of '90s bidimensional adventures.
Review in Italian | Read full review
Hyper Light Drifter is a challenging 2D action-RPG experience just waiting for you to jump in and explore. It's not going to guide you by the hand, tone down its difficulty, or even tell you what's going on. That's all for you, as the player, to work out. However, underneath this obscurity and open-ended-ness is some of the most fast-paced and challenging action to come out this year.
To put it simply, Hyper Light Drifter is incredible. Lovingly wrapped in a distinctly retro shell, the title fires on all cylinders. An intriguing, abstract narrative set in one of the most beautifully vivid world's we've ever seen helps provide a near flawless experience. Add in great combat and controls as well as an amazing soundtrack, and the end result is easily one of this year's must-plays. Its difficulty may scare away some, but for all who can cope, the experience is a truly rewarding one.