Hyper Light Drifter is the story of a dream fulfilled, that of Alex Preston, someone who has not had an easy life. With various serious health problems from birth and a life tied to hospitals, the main responsible for this game has passed its existence knowing that death is around every corner, with video games as a habitual refuge where to live heroic fantasies with
which to forget a little bit of pain. From that love for the medium came the ambition to create a videogame, inspired by his favorite titles, such as
Legend of Zelda or Diablo, which reflected his vision of the medium as a constant source of mystery, challenge and adventure. From that seed grew a Kickstarter that quickly captivated the public, reaping $ 645,000 from the modest $ 27,000 originally requested.
It was also a matter of luck and of being at the right time. The title came in full swing of multimillionaire crowdfundings and with an enthusiasm on the part of the public that is not appreciated right now. However, it is more than certain that the reaction would not have been so enthusiastic if that public had not seen something in this project. The art, the animations, the concept and the objectives … it was a project that excited only to see the images, enough to deposit faith in this independent creator and catapult a modest independent title with minimal resources to a new level. With that unexpected budget, Alex decided to exponentially increase the scope of the game, hiring a small team and giving himself the time necessary to polish the title all the necessary,
The first thing to say is that the time and extra money have been well spent. Hyper Light Drifter has a degree of care and polish that all games do not have. Everything has been measured, taken care of and balanced to a very satisfactory set at all levels: visual design, map structure, combat system, control and presentation … It has a reasonably long campaign – whose exact duration will depend on our ability not to lose ourselves and not get stuck by the intense fighting, although you can speculate with about 6-8 hours in most cases, plus an extra mode of difficulty that is a real challenge, to which we must add a lot of secrets spread around your world.
To specify a little more what the game is and what we can expect from it, it is an action adventure with 2D graphics and aerial perspective. Although the aforementioned inspiration in Zelda is there, the truth is that the background is quite different, with Hyper Light putting much more emphasis on a dynamic combat in which it is fundamental to move well and have some important reflections to maneuver in small spaces with many enemies and projectiles on screen. There are no puzzles as such, but the combats sometimes seem like the real puzzles and it is definitely a defining aspect. The other basis lies in the exploration and in finding the points that we have to access in order to move forward without a fixed structure where we are allowed to go where we want and that sometimes presents itself in a somewhat confused way.
Going into more detail about combat -which is the most important and regular part of the playable element-, our protagonist is a warrior capable of using a sword and a weapon from a distance, as well as having a default movement that allows him to glide quickly in any direction, which would be the main element of elusive. The weapon with which we are equipped has the singularity that it is connected to the sword, so that it only recharges if we hit something body to body – they can be enemies or objects on the stage provided they are breakable. It is an elegant way of forcing the player to the two attack modes, something that is nevertheless a necessity given the variety of enemies, locations and abilities. Meanwhile, rapid movement is a real necessity,
Because of how the meetings are designed, managing these three elements well is key. It will be usual to find a large number of enemies with different attack patterns and movements, so an important reaction capacity is required to operate in the scarce margins that are sometimes offered, but the fact is that it is very satisfactory since the system It is easy to understand and very intuitive, being the context of the encounters what confers its difficulty. As we explore the world we will also find some objects that we can end up exchanging for enhanced abilities, defining even more the characteristics of our abilities: a more powerful sword, the ability to slide and attack at the same time, the power to deflect the enemy projectiles with our sword
