Developer Heart Machine announced the release date this morning for its upcoming Hyper Light Drifter. The game will be available next week, so we've decided to post our extended feature on the game that appeared in our March 2016 issue of the magazine. You will find the fill feature below.
Hyper Light Drifter has no spoken dialogue or written sto ry. A few lines of text appear during the opening moments to discuss small mechanics, but that’s the last time you see any words. The way currency works is not immediately apparent, because there are no numbers. You have to test your weapons and upgrades because no tutorial explains their function.
“The main motivation is we want to be subtle and implicit,” Hyper Light Drifter’s creator Alex Preston says, “Being explicit can ruin the mystery, or you can’t make the story quite your own.” Everything in Hyper Light Drifter is explained through animation and imagery, and everything is learned through player intuition and experimentation. The result is a narrative led by emotion rather than transparent facts, and gameplay built on discovery instead of tutorial.
From the beginning, Hyper Light Drifter presents a world of mystery and intrigue. The Drifter, the player character, is seen standing amid a collection of dead bodies. A shadowy creature attacks and the scene shifts as he finds himself in front of gigantic humanoid, possibly robotic titans who shatter before him. It’s unclear if this sequence is a peek at the history or future of this world, or if it’s a dream. When I finally get control of the Drifter, I only take a few steps before he hunches over in pain, coughing as the screen fills with red pixels. Thankfully a health pack is nearby, and one of the few tutorials instructs me how to pick it up and use it. The Drifter is suffering from some kind of sickness, but it does little to debilitate his movement and combat abilities.
The Drifter can blink from one position to another. I zip around the combat field as I encounter my first enemy – a small goblin-like creature who takes exactly three hits to dispatch. Combat is fluid, and though I have the mobility advantage, the goblin can dole out damage quickly if I don’t stay on my toes. Battles are thoughtful and fast, without getting overwhelming and even the smallest enemy poses a threat.
The blink ability quickly proves to be much more than a combat mechanic, as I use it to move across chasms and between platforms. Blink has no limit to how much I can use it, and it quickly becomes my main mode of movement, even when there are no obstacles requiring its use.
The Drifter makes his way outside, but the mysterious plague grips him again. As the screen fills with red pixels, a shadowy creature, perhaps the same one seen in the aforementioned opening, attacks and everything goes black before he wakes in a house surrounded by computer equipment.
Leaving the home reveals a town, and a device that heals and serves as a platform for fast-travel. Anthropomorphic animals and alien creatures mill about, and a few have stands set up to sell items, but I don’t have any money. Guards stand by the town’s exits, but do nothing to prevent my departure, so I point the Drifter east.
For more from our time with Hyper Light Drifter, as well as interviews with its creators, head to page two.
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