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Getting 100% completion is truly a test of patience, and seeking out all of the hidden trinkets is the primary method Hyper Light Drifter uses to bolster its playtime. There are also camera tricks that the game uses to highlight areas of interest, but these can often be obscured behind its gorgeous visuals. On one hand, players are trained to keep their eyes open for a very specific floor indentation, which often signals a hidden passageway.
HYPER LIGHT DRIFTER 30 FPS SERIES
However, currency, fragments, and other goodies are often hidden away behind secret walls, a staple of the Zelda series that sees usage here with mixed results.
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Throughout the environments, players can find golden currency as well as triangular fragments and key cards, items that serve as keys for each respective region, locking out some of their greatest benefits for later and other secrets for a smooth sense of progression. Whether inching one’s way outside of a melee attack or dashing away from a lunge, Hyper Light Drifter offers up plenty of variety despite a relatively low number of enemy types.įortunately, though combat is the central focus, it doesn’t leave the player without anything else to do. As some enemies are much easier to deal with at certain ranges, combat turns into a dance of weaving in and out of enemy formations, both on a micro and macro scale. The gameplay supports this, as ranged weapons have limited ammunition and must be recharged via either destroying environmental objects or dealing melee damage to enemies. Although the screen can fill up with enemies, its always best to keep cautious and pick and choose one’s moments of opportunity. Though these rooms can serve as an interconnected gauntlet, some are difficult enough to take multiple tries.Īlthough the opening moments of the game can prove somewhat frustrating- seeing as enemies are swift and limber, bouncing around the stage while the Drifter can only slowly plod and slash- cash reserves, as well as a steadily growing arsenal of ranged weapons, help keep the rhythm and difficulty curve in check. While some of these are simply waves of enemies, others use a mixture of environmental hazards and interactive elements to impede the player, hoping to chip away at their health reserves as they venture towards each of the four major boss encounters. The game’s auto-save feature is a blessing, saving the amount of health packs and ammo the player has as they enter each new room of the map, crucial because enemies can, and often will, overwhelm and push the player back to the start. This is fortunate, as the hordes of enemies found throughout the world of Hyper Light Drifter are more than willing to take a bite. While the inputs aren’t all centralized in one place, the controls feel comfortable and natural enough that they will become intuitive. The Drifter is capable of dashing, slashing with his signature sword, and firing an assortment of weapons via inputs mapped across the controller. But all of these are distractions in comparison to the more active and demanding combat segments peppering the landscape. There is plenty to do and see in the four corners of its vividly-detailed world: hitting switches, collecting shards of big, old squares, and hearing the tales of its non-playable characters, who speak in picture frames rather than words. While the title does feature some refined combat and a vast amount of exploration, does the end result stand shoulder to shoulder with the aforementioned series, or skip a heartbeat or two? gameplayĪt its core, Hyper Light Drifter is about survival. Not bound to the grid-like structure of the former, but allowing for customization on-the-fly in combat like the latter, the result is an Action Role-playing game that is equal parts tense and melancholy, serene, and desolate.
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Lead designer Alex Preston hoped for the game to blend elements of The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Diablo together while expanding exploration and enhancing scale. If you can recall the era known as “The Kickstarter Wars,” chances are you’ve likely heard of Hyper Light Drifter.
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