Who doesn’t love the sweet, slick, retro style of Kickstarter darling Hyper Light Drifter? This 2D action RPG took the indie world by storm last year, ultimately collecting more than $640,000 from backers during its Kickstarter campaign. Watching the videos and seeing the magic unfold as developer Heart Machine met its goal, beat it, and then left it in the dust was a joyful experience. I got a chance to play Hyper Light Drifter at PAX East this year and the staff loved it so much we chose it for our PAXpocalpyse list. And now I’m getting the chance to play it early in my living room thanks to a backers-only beta. The PC beta was originally supposed to be available from October 3rd through the 5th, but after some “internal discussions, the team decided to extend the beta to the 31st. I couldn’t be happier, and I’ll admit – I’ve had a hard time putting it down.
Platforms: PC (Version Played), PS4, Vita, Wii U, Xbox One
Publisher: Heart Machine
Developer: Heart Machine
Genre: Legend of Zelda: Indie Darling Edition
Release Date: Early 2015
ESRB Rating: Rating Pending
The beta is just a peek into the world of Hyper Light Drifter. You begin the game as the Drifter, with the ability to dash, swing your sword, and shoot your gun (you start with a pistol). The Drifter’s floating Companion helps him open doors to access new areas. The world you start in feels like some sort of futuristic lab, in which creatures hang suspended in tanks in red liquid, many of which can be destroyed. As you make your way deeper and deeper into the lab, you fight monsters, which get harder, faster, and trickier. But you also get better guns, some of which are difficult to use, but pack a mean punch.
The progression of difficulty flows perfectly, the game leading you thoughtfully through challenges that scale just right. There are enemies that dash at you, others that shoot bullets (or rockets), and still others that launch themselves high up into the air and do damage if they stomp the ground too closely to you. The environment, too, can be hazardous – well-timed dashes combined with artfully placed enemies put your reflexes to the test.
As you delve further into the beta, you must beat four trials in order to open the door to the main chamber. There’s also a plethora of secrets hidden throughout, and if you find all of them, you can unlock another area. Even after combing over it multiple times, I still haven’t quite found them all… but I’m not willing to give up yet.
What steals the show more than the challenges, the expert level design, and the gameplay, is both the gorgeous graphics and the haunting music, done by chiptune artist Disasterpeace. The way the Drifter dashes around, leaving a shadow in its wake; the haunting scenes in which oversized, pulsating organs reside out of reach inside massive tanks, full of the same red fluid found throughout the lab.
What’s missing from Hyper Light Drifter? Truth be told, this is not an easy game. Every time you fall to your death, or run out of your (crushingly low) hit points, you start over again at the last checkpoint… which can be unforgiving at times. If that doesn’t sound like your idea of fun, you shouldn’t even attempt this journey. But if a little frustration doesn’t intimidate you, then this is an adventure you surely want to go on. While the beta isn’t very long – I completed it in just a few hours – there’s definitely the feeling of something grander just behind the curtain. If the PAX East “Arena” demo we played was just a sliver of the game’s combat, then this beta was a larger slice, but the entire cake itself is still yet to be devoured.
Hyper Light Drifter will be out in 2015 on PC, PlayStation 4, Vita, Wii U, and Xbox One. If you didn’t already back the game through Kickstarter, you can pre-order it off of Heart Machine’s website. Do it soon and you can still get in on the PC beta.
