[HEADING=1]Sub/jective Reviews[/HEADING]
This is an ongoing review series that I'll stick to in as regular a fashion as possible. My review format is centralised around breaking criticism down into subjective and objective components so as to cast a wide a net as possible, and to be as informative to the reader as I can make it. I personally feel that too many games journalists nowadays just make reviews into streams of information, rather than specifying and breaking down specific components of a game, so I'm putting this format forward as something I'd like to see practiced more often, as I believe it makes discussions more holistic and informative.
Initially, this began as a reaction to people wanting more objective reviews, so I thought to put that forward as a gimmick, but over time, it grew to be a genuinely effective way for me to organise my own thoughts about a game. At the end of the day, these reviews are primarily about me trying to pick a game to pieces to find as much worth in it as possible, because the industry has evolved so far that it can comfortably have games that are popular just for their sound assets, visual presentation or gameplay alone.
Initially, this began as a reaction to people wanting more objective reviews, so I thought to put that forward as a gimmick, but over time, it grew to be a genuinely effective way for me to organise my own thoughts about a game. At the end of the day, these reviews are primarily about me trying to pick a game to pieces to find as much worth in it as possible, because the industry has evolved so far that it can comfortably have games that are popular just for their sound assets, visual presentation or gameplay alone.
Criticism is encouraged! If you see something you'd like to be added or improved, don't hesitate to post below!
Reviewer's build:
[li]Intel i5 3470 @ 3.2Ghz Quad Core Processor[/li]
[li]Kingston Hyper-X 2x4GB DDR3 RAM @ 1337Mhz[/li]
[li]Zotac Nvidia Geforce GTX 670 2GB[/li]
[li]Acer 23.6" Monitor 1920x1080 @ 60Hz[/li]
[HEADING=1]Hyper Light Drifter[/HEADING]
[HEADING=2]Intro[/HEADING]
I'm not going to lie I was extremely hyped for this game when the first trailer post-kickstarter-success came. An isometric 2D hack and slasher with a [a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6zhLBe319KE]Nausicaa[/a] aesthetic on top of music from the guy who did the soundtrack for Fez hit all the buttons for me on paper. To this day, I still find something endearing about Fez in retrospective through its art style and music alone. Anything which used that and repurposed it in a different genre is always a plus for me. Don't get me wrong though, Hyper Light Drifter did set off some warning signs that are par for the course with this sort of game. With anything that looks this nice but comes out of a small studio, I get a thought at the back of my head warning me to consider that the game in question will be, as a finished product, utter pretentious wank. Indie Game: The Movie, as much as I may like it and try to defend it, did give an accurate portrayal of the indie scene at that time, and HLD is lifted directly from that era, warts and all, before we all collectively got bored of artsy 2D platformers. You also have the fact that Phil Fish, the man, the legend, is featured in the credits of HLD, though as far as I know, just as a backer rather than for having his hands in the developmental cookie jar.
Regardless, the game had me very intrigued, and the good reviews across the board at time of release gave me the final green-light to sink my own teeth into Hyper Light Drifter. What I found both matched my expectations, out-did them in some cases and also disappointed in other places. Irrespective of how much I'm going to tear into this game at times, I still reserve the stance that it is a very interesting game that deserves a try, and for its modest price it justifies itself as much, even if the content isn't as vast or revolutionary as say, your [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/230700/]La Mulanas[/a] or your [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/200900/?snr=1_7_15__13]Cave Stories[/a](both of which are games I'll cover in the future). Join me on another Sub/jective review as I dive into Hyper Light Drifter where I desperately try to stay on target for 3000 words.
[HEADING=2]Story[/HEADING]
It's another case of metaphors and scenery in lieu of an actual narrative, as was with [a href=ttp://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.863812-Sub-jective-Reviews-Fez]Fez[/a] and [a href=http://www.escapistmagazine.com/forums/read/326.867930-Sub-jective-Reviews-Limbo]Limbo[/a]. Effectively you play a warrior/hunter type in a fantasy medieval-futuristic world following an apocalyptic event that leveled the land, with your own personal story revolving around a demon that has sprouted from the titular Drifter's blood, haunting him every now and then and serving as the final boss of the game. From what I could gather, the demon in question is an amorphous mass similar to the fire warriors in Nausicaa (from which the game borrows heavily from in terms of aesthetic and overall thematic elements, if I didn't make that clear before) and it is strongly hinted at as the reason for said apocalypse.The game's flavour of the Call to Action is the Drifter being led to four different dungeons ,by a black dog who appears frequently in his hallucinations, in order to defeat four different bosses in order to unlock the core in the middle of the land, below which lies a set of ominous doors signalling the end of the game as well as perhaps some answers. As you make your way across the dungeons, you discover more and more about the local bosses through imagery, paintings and storyboard-like dialogue bubbles that explain the area as well as the creation of the resident boss character.
To say that the game embraces a 'show/don't tell' mentality is to undersell it. In actuality, it tells you nothing about the various zones you travel through outside of visuals and audio. You never find out who the Drifter is, why there are others like him, what purpose(s) they serve, what caused the nearby races of assorted animals to become hostile, or anything at all really. The intro sequence is very striking and trippy, but it tells you jack shit outside of perhaps the suggestion that the developers are fans of post-rock and that a lot of the kickstarter money was poured into the art direction. The game not being story heavy isn't so bad in this case however: the light emphasis on narrative-heavy storytelling is nice since it means that the game never stalls in order to explain things, and that keeps the action fast-paced and pauses brief to maintain a breezy experience. If I had to compare its method of storytelling to anything, then it'd be to Fez, as it copies it point to point in some cases (in terms of a philosophy of design). What it does do better than Fez though is that the visual story sequences never come about as if they were made just to wow the player with how much work the designer put into them. In the lead up to release, it was made a prominent point that the head of Heart Machine, Alex Preston, had made the game [a href=https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2016/jun/02/hyper-light-drifter-heart-disease-inspired-alex-preston]deliberately to serve as a metaphor for his own crippling heart condition[/a]. Whilst this can be found at a surface level, with the protagonist frequently coughing up blood (where the screen promptly tears with visual effects and the audio glitches out) there's also subtlety to this style, like how the antagonist is presented as a black mass that stems directly from said heart disease and the corruption it leaves behind, which ends up threatening the local community with a catastrophic event. It's very toned down, but you can tell that the game was made with a genuine sense of care and that is earnest. Unlike Fez, this game is a lot more endearing in that aspect at least, even though neither embraces it quite to the levels [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/26800/]Braid[/a] did.
In summary, the story doesn't interfere with your experience of the game, but it still isn't particularly satisfying. As mesmerizing as the visual presentation is (and it truly is lovely, as I will detail later on), it doesn't help to fill in the gaps where even a few text logs would have served the trick. Call me old fashioned, but I like my stories to be a bit meatier, especially when games as ambitious and as solid as these exist alongside absolute masterpieces like [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/237930/]Transistor[/a] and [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/107100/]Bastion[/a] (games which I should also cover, especially in anticipation of [a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FvxfmnrNj2U]Supergiant's newest game[/a]) and borrow from a similar tradition of game design. It's a nitpick, but it's one that can easily be tackled in a sequel in the future.
[HEADING=2]Gameplay![/HEADING]
Hyper Light Drifter takes on a very basic, very fast hack and slash style. You dodge with one button, and hit with another. With further tricks up your sleeve, like various guns, grenades and combo moves, you can make a show of out almost any fight, although you'd always be hard pressed to hang about and let enemies charge their attacks whilst you faff about to punch in the right combinations. The game begins deceptively simple, with most fights being just about dodging at precise moments to follow up with a quick three attack combo to slice off their health. As you continue down the story, you eventually gain the ability to link dashes together, reflect and absorb projectiles as well as do dash attacks.
The gameplay is overall, very fun. The animations are fluid and enemies are meaty challenges that are satisfying to overcome. The bossfights are very creative and true tests of reflexes and not only memory; they require you to think on the spot to use as many tools as available at your disposal. It brings to mind a very [a href=http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/SpectacleFighter]Devil May Cry/spectacle fighter[/a] sensibility, where regardless of how you fight your enemies, it is always immensely satisfying to just engage them and cut loose as the Drifter dances between projectiles gleefully slicing off appendages.
The second part of the gameplay revolves around exploration as well as some light platforming. Although in effect, every dungeon only requires you to unlock a certain number of locks to progress to the boss room, for the sake of completionism you can try to discover as many hidden areas as possible to earn upgrade points as well as secret areas that tell you more about the dungeon or the backstory of the world. It's fun to go pixel hunting, even if the process is sometimes complicated with invisible bridges and stupidly context sensitive hallways. Nevertheless, it is quite fun to go into a new dungeon and explore the locale before finally heading into the final room to fight the boss; it's a nice bit of variation that keeps the gameplay from becoming stale, working well with the brevity of the actual combat sequences.
What criticisms I have in this department stem primarily from a technical level. To start with, you are given a very small health bar that only gets you about four hits total before death (2 hits in New Game+) so you end up having to dodge a lot. However, there are many bugs and/or glitches where enemy areas of attack edge out by just one pixel to send you reeling backwards, knocking off a vital square of health (or frequently restarting in NG+) in a way that it truly does become unfair. Sometimes your own attacks don't connect where they did before and certain combos are very difficult to pull off. As mentioned by [a href=https://www.youtube.com/user/bunnyhopshow/videos]Super Bunny Hop[/a], [a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OWFYccSCk0Y]chain dashing is the prime example of the game's technical limitations[/a]. In order to chain dashes together, you require to dash at a very specific timeframe to link into the next dash. This time is counted in terms of actual frames (a la [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/211420/]Dark Souls[/a]) but the game's locked 30 fps framerate only gives you about 6-8 or so frames in which to hit that window, which makes the game feel jerky and unresponsive half the time, unnecessarily contributing to difficulty (such as in the case of floor traps). This problem is especially pertinent in New Game+ where your seasoned sense of rhythm is undone by the health limitations and sluggish controls. Where I speak for myself, I can say that I restarted some early game sections more than 10 times out of dying to some stupid projectile that I should have by all rights avoided, or by being too slow in out-running a moving block or laser.
This isn't automatically a deal breaker since the vanilla game ran fine enough for me to able to complete it on a respectable difficulty without much in the way of complaints, but it can truly test your patience. For those of you out there who find Dark Souls 1's PC port irritating in how the physics are tied to the framerate, I would advise caution in buying this game, since that problem is even more accentuated here. It truly does sometimes depend on your own patience, despite the fact that is otherwise a game with excellent and instantaneous gameplay. It's a black mark on a game that is otherwise well-polished, to the extent that it does go above my own permissiveness for how much lack of polish I expect in kickstarted titles. I can deal with [a href=https://www.gog.com/game/the_banner_saga]Banner Saga's[/a] occasional recycling of character models, [a href=https://www.gog.com/game/shadowrun_returns]Shadowrun Returns'[/a] linear nature(that was, thankfully, ameliorated in its excellent followup, [a href=https://www.gog.com/game/shadowrun_dragonfall_directors_cut]Dragonfall[/a], the review for which is pending) or [a href=https://www.gog.com/game/shovel_knight]Shovel Knight's[/a] aggressively small game world, but this is the first time it has resulted (in my own experience) in handicapped gameplay, an aspect, which I think should be universally scrutinised in the development process on all tiers of production.
Just to be clear, this isn't me harping on about 60fps being automatically better in that over-used, and frankly, boring argument. It is for a fact that a higher frame rate in Hyper Light Drifter would have resulted in a better and less frustrating game experience. It seeks to emulate the flash of Platinum's back catalogue, all of which have a high frame rate as an unwritten rule due to the basic understanding that it is absolutely necessary for high-speed gameplay. Apologists might want to use the excuse that it's not actively trying to mimic DMC and more closely resembles Zelda, but that too isn't an excuse considering Zelda's consistently master-class levels of production and polish: it shouldn't have reached that high if it was not going to be compared to its forebears on this department.
The reason why I linger on this issue as much as I do is because it really is the one glaring flaw in an otherwise very slick and sweet game. I mentioned Dark Souls 1 earlier; a game, whose PC port was universally hammered by pundits and journos alike, but at least in that case, the game had incredibly precise and polished attack animations: every single frame counted and had to be accounted for, to the level of a science. Although a 30fps lock was disappointing for an otherwise stellar exercise in game design, you could still work with it since every other system in the game was balanced to be fair. Plus you also had an instant classic of a game on top, but that's a discussion for another time.
In the case of Hyper Light Drifter, I don't get such an impression. I don't want to bemoan the developers who poured their very heart into the game, but every time I died due to barely brushing past a projectile or by misjudging a jump by a pixel, I don't feel that I am being punished by the game for being careless, but for not playing the way the developer strictly outlined. It's simply not fun; [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/40800/]Super Meat Boy's[/a] deaths are very brief and can be controller-smashing-against-the-TV frustrating, but the moment to moment gameplay is so satisfying and cathartic that you cannot help but think that it was intended as part of the overall design. Hyper Light Drifter falls into the trap of thinking that all difficulty is fair difficulty and any mistakes made should be punished severely without remorse, but without the learning curve to justify it. I know certain people in the community hate this term, but it really does spring to mind the idea of 'artificial difficulty'. Me dying to some bullshit attack does not make me grit my teeth and try again, it makes me want to take a break, make some tea, and avoid the game entirely for a few hours.
[HEADING=2]Objective Assessment:[/HEADING]
Gamepad support, but no rebindable keys.
[HEADING=2]Visuals[/HEADING]
All you realistically need to know is that the visuals are absolutely amazing. As you can tell from the screenshots provided, as well as promotional footage, the game features a very intricate retro art style. Whereas that phrase would, most of the time, send me reeling back with the words 'politics in the Philippines' emblazoned on my eyelids, in this case, the game doesn't repulse me nearly as much with its superficial appeal to hipster wank that games like [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/232430/]Gone Home[/a] or [a href=http://store.steampowered.com/app/231310/]Mirrormoon EP[/a] would in their cringe factor. The game actually looks nice, and I often would stop playing just to appreciate the sheer amount of detail put into the scenery.
I didn't make references to Nausicaa lightly; the developers list that particular Miyazaki film as a great source of inspiration, and it truly does show. The world is absolutely plastered with giant, metallic husks alongside winding, maze-like forests that recreate the aesthetic of said film to a tee, with the only absence being giant insectoids along with their respective carapace-like hovels, but at that point Ghibli would be reaching for lawsuits. Another fleeting mention was that of Zelda, and this game does borrow quite a bit from the original. Dungeons are found primarily underground and are themed around a specific characteristic or theme. Your East dungeon is the water temple, the North would be similar to that of a mountain or a frost temple, your west to a forest temple and your south to a fire/industrial(or in this case, cyperpunk) temple. There are numerous little details taken from Zelda that manifest themselves visually, from the shrubs to the very character design: the Drifter is a small, humanoid warrior with a single sword and a companion that parses the world for him, done in the tradition of N'avi, but thankfully keeping its mouth shut and acting just as a GUI.
The colour palette is very moody; lots of gentle, purple/red-ish tones that contrast with green and blue neon. It's overall very pleasant to look and is never dull or harsh on the eyes. The composition itself is very well arranged, with certain screenshots looking close to paintings at certain resolutions. Another thing to note about the style is that the developers never sacrificed gameplay to put more emphasis on artsy visuals. Although an immense amount of work has gone into the game to make it look as spellbinding as it is, combat areas are large and open, never forcing you to fight with the camera to be able to see who you're fighting.
On a technical level there's nothing to really write home about. Hyper Light Drifter runs on gamemaker, so there are some obvious limitations that come along with that particular engine. As detailed and as punchy the animations are, there are some necessary frame skips that you can't help but account for in cases such as these, but that doesn't detract from the presentation, probably due to the low frame lock. For sure, everything from the bosses, to the trees, to the grass sway moves around simply, but the game does it elegantly enough to sell the atmosphere. It's truly captivating, and part of what adds to the entertainment of the game is to finish a dungeon just to be able to see what the next one looks like.
The few faults that there exist with the visual style are that a lot of the game takes place underground. Whilst these areas are as varied as the surface, by the end, you'd have already caught the whiff of certain areas being copy-pasted. There's also the occasional problem with having to go pixel hunting across very dense, forested areas in order to find secret rooms, which can sometimes lead you into small, cramped spaces that are difficult to get out of, but these are few and far between that are more accurately described as just a lack of polish and more to do with clipping issues rather than a fault of visual design.
There's a lot to love in Hyper Light Drifter's vibrant presentation. The zenith is in the opening sequence, a surreal backstory that shows off some truly impressive pixel art that could easily be turned into a full feature animation just from how epic the imagery presented is. At once, these visual sequences can be overwhelming as well as sombre and tacit. Through its visuals alone, HLD keeps the indie renaissance alive and reminds us of how earnest indie games were back in the day when the XBLA was still small and had only a few paltry titles from a bunch of unknowns, or rather, how earnest they appeared before we uncovered the mountains of bullshit surrounding the big names.
[HEADING=2]Objective Assessment:[/HEADING]
Resolution options are available however there's nothing else.
[HEADING=2]Audio[/HEADING]
Your mileage may vary, but the soundtrack is mostly produced to a very high standard. It's moody, atmospheric electric ambient in the style of [a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xCcWWcL_Sg4]Superbrothers: Sword and Sworcery[/a] and [a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hXfos-mAMMA]Fez[/a](which shouldn't surprise anyone as [a href=http://disasterpeace.com/]Disasterpeace[/a] was behind the soundtracks for both Fez and HLD). Lots of long pieces with drone synths that intensify during combat and fade out as you die. Each boss has a leitmotif that ups the ante, and every area has its own song and soundtrack that reflects the locale. The South is a lot moodier but also glitchier during fights than the East, which maintains a low tone similar to [a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fHFyfA2Dtfg]Treefingers by Radiohead[/a], contrasting the more horrific environment (scenes of mass graves and genocide by the frog people) with meditative drones, whereas the South is closer to something by [a href=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lVdXrvirNRY]Tim Hecker[/a]. As nice as it is to listen to, it really does depend on your own levels of exposure to this sort of music. In places, it is can become grating, especially since it does repeat ad infinitum in every dungeon, eventually bleeding out into the background if you're stuck on a particularly difficult fight.
The music does help contribute to the overall atmosphere of the game however it sometimes overdoes the more melancholic elements of the story. The game isn't nearly as dour as it might sometimes seem and that is primarily due to the music. Tones and chords really do begin to wail whenever the overarching heart disease plot shows up; as the Drifter begins coughing up torrents of blood and collapses, the music escalates and is over-saturated with dense synths that drown you in sound. At times, it is appropriate since the story does have its sad moments, such as the side story of another Drifter suffering from a similar heart disease as the protagonist. During those moments, the music synchronises with the scenery appropriately, but at others it drains the otherwise vibrant scenery of its colour and makes the game more harsh than it really is, such as in the Northern dungeon. Nonetheless, the OST can serve a real treat and has enough range to entertain you as much as the visuals: each area brings with it a new movement (rather than once specific song) distinct from the previous one. The variation, however subtle, does spur on the curiosity to want to explore the latest area just to enjoy the music more than most indie games and even some AAA titles.
To give you a taste, this is my favourite piece from the game's OST:
[HEADING=2]Objective Assessment:[/HEADING]
Music and SFX sliders available.
[HEADING=1]Final Assessment[/HEADING]
In conclusion, Hyper Light Drifter is a concentrated, but very enjoyable experience. What there is, is unique enough that it will most likely be fun regardless of what sort of game you enjoy. The combat system is easy to grasp and challenging enough to keep you coming back to face enemies again and again. Boss designs aren't revolutionary, but varied and difficult enough make all dungeons worthy fights as well as fun experiences in their own right. What few blemishes exist in the gameplay sans glitches are enough to recommend it at least to try out, despite Hyper Light Drifter's price tag of $15. It may seem a bit steep at first glance, but the average play time averages out at about 8-10 hours, depending on your own play style as well as competence, but secret areas as well as new game plus can easily extend the play time.
There's few things I'd want to underline towards the end in the complaints department, in all honesty. It is certainly frustrating whenever you die to an attack that you should have, by all rights, dodged, and it is through the simple fault of the designer. As difficult as the game can be sometimes, it does not ever feel justifiably difficult in the way it comes across. Many of the upgrades you attain over the course of the story don't necessarily make encounters easy, more that they encourage you to expand your approaches to a given situation. There's also the fact that the general aesthetic, the audio-visual presentation may come across as too pretentious or too hipster-y at first glance for some people and may turn them off, as would too the unnecessarily vague narrative. For some, that is more than enough to make them think that Hyper Light Drifter is not worth their time, and they wouldn't entirely be without reason.
I wouldn't count myself in that camp. As biased as I was in the lead up to the game's release, I still think that it is worth your time regardless of its faults. In effect, they are all easily amendable with a few patches or maybe through a potential sequel. The fun parts, namely the presentation, the soundtrack, the play and the earnestness with which Hyper Light Drifter carries itself more than justify the price, meriting itself a must-buy come sale time.
[HEADING=2]Final Objective Assessment [/HEADING]
Decent suite of options available across all sections, as much as can be reasonable for a 2D isometric hack and slash. The price for the value given is quite reasonable, although it's still on the premium end of the spectrum all things considered, however it is absolutely a must buy during sales.
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