The former is great for crowd control and can help keep mobs of enemies in check, whilst the latter is great for dealing with high-damaging enemies that need to be kept at bay as you dispatch smaller, quicker threats.īoth new additions add just that little bit more depth to a combat system that’s already pretty robust, and give you a wider range of tools to deal with the various vicious enemies that populate the world. Returning players will also appreciate the new weapons on offer: a Blade Caster and the Crystal Shot. It’s an area that lets you really sink your teeth into the rhythm of the game’s combat – an arena that’s perfect for new players to learn the ropes in and fun for returning players to tackle with a veteran’s eye. The version-exclusive Tower Climb zone bolsters the content offering by giving you a challenge of escalating difficulty as you progress up a tower, striving to find what could possibly be at the top. New items and locations have been added to the Nintendo Switch version of the game, too. This plays to Hyper Light Drifter’s strengths as a tough game, and it’s reassuring to note that in bringing someone else along for the ride, you aren’t cheapening the experience at all. Since player 2 spawns in with no ammo, and it takes a couple of seconds for player 1 to recover, you can’t just spam enemies by exiting and re-entering, cheesing bosses or tougher enemies by emptying clips ad infinitum.
Mechanically, co-op works well – the second player spawns in at the cost of one health bar from the first, and mimics all their currently equipped weapons to boot. The publisher behind the port, Abylight Studios, has added single Joy-Con support for the Special Edition, meaning you can experience drop-in, drop-out co-op with a friend.
With an emphasis on discovery and player-led exploration, Hyper Light Drifter feels like a mix of retro Zelda titles, laced with elements of Diablo… all set in a world that feels like Studio Ghibli’s take on a William Gibson novel. You play as The Drifter, a mysterious figure that can interact with ancient technology, yet is burdened with an unspecified terminal illness.
Hyper Light Drifter was inspired by the real-world struggles of creator Alex Preston, who lives with a congenital heart defect, and that echoes into the game’s strange story. Originally launched two years ago on PC, the game instantly became a hit with RPG and action game fans alike: between the mesmerising OST (composed by electronic music guru Disasterpiece) and it’s deceptively simple reflex-testing traversal and combat, Drifter quickly burrowed into the hearts of hardcore gaming enthusiasts… ironic, considering the title’s inspiration and backstory. For a mute game, Drifter manages to deliver a hard-hitting, unsettling narrative – one that lets the player dwell more on what’s left unsaid than what is ever directly revealed. From the outset, the game manages to communicate this feeling of encroaching doom, of hopelessness and mystery, without ever showing or speaking a single word. Hyper Light Drifter’s biggest achievement is the mood it creates.