Hyper Light Drifter is the product of a wildly over-funded Kickstarter campaign, raising $645,158 of a $27,000 goal in October 2013. "I think good story in games is a rarity, so it's something that we're concentrating pretty heavily on." "Story is pretty paramount for us," he said. I didn't play the campaign, but Preston, the lead designer, described it as a mix of combat and exploration, with a heavy emphasis on narrative. We finished that round in two minutes and with 30 kills on the counter at the top of the screen. His health drained, and mine ran out with him attempting to lead me to a square of health. Every now and then I would remember the plan and try to stay close Diefenbach's avatar, but I was a lost cause. It was a great suggestion and it worked well for roughly 12 seconds, whereupon I remembered the dash button, forgot his advice and began running around the map like a madwoman, slashing my sword and shoving crystals into grunts. On our third and final playthrough, Diefenbach suggested we stick together to take down foes as a team. The encroaching darkness is a clever "uh oh" system. It's possible to see how much health you have exactly with a quick press of the left bumper, but it's difficult to concentrate on that extra move while furiously battling hordes of beasties. When either character gets close to death, the entire screen starts fading to black, bleeding in around the edges. Some enemies drop squares of magic to recharge your stores, but there are just four points of extra health on the map, one in each corner. The minotaur also squashes enemy characters, so he's not all bad. The biggest foe I faced was a minotaur-esque creature, taller and wider than the grunts, whose special attack was jumping so high he disappeared from the screen and then smashed down on the battlefield, attempting to squish me or my partner. The sword is reliable against grunts, so it's useful to save magic weapons for larger enemies. Both of the bombs damage friendly characters and your own avatar, and all of these weapons drain magic rapidly. The boomerang is similarly strong against crowds, as is the roly poly mine that follows foes before it explodes, and the standard grenade. The diamond shotgun, on the other hand, is useful against crowds, though it takes more than one shot to bring down an enemy. But, the margin of error is high with the thin beam alone, and that's not accounting for the charge time. If it hits something, the rifle is assured, instant death.
I have a rifle, but it doesn't do me much good it's the game's take on sniping, and it emits a thin beam that you hold down until the character flashes, and you let the shot fly. I slash my way through a few of those before remembering my dash and breaking away.
When we approach the door and it rises, grinding up the cavern wall, I feel ready.Īll of the beasts are dangerous and potentially deadly, even the grunty, hunchback creatures that spew out first. It's entertaining enough to test out all of the weapons in the tutorial area, with that stone available to replenish your magic stores indefinitely. Hyper Light Drifter is local co-op only, and I took combat mode for a spin with designer and techno-wizard Teddy Diefenbach, and Heart Machine founder Alex Preston looking on. Unfortunately, there's no button to halt the flow of angry, violent creatures that swarm you once you open that door. Left bumper displays magic and health bars, and your weapons. The A button is a (very useful) dash, and X is a sword slash.
These weapons include an enemy-seeking mine ball, a shotgun that shoots in a diamond formation, a boomerang, and a close-up attack that embeds a fucshia crystal in an enemy, which you then detonate into huge crystal splinters covering the surrounding area. Behind it, when you're ready, lies an arena filled with creatures bent on your destruction.įirst, the training room allows you to play with mechanics: Plugged into a MacBook Air, playing with an Xbox 360 controller, press the right bumper to see a circle of weapons and map the ones you want to the Y or B buttons. A door etched in rune-like symbols waits at the end of the room.
Hyper Light Drifter's combat mode is a solo or co-op evil-beast explosion – it begins in a training room lined with dummy targets, and a seafoam platform that recharges your magic.
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