Then, Hyper Light Drifter came along.
2013 has been a good year for indie developers and their Kickstarter campaigns; and the good luck continues for Los Angeles based indie developer, Heart Machine. Their new game, Hyper Light Drifter, takes the action RPG formula of Zelda and maxes it out with extremely beautiful retro graphics and an over the top world to play in. Being a good game doesn’t require that you reinvent the wheel, in this case, the gameplay is pretty much the timeless, top down action game formula. The thing that set Hyper Light Drifter apart is the absolutely stunning art in this game, which according to the creator, was inspired by Hayao Miyazaki. From the concept art down to the actual pixels, this game is beautiful, through and through. The screens below prove this point…
…and this awesome concept art for a boss:
You can also check out the Hyper Light Drifter trailer…
The core gameplay in Hyper Light Drifter will include multiple upgradeable weapons, a defense system, and specialized dashing. There will also be companions to aid you in your quest to cure your “vicious disease” along with secondary items and more. Based on the gameplay video we’ve seen, combat looks to be snappy, allowing you to quickly strike and dodge enemies in a similar fashion to Zelda. There also appear to be vehicles in the game, or the very least, a mecha you can control. Again, awesome.
The game is already well on it’s way to a highly successful Kickstarter deep into stretch goal territory. Hyper Light Drifter started off with the modest goal of $27,000 USD but has earned over $477,000 USD (and counting). But you still have the opportunity to support the project which includes various benefits including beta play, the soundtrack, merchandise and more. It was also just green-lit on Steam, so PC play is a certainty along with the Kickstarter achieved PS4 and Playstation Vita versions. A Wii U version is about $75k away with less than 5 days left in it’s campaign.
We’re excited about Hyper Light Drifter, and if you are too, you can support it via Kickstarter.