Hyper Light Drifter: Special Edition

Released on September 6, 2018 by Playism for the Nintendo Switch, and developed by Heart Machine, Hyper Light Drifter: Special Edition features abstract, top-down, action-RPG mayhem in a mysterious, esoteric land.

I remember quite a while ago seeing a Kickstarter for a beautiful looking pixel-art spiritual successor to The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, subjectively, one of my favorite games of all time, and objectively, one of the greatest games of all time. This Kickstarted game looked like it had great potential, but there was no guarantee it would ever come out for a system I could actually play it on. I did not support the funding campaign for the game, but holy cow, was the game funded anyway, to the tune of $600,000.

Okay, so there's this guy with a sword, and he has some sort of chest wound.

Several years later, the game, Hyper Light Drifter, was released for computers, the Playstation 4, and the Xbox One...which aren't anything I could play it on. However, a couple years later--two months ago--Hyper Light Drifter was released for the Nintendo Switch. Here we go.

Okay, now he's found some sort of magical land full of waterfalls and pink castles.

Hyper Light Drifter begins with a very cool, 80's sci-fi and fantasy influenced, yet narratively incomprehensible opening cinema. There's monolithic, mountain-sized statue monsters, and light portals, and bizarre geometry, soundtracked by huge, creepy 80's synths. Then you're suddenly in control of a cloaked, be-sworded figure, with no idea of what to do, how to do it, or where to go. There's a difference between not holding the player's hand, and handing the player a sword, nodding, and beaming them to another planet without a word said.

Uh, okay, but it looks like there's some type of gnarly, evil, villainous toad there.

Fiddling around with the controls reveals that the player character, I guess the "Drifter," can dash, swing his sword, and fire a gun whose bullets are re-loaded only by the player damaging something with the sword. The landscape is garishly colored, littered with destructible boxes, and full of anthropomorphic animal enemies.

Woah, he's really gnarly, and he's been very naughty!

Eventually, the Drifter happens upon a hub town, with paths heading in the four cardinal directions, which lead to dungeon-pocked areas that house one of four keys needed to unlock the final, underground zone. Friendly animals tell the player vague things in pictures, such as, "a boss is over there." The location of the boss will then be marked on the game's unfortunately vague map. Going off the beaten path reveals gear pieces that can be exchanged for upgraded moves and weapons. You eventually realize you can refill your limited health gauge with a refillable medkit, and can earn more of those, as well. Everything is painted in the most abstract brushes possible.

When I stab him, he pukes!!!

Meanwhile, death comes easily and quickly, with sword fights short and brutal, often requiring precise dashing and timing, often resulting in copious bloodshed. It should all be very satisfying, but the vagueness actually acts to the game's detriment.

Phew, glad he's dead. Okay, let's upgrade.

Why make the story so opaque? Now the game has no emotional depth. Why put such a heavy burden of making sense of the gameplay on the player? Now the opening hours of the game are filled with frustration. Why make the otherwise beautifully drawn environments so geometrically confusing? Now it's hard to tell where you're going.
This gauziness clearly defines Hyper Light Drifter's pros and cons. The corresponding pros for the previous paragraph are quite strong.The game's cinematic and tiny narrative nuggets inspire awe and terror. The times the player strings together a series of moves to take out a huge mass of enemies or a massive boss evoke supreme feelings of badassery. The graphical backdrops, with their respawning enemies, feature a pixel art design that is transportively atmospheric.

Uh...sorry, guys?

Hyper Light Drifter whisks the player away to an incredibly realized fantasy world, but it forces them to take the video game equivalent of LSD to get there. Some may take all of the game's hazy minimalism as a masterstroke. I just wish the developers would have better refined the experience. For those who do love it, there's enough stuff to collect to keep you occupied for awhile, and this Switch Special Edition features an extra area and additional items.

Wait, now what's happening? I don't understand! Gah!!!

Thus ends an incredibly long streak of Switch games blowing my mind. Hyper Light Drifter just tosses it in a jar and shakes it around.

SCORE: 7.5/10