Hyper Light Drifter

 Switch
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 121 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 84 out of 121
  2. Mixed: 24 out of 121
  3. Negative: 13 out of 121

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  1. PurpleBiscuitz
    Sep 14, 2018
    7
    To start off the art and atmosphere of this game is fantastic. You traverse through a world filled with new items and enemies to discover and the lack of hand holding really pushes the atmosphere and amplifies the feeling of discovering something new. However, where this game really falls short is its difficulty. I love challenging games, but Hyper Light Drifters challenge seems to beTo start off the art and atmosphere of this game is fantastic. You traverse through a world filled with new items and enemies to discover and the lack of hand holding really pushes the atmosphere and amplifies the feeling of discovering something new. However, where this game really falls short is its difficulty. I love challenging games, but Hyper Light Drifters challenge seems to be artificial and unfair. There were many points in the game where i had no idea why i died or what i died too which was really frustrating after dying multiple times on a given area having no idea what to do differently. After being hit you character is also stunned for a short period by certain attacks leaving him opened to get pummeled and essentially die in one hit. This type of difficulty is only made worse by the lack of tools you have to make quick in puts. After attacking with your sword, your character has serious lag before being able to attack or dash out of the way of an incoming attack. Furthermore, the difficulty spikes seem completely random. The first part of the game can contain areas much more difficult than the proceeding areas. It feels random whether the next room or boss will be difficult or not. (spoilers) An example of this is that the first boss of the game was very challenging compared to the second boss of the game which can easily be beaten on the first attempt. Overall, the atmosphere and theme of the game saves it from its lack of fair, fast paced gameplay… Expand
  2. Sunshadow87
    Jun 14, 2020
    7
    Estamos ante un juego de exploración-acción con un bello apartado artístico, una historia bellamente contada usando solo lenguaje visual, y una banda sonora ambiental muy acertada que ayuda a la inmersión. Los movimientos de nuestro personaje también son precisos, fáciles de entender y difíciles de dominar, con personalidad propia. Los entornos que recorremos a su vez tienen vida propia,Estamos ante un juego de exploración-acción con un bello apartado artístico, una historia bellamente contada usando solo lenguaje visual, y una banda sonora ambiental muy acertada que ayuda a la inmersión. Los movimientos de nuestro personaje también son precisos, fáciles de entender y difíciles de dominar, con personalidad propia. Los entornos que recorremos a su vez tienen vida propia, contando parte de la historia simplemente por estar ahí.
    Sin embargo, dicho todo lo positivo, el juego presenta tres "pecados" que influyen directamente en la experiencia que lo hacen desmerecer de una mejor nota, y que cada cual debe valorar si puede pasar por alto o no para un juego que es genial por lo demás.
    1º- El primero de los fallos del juego es un fallo que recae específicamente sobre esta versión o cualquiera de las de otras consolas, pero seguramente no en la de PC. El problema nace del control. No hay en principio ningún problema en jugar con un mando a este juego, los controles son intuitivos y responden bien. Sin embargo, hay cierto reto del juego que consiste en conseguir encadenar sprints 800 veces en la tienda de mejoras del mismo que se nota que no fue diseñado para ser realizado con un control... para encadenar sprints debes pulsar el botón en el momento justo (la ventana para hacerlo es muy pequeña) y al mismo tiempo cambiar la dirección en la que sprintas. El problema es que si al hacer esto chocas contra una pared la cadena se corta inmediatamente, y el espacio para hacer esto en la tienda no es lo bastante grande verticalmente para no acabar chocando al mover el stick un poco demasiado arriba o demasiado abajo dada la sensibilidad de esto. Esta locura de reto esta claramente pensada más para ser realizada con un teclado donde el control del cambio de dirección puede ser más preciso, e incluso así si buscáis en foros al respecto, los jugadores de PC usan un autoclick con timer para realizar esto... En consola no es imposible, pero es directamente una locura. Es solo un reto sí, y la recompensa es menor (un traje y un gearbit) pero el problema es, dada la naturaleza del juego, si no vas a conseguir esto, no vas a conseguir el 100%... así pues, ¿acaso merece la pena conseguir el 100% del resto del juego? Esto puede parecer una tontería, pero la sensación que deja para el sentido de completar el juego para el jugador es muy deprimente, y lo peor es que se retroalimenta con el siguiente aspecto negativo.
    2º- Revisitar las areas no es divertido... como he dicho este es un juego de exploración, y muchos de los elementos están bien ocultos en los escenarios. Poco a poco aprenderás a reconocer los lugares donde hay cosas escondidas, y técnicamente puedes acceder a todo lo que encuentras en un área a excepción de los pilares que solo pueden ser activados con un arma específica (se puede conseguir pronto si eliges el camino adecuado al comienzo...) o las puertas cerradas con tarjetas llave. Sin embargo, volver a un área anterior para buscar lo que no encontraste inicialmente o abrir las puertas que antes no podías no es divertido, ya que, aunque existen mejoras para nuestro personaje que iremos comprando, estas radican en aportar nuevas formas de movimiento, llevar más botiquines o la capacidad de desviar las balas entre otros... pero no hacen más poderoso a nuestro personaje ni le permiten acabar antes las batallas, por lo que al volver a recorrer el terreno ya andado, especialmente cuando la distancia es grande es realmente aburrido, y no es difícil que mueras más veces que al explorar la zona por primera vez al querer ir directo al grano. Esto hubiera sido fácilmente solucionado sin alterar la mejora del personaje, simplemente poniendo un teletransporte más en cada área, y reduciendo la distancia a volver a caminar... francamente esto es un mal diseño.
    3º- Y lo último... es un problema con la "complete edition". Resulta rídiculo, pero la manera en la que están montados los extras de la edición especial, le restan al juego normal si eres como yo y te gusta explorarlo todo... El área opcional aunque esta oculta, si exploras más o menos todo bien acabaras accediendo a ella antes de la 4º zona... este área es la más desafiante del juego en cuanto combate, y tiene un boss que es una versión mejorada del boss de la 4º zona... básicamente completar esto y luego entrar en la 4º zona convierte todo este cuarto final del juego en... decepcionante y anticlimático. No estoy a favor de "contra menos contenido mejor" ni mucho menos, pero esto debiera haber sido llevado mejor...    … Expand
  3. Daisuk
    May 26, 2020
    6
    I really wanted to like this game, as the music score and graphics are nothing short of breathtaking - but I just felt lost in this game. You pick something up - what is it? No idea! The game does not feature any text or speech, so you simply have to figure it out. What button combo to press to use it? No clue. Where to go? No real idea. I only played this game for a few hours, but justI really wanted to like this game, as the music score and graphics are nothing short of breathtaking - but I just felt lost in this game. You pick something up - what is it? No idea! The game does not feature any text or speech, so you simply have to figure it out. What button combo to press to use it? No clue. Where to go? No real idea. I only played this game for a few hours, but just couldn't get into it.… Expand
  4. fhaaruk
    Jun 28, 2020
    7
    Overall, it's a great 2D Action-RPG game with very fitting soundtracks and art-style, and it runs great on Switch. I give it 7 points, but I would like to point out I have given 10p only 1-2 games in my life (not necessarily on metacritic) so overall, it is a great game and arguably worth your time if you are into this genre.

    So, Truly, the art is amazing in this game, the dark and    Overall, it's a great 2D Action-RPG game with very fitting soundtracks and art-style, and it runs great on Switch. I give it 7 points, but I would like to point out I have given 10p only 1-2 games in my life (not necessarily on metacritic) so overall, it is a great game and arguably worth your time if you are into this genre.

    So,
    Truly, the art is amazing in this game, the dark and depressing colours really reflect the shape of the 'infected' world. The sharp edges of the scenery really gives you that industrial, future vibes, and the soundtrack perfectly compliments it.
    The game mechanics is really simple, which is a little shame. You only have 4 main abilities: dash, slash, shoot and heal (and another utility can be bought but not necessary). Luckily, we can upgrade these skills with the coins we gather from the maps. They are fun to look for first, but after some time becomes tedious, but the game can finished without these upgrades. Though I wish we could have more weapons to switch at any given time instead of two, it still feels fun to dash and slash enemies. The game puts emphasis on the importance of using dash, a skill need to be mastered in order to dodge enemy, especially bosses' abilities. It is fun to dodge enemy bullets, shoot them down and slash them with the sword, roughly speaking the gameplay is very enjoyable but has its faults.
    Honestly, many times I felt it was a little chunky, the enemies' abilities' and their characters' hitboxes do not always feel smooth. Many times I tried dashing right next to the boss, but the hitbox was wider than the pixels given to it, so instead I dashed into it. Also the fact that you can't instant heal, regardless of pressing heal, regardless of the ANIMATION, you still need 0,5 second for game to register the HP, which is extremely frustrating at times. For these reasons, I deducted 1 point. The aiming also doesn't feel like an even 360 scope, but like jumping every 30 degrees. Maybe that's because of some technical limitation, I don't know. Nonetheless, annoying.
    I deducted another point because of the game's story. Despite playing 5-6 hours, I honestly don't know what's the story about. There is 0 text in the game, let alone voice. I kind of guess what it is about, but many times the game just felt 'empty', like I was just going from A to B just because, and not because I need to save the world or whatever the goal of the hero is? Can someone explain the beginning to me, hello?
    One last problem I have is the extreme amount of hidden stuff. I do love easter eggs, and looking after things, searching items. However, this game hides so many things it becomes tiring, and makes me anxious whether I missed something or not. So many things to go for back and forth, checking the same area for hours. It just artificially makes the game twice as long while not adding many content. However, for me this is only worth -0,5 points as it is totally optional, so the other part comes from the map, crucial for discovering such hidden gems.
    I cannot emphasise how stupid and annoying it is that the MAP DOES NOT SHOW WHERE YOU ARE. Yes. It updates every section (usually composed of 4-5 parts) and just shows you in the middle of it. It is okay when you are just rushing through a part, but when it comes too looking for something it irritating. Handling the map is another nightmare, how roads and places connect is hard to figure out, and you can't put pins on gates that require keys to open (to come back later because you don't have enough keys). Because of this, I just gave up on collecting stuff about half game, and decided just to do the 'main' story. Super tiresome how I can't put marks on the map..
    One last thing to add: game does not explain anything. As I said, you are just given very few instructions in the beginning, and from that you have to figure out every trick yourself. From some this can be fun, for me, it was just eh. There are some tricks I only figured out at the main boss of the game..
    I give it 7 points, but I would like to point out I have given 10 only 1-2 games in my life (not necessarily on metacritic) so overall, it is a great game and arguably worth your time if you are into this genre. Have fun and thanks for reading!    … Expand
  5. kraftw33rk
    Feb 10, 2019
    6
    Ich find’s sehr gut, aber viiiel zu schwer. Zumindest die Bosskämpfe. Schaffe nichtmal den Ersten. Vermutlich hätte ich erst mehr tests lesen sollen, aber ich denke meins wird nie fertig gespielt und ich habe Geld versenkt. Habe keine Zeit für 200 Versuche
  6. EdwardG
    Dec 24, 2020
    6
    Beautiful pixel art with excellent use of colour and a captivating, calming ambient soundtrack give Hyper Light Drifter it's identity. Without a clear narrative, they're what I'll remember most from my playthrough.

    The game plays pretty nicely - the combat is solid and you progress through the world naturally. Exploration is rewarded and although none of the mechanics are spelt out to    Beautiful pixel art with excellent use of colour and a captivating, calming ambient soundtrack give Hyper Light Drifter it's identity. Without a clear narrative, they're what I'll remember most from my playthrough.

    The game plays pretty nicely - the combat is solid and you progress through the world naturally. Exploration is rewarded and although none of the mechanics are spelt out to you, nothing is too hard to pick up. This freedom matched the mood of the game really well. If anything though, the gameplay on the whole is a bit basic. It's fun, but not exceptional.

    My main gripe with Hyper Light Drifter is that I wish the narrative was more clear. The story, told without words, just felt a bit lacking to me. The world is so atmospheric that the absence of a strong plot is a bit disappointing. That said, I can see the appeal this story might have to some people. It's a personal tale inspired by the developer's struggles with heart disease, and I can see it affecting a lot of people more deeply than it did me. I didn't connect with it as much as I'd hoped because of how cryptic it all was. I only pieced the story together after the fact after reading up on it.

    By the end of the game I was left feeling underwhelmed. My initial wonder at the game's beautiful visuals and music wasn't enough to grip me, and as none of its other elements entirely clicked with me, I have to reflect that in my score.

    Don't let my review dissuade you from trying the game though. I can see it's appeal, and it has a very distinct tone that might be just what you're looking for. Hyper Light Drifter offers a dark, moody, melancholic world, solid gameplay, and a show, don't tell story that's bound to resonate with some players.    … Expand
  7. giannis2001
    Aug 25, 2020
    6
    It's not that good as I expected.The controls and movement of player feels kinda weird and sluggish and not good in general. The story is a mess too. I recommend it on sale, it's average in my opinion.
  8. onehitok
    Jul 18, 2021
    7
    I would've given this game a 10/10 if the game explain what the **** is going on.
  9. Hazman
    Mar 9, 2022
    7
    The Graphics and score are amazing, however it just didn't click with me. i often felt lost and didn't know what i was doing. if you want to try it out go for it, it just wasn't the game for me
  10. Ryu_san
    Aug 4, 2021
    6
    Lack of guidance and bosses that feel very repetitive are let downs. It's a game known for excellence retro inspired graphics and atmosphere. But I felt a guide was necessary to enjoy this game to the fullest, eg to find the extra costumes, which just feels a flaw in the game design. It's worth playing but lacks replay value.
  11. bl1rt
    Dec 29, 2018
    7
    I liked the atmosphere of Hyper Light Drifter a lot, and it is amazing how the games manages to tell its story in images only.
    Unfortunately, the controls are a bit clunky, forcing timeouts on the player after screwing up a move, which often leads to additional damage. This makes the game noticeably harder than it needs to be, and it does not pay off.
    I still like the game a lot though
  12. AllySky
    May 22, 2019
    5
    Hyper light drifter is visually amazing, and has a above par combat system. However that combat system requires you to be perfect or rely on sheer luck, making it a terrible game to pick up after leaving it for a month or so. Besides that there is just nothing else, an eerie ambiance considered to be its musical soundtrack and story is slapped onto a set of images, beyond this it does aHyper light drifter is visually amazing, and has a above par combat system. However that combat system requires you to be perfect or rely on sheer luck, making it a terrible game to pick up after leaving it for a month or so. Besides that there is just nothing else, an eerie ambiance considered to be its musical soundtrack and story is slapped onto a set of images, beyond this it does a poor job at keeping me interested in the game.… Expand

Awards & Rankings

13
#13 Best Switch Game of 2018
52
#52 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2018
94
#94 Most Shared Switch Game of 2018

Critic Reviews

All reviews »
Metascore
88

Generally favorable reviews - based on 21 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 21 out of 21
  2. Mixed: 0 out of 21
  3. Negative: 0 out of 21
  1. Nintendo Force Magazine
    Oct 29, 2018
    95
    A near-perfect dayglow samurai dream. [Issue #36 – November/December 2018, p. 20]
  2. Nintendo Insider
    Oct 22, 2018
    90
    If you groan every time you see another 2D action-RPG on the Nintendo eShop, don’t be dissuaded by Hyper Light Drifter: Special Edition. While it borrows from the Zelda blueprint and games that have followed, it is packaged so perfectly that it stands above the rest. The depth of its vivid world goes beyond what you see on your screen. There’s more lurking there, and you’ll want to discover it all.
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  3. TheSixthAxis
    Oct 8, 2018
    90
    Hyper Light Drifter is a jaw-dropping experience no matter the platform you play it on. What started as an engaging masterpiece in 2016 continues to be just as rewarding and worthwhile of a video game in 2018. With the Nintendo Switch you get the valuable bonus of being able to take this journey with you anywhere you want and believe me when I say this is a journey you will not want to step away from once you start it.
    Read full review
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