Hyper Light Drifter

I must admit this wasn’t a game I expected to complete this year. Not because I didn’t like it, or because I could not do it, or I didn’t want to. I was simply focusing on other games and I never really felt like giving this one a try properly.

However, this one is a bit of a special case, because they reason I actually completed it is pretty different to other games, I simply played it with a friend!

Hyper Light Drifter came out in 2016, almost 10 years ago at this point, a great indie game with a sucessful kickstarter campaign. I heard of it even soon after, and it was actually one of the biggest reasons for me to grow interested in game development and pixel art, and the only indie game I ever obtained through alternative methods, until I felt guilty about it and deleted it after 20 minutes. I was just a teenager so, yeah.

You get the drill. I’ve been aware of this game for a while, and for some reason, I took a long time to finally get around to it.

It wasn’t until I bought my Nintendo Switch that Hyper Light Drifter became one of the first games I purchased for the console. However, among so many games I had to try out, I shoved it aside.

If you look at my log journal, you’ll see I played this game for a grand total of 6 days. Two times in December 2023—the month I bought the game for Christmas—one time in July 2024—where I somehow played it for 3 hours—and three times since September 2025—where I finally completed it. I really could have beaten this game in a couple of weeks if I had focused on it.

The time I dedicated to it was due to its awesome 2-player co-op mode, as games with an actual story and a world to uncover, with a sense of wonder that gets you to actually challenge yourself, think about what it’s trying to say, and uncover the secrets hidden everywhere in the map, are pretty rare for multiplayer gaming.¹

So, whenever a friend came over and we felt like playing something a little bit deeper that required more than just smashing buttons or pushing each other off of platforms, Hyper Light Drifter became the go-to.

The story

Hyper Light Drifter is not very explicit on its story telling, there is pretty much no text other than the instructions of the game itself. NPCs don’t have any dialogue, and only some of them will tell stories in the form of graphics and drawings depicting what happened to them.

You are The Drifter, and you have some sort of disease that weakens you and makes you cough up blood. You journeyed to this place looking for a cure—although the game doesn’t really tell you that. After a tutorial section, your goal is to collect the modules required to raise four pillars, located at each cardinal point of the map, for something to happen that maybe give you the answers you are looking for.

The world is kind of rotten, there are bodies in many places, after some sort of event, or a series of events, occurred on these lands.

Most of this I got from the wiki. The game is really obscure on this. What you actually know is to collect the modules and get to the bosses shown on the map.

The story itself is kind of a mirror to the experience of one of the devs working on the game, who suffers from a heart disease and has dealt with it constantly throughout his life.

Overall, the game mostly consists of visual storytelling, via flashbacks, characters sharing their experiences and the environments around you, who are in a state of decay and abandonment.

The gameplay

Your main weapon is a sword, made of solid light, you can also dash, and use guns.

The game plays like an old school adventure game like The Legend of Zelda, it features with minimal dialogue and text, you are supposed to explore the world and collect modules, keys, skill points, as well as lost technology that can help you get stronger, unlock doors and new paths.

The world is divided in four regions with different climates and enemies, and also different types of challenges while traversing the world. Falling platforms, spiked floors, moving obstacles, projectiles, gauntlets and puzzles are going to be present along the way.

Of course, the variety of enemies is quite big too.

The combat system is simple, but difficult. YOu have a sword combo and you can dash to get close or away from enemies. There is no parry system. Once you unlock more abilities, you can shield certain attacks or redirect projectiles, as well as get more attack combos.

With skill points, you can use learn new sword or dash techniques, such as charged attacks, or chain-dashing. You’ll also be able to unlock more slots for your gun ammo, and grenades to target groups of enemies.

The chain-dashing ability lets you dash in sequence, and it can be performed forever, similar to bomb-jumping in Metroid games. However, it needs a certain rythm to perform well, and it’s kind of annoying to master. Thankfully, you can complete the game without it, but it’s nice to get a feel for it especially to make traversal faster.

Each area will also contain bosses. I think the boss design is pretty good, but some times the attack range felt too short, and there are moments where I would get hit and stun-locked after multiple attacks.

The art

There is no other way to put it.

Hyper Light Drifter is probably one of the best showcases of modern day pixel art that I have ever seen. There really is no other way to put it. The game looks absolutely gorgeous, one might say the whole budget of this game went towards making sure everything looks as slick as possible.

During the covid lockdown, I clearly remember having screenshots of the game side by side while designing pixel art for my own projects.

The character animation is quite simply, immaculate. I absolutely love every little detail about it. From attacks to movement to the simple idle animation, it is extremely well done.

While there are not many regions in the world, each of them is distinct and familiar, and one can’t help but wonder at what their original purpose was, and how they ended up on the state they are during the game.

There will also be incredibly animated cutscenes with unique and extremely mind-blowing visuals, in a similar style to Neon Genesis Evangelion, although I must admit, it feels like too much flare and not enough meaning, or at least, it’s just confusing overall.

The music

The soundtrack of this game is simply magnificent. It is instrumental, environmental, with a mix of electronic sounds that merge seamlessly and provides the game with an atmosphere unique to it. Elevating it above and beyond and giving a certain grávitas to the quietest of moments. I simply cannot imagine this game without the music here!

A few songs of the soundtrack were on my now defunct Spotify playlist for relaxing videogame music, years before I even got the game, it was just that good, and yet another reason I wanted to play this so badly.

Panacea, one of the main tracks of the game, deserves a listen, along the rest! You can also get the album on Bandcamp.

The sound effects for the environment, item collecting and others were also quite good, although it’s mostly just checking the boxes rather than doing anything too special. In fact, sometimes the music would (welcomingly so) take over the game and play regardless of what was happening on screen (usually during battles or cinematic moments) and it was just fantastic.

Finishing thoughts

There is a lot to like here. It is one of those indie games that really does everything right, and has managed to build an identity for itself.

In modern days, there are other indies that have surpassed some of its elements and design choices, but I think it deserves a playthrough nonetheless.

The game is difficult, but not as much as something like Hollow Knight or Silksong. However, some of the bosses and hitboxes can be a little janky, so there will be some times where you will get hit when it looks like you avoided the attack, and there will be times where the attack is touching the enemy, but they don’t lose hitpoints.

The chain-dashing mechanic is rather finnicky and annoying, and there’s some challenges that are a pain to do, but they are never essential to complete the main game, so I think it’s alright.

Overall, I am glad I finally got to play this game, and given how short it is, I am probably going to revisit it and try to beat it by myself sometime.