I listen to game soundtracks at work a lot. Just a few minutes ago, while listening to a spotify game soundtrack radio, a Hyper Light Drifter song came on that absolutely blew me away. Is the gameplay as top-notch as the soundtrack? Because if so, methinks I need to make time for this game. I've had it sitting on my PS4, installed, yet untouched for months now (ever since it was offered as a PS+ game way back in the day).

Yes you should it’s a great game.

Hyper Light Drifter is a game made exactly for me. It has great art backed up by tight and evolving gameplay. The whole thing is beautifully bespoke and detailed with secrets and well laid out levels.

It’s not a randomly generated, run based, loot grind.

So if you’re into that then you should have a really good time.

Yup. Everything @humanity said, with a reiteration about the soundtrack, which you seem to already assume is great. I felt, when starting this post, that I had more... eloquent things to say on HLD, but I guess there isn't much else besides that it's just solid as Hell. A video game-ass video game, as they say.

Sounds awesome. Looks like it's about 10 hours to beat. A nice, tight experience like that seems like the perfect pallet cleanser between two vast, open world games like AC: Odyssey and Red Dead 2.

Yes. Hyper Light Drifter is incredible. Play it.

Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yes yes.

Yes.

God yes. Incredible music, art, and gameplay that is as good as you are. Also has the perfect length. Couldn't recommend it enough.

I'm not as positive on the game as many are.

I think the movement (drifting) and hit detection are a little suspect and often frustrating. They mostly get mitigated by upgrades, but the game is basically half over before you get them. Chain dashing in particular doesn't feel great on a controller. It's better on keyboard but even there the window for stringing them together is very tight (and progressively faster for each dash in the chain). There's also a pretty BS achievement tied to doing a zillion of those in a row if achievements are something you care about.

The level design is sub-optimal, yes you can go anywhere basically but there's clearly an order (especially for bosses) in which you'll eventually figure is by far easiest. The game doesn't do the greatest job in communicating this. The collectibles design isn't great either, There's a huge number of them and individually they aren't that interesting to have once you've found one (basically upgrade currency).

Absolutely great music and great aesthetics for sure tho. On the whole I'd give it a 3ish out of 5 thereabouts

I will say this though, the game is inexpensive and I always figure if somebody is interested enough to even be asking this question about a game they should go check it out for themselves. Eventhough I'm lukewarm on it, I'm still glad I played it

@slag: Agreed that the style, atmosphere, music, etc. are great, but the gameplay and game design are just kinda serviceable at best. Granted, it's a small team so I don't expect the world from them, but on a "how fun was it to play" scale, it's a weaker debut than something like Bastion or Hollow Knight, games from similarly quite small developers.

I'd put the gameplay of Hyper Light Drifter above something like Moonlighter, but that's because I think the gameplay of Moonlighter is clunky and bad, and the fun of that game is grinding out the shop part of the game.

Definitely. Be wary though the game is hard as shit, or at least I remember it being really tough. But also super satisfying.

I fell off of Hyper Light after about 6 or so hours but I don't regret playing it. It has such a great style and story presentation but as others have said I don't think the gameplay totally holds up its end of the bargain.

The gameplay is more than serviceable but I found it frustrating more than a fun challenge. With that said you should definitely at least check it out, it's a neat thing even if all of it doesn't come together fully.

@bisonhero: yup, that's extremely well said. And I think those are fair peers to compare it to

I loved this game. I listened to the OST before I played it but wasn't really feeling it, being a fan of the FEZ and It Follows soundtracks but goddamn does it set the tone of the world. The game doesn't give you much direction but any direction you go, you'll find shit so I think it adds to the sense of discovery. I found the combat really satisfying, swift and lethal. I felt like a samurai.

I rarely get swept by indie games but I think this game is exquisite.

@big_denim: make sure to keep us posted on your experience with it. As you see some people in this thread love it while others have somewhat more reserved opinions on it - I’m curious what you’ll think of it in the end. Kinda like Hollow Knight the gameplay is very specific and the challenge wraps up fast. If I remember correctly, there is a definite boss order in nterms if difficulty but I can’t remember which direction is the “easiest” of the bosses - this might be one spoiler worth Googling as making it through an entire area and hitting a really hard boss in the end that might have otherwise been a lot more manageable with a few upgrades under your belt could be really demoralizing.

I am real close to finishing Bloodborne which I've been playing alongside AC: Odyssey. Once I'm done with that, I'll run through Hyper Light Drifter and let you know what I think of it :)