#Hyper light drifter review wtf is full
Not only is there an overarching story, the world is chock full of small scenes that add to the atmosphere of the game. Hyper Light Drifter is able to create stories and relay them to the player without words, letting the players explorations and the environment organically create a story in their own minds.
Each environment that you explore has a hidden story to tell, and this may be Hyper Light Drifter’s strongest points. You’ll find abandoned camping grounds overrun by monsters, its previous inhabitants belongings strewn across the map, and large, imposing machines and golems that have long since been defunct. Not only is it beautiful to look at, the environments are incredibly detailed adn you’ll find small stories hidden around every corner. One of Hyper LIght Drifter’s greatest strengths, is the world that is has managed to craft and create. THe world that Hyper Light Drifter drops you into is a dangerous one, with traps, bombs, deadly monsters and hard to access secrets. Hyper Light Drifter is reminiscent of old school top down Zelda games, where you traverse a dangerous overworld, dive into dark dungeons and fight off deadly monster after deadly monster. The lush world and detailed environment hides stories around every single corner, as you dash, slash and explore the world that Heart Machine has created.
Regarding Hyper Light Drifter itself, I recently posted a piece on Christ and Pop Culture that discusses the game’s surprisingly theological content.Hyper Light Drifter is perhaps one of the most beautiful indie games to have been released this year. Like Hisaishi, Disasterpeace - who has also composed acclaimed soundtracks for It Follows and Fez - conjures a multitude of images through his music that are just as integral to firing your imagination as any of the world-building that you see on the screen. Finally, “Panacea” expands upon the aforementioned “Vignette: Panacea,” resulting in a truly beautiful and contemplative piano piece that stands in stark contrast to the soundtrack’s prevailing synthesizer tones.Įarlier, I’d mentioned Hayao Miyazaki, and not surprisingly, a close contemporary to Disasterpeace’s music here would be Miyazaki’s frequent musical collaborator, Joe Hisaishi. Clocking in at over sixteen minutes, the aptly titled “The Gauntlet” is a slowburning piece that plays like the lead-up to some epic confrontation the intense calm before the storm, if you will. “The Winding Ridge” weaves somber melodies and bell-like tones into one of the soundtrack’s most moving moments meanwhile, softer melodies make “A Chorus of Tongues” a bittersweet respite from the rest of the soundtrack’s ominous atmosphere. Appropriately deep tones reverberate through “Gaol of the Deep” while distorted beats and sonar-like pings imply perilous exploration and discovery. On “Vignette: Visions,” wavering synth tones coalesce and grow increasingly ominous and foreboding - which is appropriate given that this song plays while your character receives a nightmarish vision of the world’s corruption. You travel through diverse lands filled with remnants of once-glorious civilizations, and Disasterpeace’s music communicates the melancholy of their passing, as well as just how alien and ominous your surroundings have become in the ensuing years.
#Hyper light drifter review wtf is how to
In Hyper Light Drifter, you play a nameless warrior trying to decipher what ruined the world so long ago, and how to make everything right again. Which is something that the rest of the soundtrack bears out. Whereas many game trailers do their best to blow you away with “intensity,” “awesomeness,” and mere spectacle, the trailer’s song (which is titled “Vignette: Panacea”) promised a much different, more sublime experience. To be honest, when I watched the game’s trailer, it was the soft, subtle piano melodies and Vangelis-like synth-work that first caught my attention. Not surprisingly, the game has received considerable acclaim following both its monumental Kickstarter campaign and its actual release.Īs wonderful as those elements are, there is one other aspect of Hyper Light Drifter that I find particularly moving, if not absolutely critical to its success: Disasterpeace’s evocative soundtrack, which is reason enough to play the game. Hyper Light Drifter has an awful lot going for it: a fantastical world full of bizarre creatures, cryptic-yet-fascinating lore, and some truly inspired artwork and animation that channels Hayao Miyazaki through a retro 16-bit aesthetic.
0 kommentar(er)
