Hyper Light Drifter Catch-All

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Welcome to the catch-all for Heart Machine's gorgeous pixel art action RPG.

Official Website
Kickstarter Page
First Trailer:

The game looks to be part Zelda, part Diablo, and the art style and setting design evoke something akin to Numenera. It releases next week. I'm really excited about it (I backed it) but aside from a few RPS articles, I haven't seen much about it. Anyone else here looking forward to it?

YES! I'm a backer on this and I'm really looking forward to giving it a go

shoptroll wrote:

YES! I'm a backer on this and I'm really looking forward to giving it a go :)

Ditto! Backed at the last minute, and will be putting some time into this before the new Ratchet & Clank and Dark Souls 3 drop a couple of weeks later.

I hope they follow through with a Vita release.

I'm gonna see how impressions look, a purchase is likely. You tell me something mashes up Zelda and Diablo and you've got my attention. It kinda looks like Superbrothers in terms of art though, hope I like it more.

Blind_Evil wrote:

It kinda looks like Superbrothers in terms of art though, hope I like it more.

I don't know if there's a specific term for it, but there's a lot of indie games that use a similar style (blocky sprites, not a whole lot of detail, and very little lines). Witchmarsh and Gods Will Be Watching are two others I can think of.

shoptroll wrote:
Blind_Evil wrote:

It kinda looks like Superbrothers in terms of art though, hope I like it more.

I don't know if there's a specific term for it, but there's a lot of indie games that use a similar style (blocky sprites, not a whole lot of detail, and very little lines). Witchmarsh and Gods Will Be Watching are two others I can think of.

Witchmarsh is another one I've backed and am waiting on...

I know what you mean, though - there's a definite style of low-rez pixel art out there that certain indie studios use, and I don't know the term either. If I were to describe it, I'd probably call it "32-bit look."

It seems like I backed this an eternity ago.

At the time it seemed like a pretty cool concept. Now, I honestly don't know if it is going to be my kind of thing or not.

In the years since the initial pitch, all kinds of cool and interesting indie games have come out. And, one of the things that I've discovered is that just because the community thinks a game is cool and interesting and well made, that's no guarantee that I'm necessarily going to like it. More curiously, even if I think a game it cool and interesting and well made, that's no guarantee that it will hook me in a way that will make me prioritize playing it over all the other cool and interesting and well made games in my pile.

I genuinely don't know if I'm going to play it for 30 or 40 hours or if I'll play it for 10 minutes and never pick it back up again (I'm looking at you Transistor).

It's kind of a strange position to be in.

Tomorrow. Yeeessss.

polq37 wrote:

It's kind of a strange position to be in.

Don't worry, I've found myself in this position with most of the things I've backed on KS. Which is one of the reasons I haven't been supporting as many projects the last couple of years, and the same reason I've stopped pre-ordering games as frequently. 90% of the time stuff was showing up at a time when I wasn't mentally ready for it and it would just stay on the pile. It's better for me (and my wallet) to just buy games I want to play right then & there.

First impressions: It is absolutely gorgeous and I really like its non-verbal show-don't-tell presentation. On the other hand, I'm a sucker for that far future science fantasy setting - which is why I originally backed the Kickstarter.

The animal people seem like a call out to Cordwainer Smith, but I can't imagine that reference is current for anyone anymore, so maybe they are just animal people.

Over on RPS, the reviewer bounced hard off of the first boss. I haven't gotten there yet. As a gamer on the wrong side of 40, I suspect I may have a similar experience. If it ends up being much harder than, say, Bastion, it'll probably be consigned to the pile of interesting things that are not quite right for me.

Also, I'm not usually one to complain about frame rate issues, but the 30 FPS cap seems not right for a 2D game. I was feeling just a little rattled after playing for an hour or so and I think the cap might have had something to do with it.

Boss? I can barely get through half of the little trash mob arenas intact :O

LOVE the style and exploring the ruined world but I have a horrible feeling I'm eventually going to hit that same brick wall Walker did, and end up just wandering off to other things.

pyxistyx wrote:

Boss? I can barely get through half of the little trash mob arenas intact :O

LOVE the style and exploring the ruined world but I have a horrible feeling I'm eventually going to hit that same brick wall Walker did, and end up just wanderingDRIFTING off to other things.

FTFY?

Am enjoying it so far, just coming up on the 1st boss. Searching out the secrets appears to be completely necessary, I'm guessing the 1st boss will be a pain without having done so.

Slightly underwhelmed that it doesn't seem to have steam cloud support for the saves (although i've configured dropbox for that)

you can actually go north or east from the start (possible west as well) so there may be further opportunity for collecting a few extra secret boxes. Also...

Spoiler:

I got a few of the x4 component piece things dropping from the bird-wizard things to the north of town - not sure if they are one-off things or if you can farm for them

pyxistyx wrote:

you can actually go north or east from the start (possible west as well) so there may be further opportunity for collecting a few extra secret boxes. Also...

Spoiler:

I got a few of the x4 component piece things dropping from the bird-wizard things to the north of town - not sure if they are one-off things or if you can farm for them

I have only gone west from the start town. I thought one of the initial silent story thingies pointed west. Is North or East easier?

They are all much the same initially I think, although the dog (the one in town) leads you to the east gate so I assumed that was the suggested starting point?

I totally thought the dog was just running around. I'm going to have to start again to check that out now.

Huh, I was under the impression this was out on PS4 at the same time as PC. Guess I won't be playing soon after all!

I love the aesthetic so far, but the lack of text explaining things is a little frustrating for me. I gather I need to find... things to buy(?) things from the merchants in the hub area, but I'm not getting a great feel for what I can collect.

I guess I found one thing in a box across a ledge to the east (right?) of the starting area, where the dog led me. I suppose I am used to a little more hand-holding to start off. It's not a bad thing per se, but I've not done a "drop you into the world and let you screw around with everything" type game in a while.

I love the art direction, but the audio is a little unsettling to me for some reason. And I also wouldn't mind some text.

Can't even get the game to load. Immediate display driver crash. I've got Windows 10 with a GeForce GTX 750 Ti and by every estimation, it should run great. Was hoping to get an hour or two in tonight before a busy weekend.

I've read around and there's other people encountering the same problem.

Tyrian wrote:

I love the aesthetic so far, but the lack of text explaining things is a little frustrating for me. I gather I need to find... things to buy(?) things from the merchants in the hub area, but I'm not getting a great feel for what I can collect.

Spoiler:

I think overall you're looking for the x4 triangle things in each 'zone' to power up the device in the middle of town, which you pull out of those reactors you find that the mystery warrior dude marks on your map whenever you run across him.

those also seem to power some of the doors you find with the triangle markings (which need X number of triangles in the area to open. I think the first one I saw needed three)

Upgrades cost X number of those completed yellow blocks (2 or 3 to begin with), which are each made up of x4 smaller littler yellow blocks. These smaller ones are the ones you collect as secrets and dropped from some enemies.

No idea where you get keys for the locked doors yet though.

Ah, wait...think I figured out where keys come from

Spoiler:

If you see a skeleton that's hidden or otherwise out of reach, I think there's a good chance there will be a key on the body. Only found one so far though so, I might be wrong.

quote button is not edit button.

This is great! Went east from town and still haven't hit a boss after about 90 minutes.

pyxistyx wrote:
Tyrian wrote:

I love the aesthetic so far, but the lack of text explaining things is a little frustrating for me. I gather I need to find... things to buy(?) things from the merchants in the hub area, but I'm not getting a great feel for what I can collect.

Spoiler:

I think overall you're looking for the x4 triangle things in each 'zone' to power up the device in the middle of town, which you pull out of those reactors you find that the mystery warrior dude marks on your map whenever you run across him.

those also seem to power some of the doors you find with the triangle markings (which need X number of triangles in the area to open. I think the first one I saw needed three)

Upgrades cost X number of those completed yellow blocks (2 or 3 to begin with), which are each made up of x4 smaller littler yellow blocks. These smaller ones are the ones you collect as secrets and dropped from some enemies.

No idea where you get keys for the locked doors yet though.

Ah, wait...think I figured out where keys come from

Spoiler:

If you see a skeleton that's hidden or otherwise out of reach, I think there's a good chance there will be a key on the body. Only found one so far though so, I might be wrong.

Thanks for the pointers. I put a little more time in this morning before work, and I *think* I'm starting to get a feel for it. I keep wanting a shield though, as I find myself trying to jump over projectiles... which doesn't work!

A couple of the upgrades look like they help with projectiles (either letting you dodge through them or reflect them back at their source). Haven't been able to afford them yet though.

Good news! Turns out my PC was defaulting to an intel video card instead of the nvidia. Also explains why Iron Brigade and Epistory were running terribly. Made it so my nvidia is the default choice and everything is running.

I'd recommend DEFINITELY going for the reflect projectiles sword skill as soon as you can. freakin' lifesaver in some fights!

And I'm definitely right about the where you find the keys...

Spoiler:

I found a second corpse while hunting for secrets. Be sure to keep an eye out for things that look like the beginnings of paths going offscreen, check between pillars, etc.

unfortunately I've completely forgotten where I saw that locked door that takes only one key to open

***

Made it to my first boss (the frog to the east). Seems tough but fair. Only trouble really is that I got there with only one health pack remaining so I have retreated to gather more supplies before tackling him again. Otherwise I think as bosses go it's certainly far from the worst offender I've seen. LIke dark souls, you just have to keep your cool and not get greedy/spammy with the controls.

**

Two bosses down now! (The frog above and the one to the west of town). Heading for number three now (which by all reports is the hardest). This game is really clicking with me in the same way the souls games does.

Third boss down! Really digging this game

I've been keeping an eye on this for a while but the few videos I've watched have left me really apprehensive about the combat... it looks like pretty terrible arena-swarm style circling around. I'm pretty sure I'm not into that. Can anyone confirm/deny?

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