Hyper light drifter map at start series#

At their best we’re given a clue, like a ledge that seemingly has no other purpose, and keen observation is rewarded. While this genre has a long and proud history of secrets hidden in this fashion, and I did enjoy them at first, the way these story fragments are frustratingly stashed in each of the world’s four regions became increasingly annoying. What few direct answers do exist are trapped inside monoliths hidden in secret coves and behind locked doors.

Hyper light drifter map at start series#

Again, I can’t really be sure how it all fits together exactly, because though I have my theories, they’re just interpretations of a stylish, intriguing series of events and images that never fully makes good on its grand setting. “I gathered bits and pieces of the story: an apocalypse, an illness, time travel, and a mysterious dog all play a part. For me, all this reinforced the idea of drifting through time and space because for a large part of Hyper Light Drifter I was grasping for a handhold as to what the hell was going on. Its repeating, dreamlike cutscenes are cryptic. Interacting with an NPC conveys information in storyboard-like sequences. Its storytelling is a wordless experience that requires interpretation. It takes a commendable risk with its bold storytelling that intrigues, but doesn’t fully pay off in the end. And while I wouldn’t consider Hyper Light Drifter overly hard – I was able to defeat most bosses on my first or second encounter, with the exception of two disproportionately difficult ones – I would also shy away from calling it a style-over-substance kind of experience. But most impressively, they’re all optional – to the point where you can finish Hyper Light Drifter’s roughly seven-hour campaign without purchasing any upgrades at all, if you’ve got the raw skill to pull it off. That adds flavor to the combat systems without overcomplicating things. “With the exception of a grenade ability, these upgrades don’t introduce completely new mechanics, but instead only add interesting elements to your beginning skills.