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By Elyse O ’ Bannon
Pixelated Goodness :
Hyper Light Drifter is an indie game made by
Heart Machine , released in April 2016 . Hyper Light Drifter was , like many games nowadays , funded through Kickstarter , within a matter of hours actually . Because of the massive amount of funding it received , Heart Machine was able to create a nuanced and visually stunning game with a haunting soundtrack by Disasterpiece ( who also did the soundtrack for Fez ). The soundtrack does a wonderful job reinforcing the atmosphere and ambiance created from the colorful yet ominous visuals . From its inception , Hyper Light Drifter has been very popular and when looking at it , it is easy to see why . It plays on video game nostalgia by drawing strongly from the early games in The Legend of Zelda series . While it draws from the old , Hyper Light Drifter innovates and diverges from its predecessors to create a fan base all its own .
Much like the Zelda games , you play a tiny
A Look at Hyper
Light Drifter
person with a sword who goes from dungeon to dungeon fighting baddies and solving puzzles . In Hyper Light Drifter , your sword - a laser sword to be specific - is joined by a blaster which serves basically the same purpose as Link ’ s slingshot . While Hyper Light Drifter shares a great deal with The Legend of Zelda series , the combat in game is reminiscent of Hotline Miami . As with Hotline Miami , Hyper Light Drifter is easy to get into because the controls are simple to learn but difficult to master . When in combat , you have to take each level slow ; rushing in will more often than not get you killed . It is easy to cut your way single enemies but harder to string multiple dashes together to efficiently move throughout a room , dispatching groups and dodging blaster fire . Hitting enemies will stun them , but not enough to actually stop them from attacking you . Each attack dents your already fragile health .
However , following each death , you are quickly deposited at the entrance at the
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