Hyper Light Drifter |OT| We On A HyperLight Beam

Yesssss yesssss! More people buy this! Experience the perfection! Then the devs will give me my sequel!

What a wonderful surprise for all this patch is.
 
Just got this now that the 60fps update is out and it's 33% off on Steam.

First impressions are really damn good, just killed the North boss and got my first upgrades. Combat is so damn satisfying!

I'm so glad that more people are getting to experience this game. It's the best game that nobody played this year :(

It's my GOTY by far.
 
NOPE

60FPS BOYZZZZZ

BOSS RUSH BOYZZZZ
This shit just got so real for me. What a great update. The game itself is really, really good. Hopefully the ps4 version gets the goods soon. Running through this without a guide was a great experience, and really touched that old school exploration nerve I've been craving. The framerate boost will certainly help with combat, but damn will it look so much better now.
 
OMG 60 fps is GLORIOUS. It is kinda validating for the dev though that 60fps and 30fps feel much the same from a gameplay perspective, but the smooth scrolling... swoon.
 
Is anyone getting an issue where the screen suddenly turns flat colour while running in 60fps? Seems to happen when enemies are charge stabbed into a wall...
 
I am playing this game these days, it's really, really good.
Save for that awful soccer-style mini game, that is beyond terrible IMHO.
 
Any chance 60fps will come to PS4? I was holding out for the Vita port but now that that's cancelled I figured I'd get PS4 on a sale and use remote play. The update and sale is pushing me towards PC though.
 
I'm guessing I'm about halfway through the game right now (two bosses down) and I gotta say this. I've seen this game described as a "mixture of Zelda and X" being X either Bastion or Transistor.

While the Bastion comparisons are spot on, so far the Zelda comparisons have been really bothering me. Sure there's an exploration part but whenever I hear Zelda I associate it with dungeons and puzzles, so far all of the exploration of the game has been limited to "check if you can walk through that suspicious wall".

Which doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying it, I've been having a blast. The combat is very polished and I love that it seems that you have to actually build your character according to your taste, as the currency seem to be limited. It's just that I feel like I jumped on something different from what was expected.

PS: boss battles have been SO cool.
 
I'm guessing I'm about halfway through the game right now (two bosses down) and I gotta say this. I've seen this game described as a "mixture of Zelda and X" being X either Bastion or Transistor.

While the Bastion comparisons are spot on, so far the Zelda comparisons have been really bothering me. Sure there's an exploration part but whenever I hear Zelda I associate it with dungeons and puzzles, so far all of the exploration of the game has been limited to "check if you can walk through that suspicious wall".

Which doesn't mean I haven't been enjoying it, I've been having a blast. The combat is very polished and I love that it seems that you have to actually build your character according to your taste, as the currency seem to be limited. It's just that I feel like I jumped on something different from what was expected.

PS: boss battles have been SO cool.

Yeah, that's understandable. I get that feeling more with the Dark Souls comparisons. There's one boss in this game that kinda feels like a 2D DkS boss, but otherwise... I think it references the challenging combat, but there were plenty of tough games in the 8/16 bit days.
 
well this game is fucking awesome.

saw the OP when it came out and thought it looked very cool, totally spaced that it came to consoles a few months ago, and just looked it up and found out like yesterday. bought it and went in almost completely blind. im a good 30 minutes in now and i love it.

no idea where im going or what im doing yet. hopefully it will come to me and i dont need to use a guide if i get stuck. im just winging it for now. getting used to the combat which is fun, and exploring. havent gotten stuck yet. a few rooms have already taught me the value of dodge timing and basically trained me on combat. good stuff.

and it has a dedicated sit button. fuck yes.
 
yep totally stuck. been wandering for an hour or more now.

and i finally figure out how to get back to home. found a whole other place to get lost in. finally found the shops for the first time too and did a few upgrades.

fun
 
So quick question without being spoiled I hope. So I am missing 2 guns, 1 key thing, and one of those weird message stone things(Love my names?). None of these things are ... I'll spoiler it just to be safe.
None of them are in what I assume will be the final zone right? And do I get anything for doing the enemy rush things in the town?
 
Are there any comparisons between the Xbox and ps4 versions?

I have both and the Xbox One version is the one to get right now. The PS4 version stutters through many of the areas, while on Xbox One, there are only occasional loading hitches.

When the 60fps patch comes out for consoles in the near future, things might be different though.
 
With the 60fps patch, I figured I'd finally play give NG+ a go.

Most attacks are one-hit kills now that you only have two health points, and both bosses that I've beaten so far are nothing BUT THAT.

The northern boss in particular was extremely frustrating. NG+ is just exacerbating every issue I had with HLD's game design:
  • no enemy stagger
  • no i-frames after you get hit
  • very little enemy telegraphy, if any
  • annoying control input for your special dash moves
  • weird dash timing
  • too much recovery time between your moves

When you have to play perfectly or near perfectly, everything I mentioned becomes exponentially worse. The northern boss represents everything that I disliked about this game. He has half a dozen different moves and all of them have the exact same startup animation, meaning it's impossible to know beforehand what he's gonna do, you only know what's gonna happen almost right when they're going to hit. The fucked up dashing timing messes me up often when I'm trying to evade, the stress of having to flawlessly defeat a boss fight makes it almost impossible to input multiple dashes correctly. Visually some the boss's moves are confusing, I don't know when is it safe and when is it not. One of the more useful moves here is the slash dash, except that to execute it you have to quickly input dash after attack, with a window of I swear less than 500ms. If you 're too slow, you end up doing a regular sword attack, which will get you killed. If you do it too quick, you end up doing another special move, which will probably get you killed too. I spent like an hour with this fucking guy. :|

Having to play perfectly makes this game an insanely frustrating affair during bosses. Only giving you two health blocks in NG+ is just a really poor idea for this game. The game sure looks nice at 60fps, but it's definitely not making the game as easier to play as I thought it might. Its issues are rooted elsewhere after all. It's still fun but I feel like I'm fighting the game design itself as much as the enemies in the game sometimes.
 
Agreed. I felt no reason to complete NG+ specifically because the bosses are so demanding. East, sure, I can take care of that. But two bars on the North and South? Nah. Just nah.

It's funny how things are sometimes. Just beat the northern boss on my second try, lol. :P

NG+ is often a frustrating experience, but it's still enjoyable. My most feared enemies are the tiny robots that swarm you hahaha.
 
Finally completed the game after taking a few months off. Lovely experience all around; one of my favorites of 2016 for sure. I can't remember the last time I felt my heart actually accelerate during a final boss (
the constricting sound design and visual effects during the final quarter of the encounter may have contributed to that feeling
). In contrast, the ending's
imagery was evocative and beautiful.
 
I am playing this game these days, it's really, really good.
Save for that awful soccer-style mini game, that is beyond terrible IMHO.

Hey even I did that. You just have to find a way to exploit it, lol. You get things for winning, too. But yeah it's not too developed, just a ''fun'' side thing.

60 fps is godsend and I can't fathom taking on the final boss without it. But then I managed to beat every boss but the two final ones at 30 fps so it may not be that broken. In glad I had a reason to replay this (actually finishing it) when the patch came. Replayed from the beginning. SO GOOD.
 
I am playing this game these days, it's really, really good.
Save for that awful soccer-style mini game, that is beyond terrible IMHO.
Here's how you win:
get the ball just to the point before the goalie will actually move for it and slightly higher than the vertical midline of the field (so he moves to the upper end of the goal) and then dash into it diagonally so that it goes for the lower end of the goal. The goalie won't be able to get it, and you can repeat the process until you win.
 
Did the patch ever hit GOG :/

I keep checking, and so far I'm not seeing it.

I'm getting to a point where I feel like I should just buy my games only on Steam. DRM-Free is nice and all, but why do developers release games there if they're not going to bother keeping them up to date.
 
Here's how you win:
get the ball just to the point before the goalie will actually move for it and slightly higher than the vertical midline of the field (so he moves to the upper end of the goal) and then dash into it diagonally so that it goes for the lower end of the goal. The goalie won't be able to get it, and you can repeat the process until you win.

I eventually did win a game, but how is that supposed to be fun (even using your cheat/advice I mean)?
It would have been cool to have a proper, functional and fun mini-game, not something like that. And even the fact you found a way to exploit things tells you how un-fun and poorly designed that game is. ;)
 
I eventually did win a game, but how is that supposed to be fun (even using your cheat/advice I mean)?
It would have been cool to have a proper, functional and fun mini-game, not something like that. And even the fact you found a way to exploit things tells you how un-fun and poorly designed that game is. ;)
Yeah, it's stupid. Even if you were to do this exploit, your execution has to be on point because if you flub your shot, you'll probably lose the point, as the opponent is way faster than you. I wasn't trying to have fun with it, though; I just wanted to quickly win and get the prize.
 
The 60 FPS version is only available on Windows so far. My guess is that they want to finish the Linux/Mac version before they eventually submit it to GOG.
 
My Drifter plush just arrived.

D0HwzvL.jpg
 
Finally finished NG+ with all shards and challenge rooms completed. It was often an incredible pain in the neck, since most everything kills you in one hit. But abusing slash dash (plus the dash challenge bonus) is a huge help, and actually feels pretty cool once you get in a groove.

Still though, several moments are beyond frustrating on NG+. It's doable, but I'm not sure I'd recommend this mode. :P

Still enjoyed the game and I look forward to whatever else Heart Machine makes.
 
In the latest backer email (received 3 days ago) regarding the 60fps update:

We will be bringing this to other platforms (Humble, GOG, Mac+Linux) ASAP. We're still working out some kinks, as you can imagine the amount of labor that has gone into this requires some significant time to settle any remaining bugs.
We're also planning to release the update on PS4 and Xbox One as soon as we can. These will take a bit more testing and must go through the rigors of the Sony and MS patching routine, which always takes more time.

I'll keep folks up to date, as usual, on developments for specific platforms.

I'll look forward to playing this again on PS4 when the 60fps patch is out.
 
It's good to hear the patch is coming out to PS4. I'm in the middle of gathering keys, outfits etc in NG+ so think I'll just wait to do the rest until the patch comes out.
 
I just started playing this a few days ago and have to ask if I just need to git gud or if the window for the double dodge/dash move is just incredibly tight. I've really focused on the timing and it almost seems as it if just randomly doesn't work. I know that's not the case but how tight can the button press window be?

I went West/Left first and am currently stuck at the boss and the last crystal shard or whatever they are. The boss is frustrating the piss out of me right now and I'm about to just say fuck it.

I enjoy the world and atmosphere a lot but something about the controls and combat system feels clunky or off to me, I can't put my finger on it. I realize there's a cool-down after three hits and so on but even with all that, something about it just doesn't feel right to me.

Gaming lords need to give me strength to not give up on this one.
 
Beat the east boss first to grab a killer weapon and use the nodes you've gathered for more upgrades like the "reflect shot with sword swipe" or "dashing negates projectile".

West is admittedly no easy pickle.
 
Beat the east boss first to grab a killer weapon and use the nodes you've gathered for more upgrades like the "reflect shot with sword swipe" or "dashing negates projectile".

West is admittedly no easy pickle.

Thanks. Yeah, my next move was to give up on him for now and go another direction actually. I'm mainly wondering if the combat becomes more...I don't know, responsive, less stiff or something with upgrades? It feels too stiff, that may be the word I was looking for earlier. I'll see I guess.
 
Thanks. Yeah, my next move was to give up on him for now and go another direction actually. I'm mainly wondering if the combat becomes more...I don't know, responsive, less stiff or something with upgrades? It feels too stiff, that may be the word I was looking for earlier. I'll see I guess.

The game is very timing based, especially when it comes to dash. If you button mash or mistime the dashes in combat, it will delay other actions, which is what the "stiff" feeling is. When you're in rhythm though, combat feels very responsive.
 
The game is very timing based, especially when it comes to dash. If you button mash or mistime the dashes in combat, it will delay other actions, which is what the "stiff" feeling is. When you're in rhythm though, combat feels very responsive.

Sat down yesterday and beat 'West' boss after another three tries, total of probably twelve tries all set and done. After being less pissed off and just taking my time, the game got a lot easier when playing it more relax and focused...pretty much what happens to me with the Souls games.

I completely understand what you said regarding what I perceive as "stiffness". I have it down more but still find the dodge timing to be almost absurdly unforgiving. I do stuff like tap my foot with combos sometimes (music background) to get the timing down and even with that, I can get the double dash reliably only about 70% of the time. This tactic has worked for ages for me I have to add.

Anyway, it's not a huge problem really just something that bugged me while already frustrated with the boss. Now that I beat him, it's all gravy of course and I really dig the game again...shocking I know.

It did take me ages to finally figure out how to get to the last shard in the West which I appreciated.
 
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