5/19/2023 0 Comments Hyper light drifter west guide![]() With a lack of guidance, it can be frustrating and is a downside of Hyper Light Drifter: Special Edition’s open-ended nature. Because of the top-down view, trees and scenery can obscure pathways completely, and you’d be forgiven for missing them entirely. Certain pathways aren’t accessible until you unlock doors or have certain abilities. With no instruction, it’s down to you to find your way, and it’s not always clear. Starting in the town at the centre of the map, you can travel North, South, East or West, with each having a different theme. The map is wide open, and it’s down to you which path you choose to travel. You’ll be challenged plenty, but with the option to select difficulty at the start of the game, various skill levels are catered to. Throw several enemy-types into the fray at once and you’re going to have to think quickly and move even faster. For example, wolves will rush in at close range, and snipers will have to reload between shots, so understanding when to attack or dodge is key. Each has a pattern of attack which is easily learnt. You have a dash move that’s essential to avoid close-range and missile attacks from the surrounding enemies. Combat moves quickly, and The Drifter has just a gun and sword in his arsenal (although abilities can be upgraded). Collect Modules to unlock areas of the map, battle enemies on the way, and overcome the final boss. Much of Hyper Light Drifter is still unknown to me in terms of who and why.The gameplay is pretty straightforward. While there is another person like your character who will aid your quest, not much is known about them or yourself. There isn’t much in the way of characters though. In each area, players are required to collect diamonds to fill out a space in the inventory three are required to reach the boss and four will reveal a small cutscene and open another door. Aside from upgrade screens, the game is basically textless with nothing explicitly telling you what you have to do, but clever placement and repetition of imagery helps teach the player what they need to know. NPCs share their information in the form of pictures, encouraging the player to decipher the meaning. The story is presented in a series of images and starts off with a full pixel art cinematic, something I can’t recall seeing anywhere else recently and it looks fantastic. I’m not sure what to say about the story. While I’m sure these will be patched in future (And may have already), it did impact my play as I died several times as a result of the first bug. During my playtime, I’ve had the screen turn a solid pink as a certain enemy fell off a cliff and the world to go black upon revival in a specific location. Unfortunately, the game still has some bugs. I imagine there will be a great sense of pride for those who love to fully complete a game, and this is definitely one of those titles. The over-world is absolutely littered with things to find and discover. ![]() What I love is the simple ability to warp from any location to one of these zones if you’ve found the warp pad. In the middle of that is the central town where you purchase upgrades and view your progress. The east is an aquatic zone and the south is a desert. To the north is a snowy mountain, to the west a forest. Each one is a drastic shift in colour that makes for a varied experience. The over-world and subterranean dungeons are excellently designed and look amazing. The music helps to establish the setting and sits in the background rather than be a bombastic addition. While I personally found some tracks were a little whiny and not my cup of tea, they were mostly offset with tracks that I loved. Hyper Light Drifter features a soft synthetic soundtrack that helps to perfectly set the mood and tone. While earlier levels aren’t boring by any means, mini-bosses would have been nice to see. They helped to break up the monotony of the level and add an extra flair of challenge. The final zone features mini-bosses and that’s something I wish the earlier levels included too. Bosses may seem intimidating at first, but after you learn their attack patterns you can make short work of them. Hyper Light Drifter manages to find that perfect sweet spot of challenging but not overwhelming.
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