Should i buy Hyper light drifter for switch?

Megax60

Member
It looks interesting, i love fast gameplay, like dead cells, so... What do you think about this game? Should i buy this? Or better save money for sm5sh
 

Roa

Member
I heard its pretty boring actually. Just watch 20 minuts of gameplay, preferably not from the start where things are slow.
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
After what I've heard and seen on YouTube I'm actually very pissed at YoYo for featuring such an awful game.

(I think it's important to clarify I don't think the game is bad I was only crapposting)
 
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I mean, I wouldn't call it "awful," lol. I didn't think it was great or anything when I tried it, but It's better than 90% of the GM games out there, and raked in tons of praise and money. Yoyo would've been crazy not to have featured such a relatively famous game - I still see people to this day saying "GM doesn't suck - Hyper Light Drifter and Undertale were made with it! It can make real games!"
 
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Sam (Deleted User)

Guest
I mean, I wouldn't call it "awful," lol. I didn't think it was great anything when I tried it, but It's better than 90% of the GM games out there, and raked in tons of praise and money. Yoyo would've been crazy not to have featured such a relatively famous game - I still see people to this day saying "GM doesn't suck - Hyper Light Drifter and Undertale were made with it! It can make real games!"
I edited my post. I was just playing along with what that other guy said by taking it a step further.
 
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Alessio

Guest
It's not an awful game per se, but it has tons of design problems. The difficulty spike between the forest stage and the boss basically a wall. Imagine a Dark Souls 2's Boss Run Mode, with DLC bosses included... imagine having to beat the toxic dragon, the Fume Knight and the Ivory King in row, without losing once. Probably even FromSoft thought that would be too much even for Dark Souls. The ones behind the thread's game didn't, they went with it as if it was acceptable. And i mentioned Dark Souls because Hyper Light Drifter implemented a lot of design features from the former, like shortcuts or Estus. Too bad Dark Souls did everyting way better.

If you care about storyline, it's even near incomprehensible, the only thing that was clear to me was the typical "muh feels" at the beginning of the last area, the rest was overly cryptical and didn't even give lore or mechanic explanations as Dark Souls did.

And then we have the 800 Dash Challenge... who in the holy heaven does think that was a good idea??? Patience tests in games are NEVER a good idea.

And last, even if it might be a matter of taste... hipster graphics. Got sick of it. There are better Game Maker games out there.
 
And then we have the 800 Dash Challenge... who in the holy heaven does think that was a good idea??? Patience tests in games are NEVER a good idea.
I basically agree with your post, but I don't get this... this is completely optional content to get basically nothing, so who cares? If you don't want to do it, just don't do it, no?

I understand when people complain that something about the core game sucks, because that stuff affects everyone who plays the game. I don't get when people complain about side quests and stuff, though... their whole point is that you can completely skip them if you want to without really affecting your game.

::shrug::
 
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Alessio

Guest
his is completely optional content to get basically nothing, so who cares?
If you want to make a quality game, that kind of stuff is NOT acceptable even for completely optional stuff, especially when it's something awfully boring and hard. It's a clearly bad design choice even for something completely optional, because even optional stuff are supposed to be fun and engaging, not deliberately boring and frustrating. Good luck doing that 800 Dash Challenge on consoles. If you created a stage that most players actively avoid like pest, then you probably committed a mistake. Optional stuff is supposed to be like "well, this isn't needed to progress but i want to see more". The optional stuff should engage the player, give them an opportunity to gain access to additional features that make the game easier or more interesting (something that the first Dark Souls gets right most of the time), it should not mock the player for not wanting to endure a patience test. I get the feeling that certain designer want to be "recognized" for implementing insanely difficult challenges in their games, but they end up being criticized instead. Maybe the devs didn't even test that challenge before, and if that is what happened, that's lame.

If you want to show a novice game designer what NOT to do in a video game, show them the 800 Dash Challenge. I contest this because we need to let devs know that these mechanics are awful and should not be encouraged.
 
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@Alessio: You haven't said *WHY* games can't have purposefully annoying or boring side things in them, though. So I'll ask again: why can't devs add purposefully ridiculous extra things to their games for the people who actually will get some kind of enjoyment out of trying to beat them? How the hell does the completely optional 800 dash challenge affect you or hurt your experience in the game when you have no obligation or reason to beat it?

If there was a huge magical buffet out there that was full of all the most incredible food in the world, I would call it the best restaurant in the world, because it has all the best food in the world.

If that buffet then added a smaller wing to the side where they offered experimental food that most people found terrible, but some people enjoyed, I wouldn't go "oh, huff puff! This restaurant has committed a grave mistake by including optional food most people hate! They're only an 8/10, now, instead of a 10/10!", because they'd still be serving the best food in the world, so why the hell would I care wtf they try in their side wings?!
 
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Alessio

Guest
why can't devs add purposefully ridiculous extra things to their games for the people who actually will get some kind of enjoyment out of trying to beat them? How the hell does the completely optional 800 dash challenge affect you or hurt your experience in the game when you have no obligation or reason to beat it?
Because no such kind of people exists. Mind, also, that the game got it's good dose of criticism because of its badly implemented difficulty. Also, the stupid challenge there blocks an outfit that doubles your stamina. It's not necessary but blocking features behind something so inappetible and frustrating that would infuriate even Jesus Christ? It's an objectively bad design choices, it's annoying and nobody will tell you they liked it.

But i didn't say "they can't do that", they can, but this doesn't imply "freedom of criticisms". I didn't know criticizing devs for bad design was seen as mean here.

f that buffet then added a smaller wing to the side where they offered experimental food that most people found terrible, but some people enjoyed, I wouldn't go "oh, huff puff! This restaurant has committed a grave mistake by including optional food most people hate! They're only an 8/10, now, instead of a 10/10!", because they'd still be serving the best food in the world, so why the hell would I care wtf they try in their side wings?!
If i was a restaurateur, had included a certain dish and found out that most people hated it... keeping it would just be a waste and wouldn't make sense. Doing otherwise means not being a good restaurateur. Also, you should make realistic analogies, i don't wanna talk about "magic buffets" because no such thing exists.

@Alessio I thought you were joking. It's interesting to see so many strong opinions going in both directions over a game that pretty much kicks your average Indie's a** hands down.
No, i wasn't. Disappoint? In all seriousness, calling out objectively bad design choices in games is not even having a strong opinions, doesn't matter if it's a game that "stands out among other Indies", even because there are other games that do that and are way better than this. The rest is a matter of tastes (besides the 800 Dash crap, nobody likes that and the ones who tell you they liked that are just lying in order to taunt people. Most people who did that used either keybord macros or spacebar with mouse cursor).
 
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Alessio

Guest
I liked it. It might even be my favorite part of Hyper Light Drifter. There.
You're lying, but i don't give a crap. You might be the only one in the web who says that (even because you're quite common here as someone actively trying to piss people off for the sake of it, i see that in other threads and that's not a pretty thing to do, See, people aren't stupid, they know what does "trolling" mean) because nowhere i've seen players saying good things about that horribly implemented minigame (even their fandom wiki suggests to cheat using macros or keyboards if possible).

"hurr durr i liked it Alessio is dumb! I love to repeteadly press spacebar for 1000 times, it's so fun and engaging!!!"
 
@Alessio: I wasn't lying, so the time you spent typing out that idiotic response was a waste, sorry. ):

There are threads around the net of people sharing advice, stories, and videos about the challenge, too, so it's not like I'm the only one. I know it's an unbelievable idea that other people might enjoy things that you dislike, but try your best to imagine it anyway.
 

ElectroMan

Jack of All Shades
"hurr durr i liked it Alessio is dumb! I love to repeteadly press spacebar for 1000 times, it's so fun and engaging!!!"
Nope. The reason you're being criticized is for the arrogant position of yours in projecting your own preferences onto everyone else in an absolutist and objective manner.
 

JacobV

Member
Honestly I think Hyper Light is a fantastic game, but it likely wouldn't be for everyone. Its story, ambience, and music are both very subtle, and the art is obviously amazing. I personally feel it starts to drop off slightly when it comes to combat; feedback is all great, but there's sometimes a sense of clunkiness when it comes to dashing and input saving. The world is fun to explore, with an absurd amount of secrets (Although, said secrets usually don't grant you any special or meaningful rewards, which is unfortunate.) If none of that sounds like something you'd like, then you almost certainly wouldn't enjoy it.
 
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Lithalean

Guest
Switch eShop = Garbage Edition.
I'll buy it... when I can hold it in my hand!
 
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Alessio

Guest
Nope. The reason you're being criticized is for the arrogant position of yours in projecting your own preferences onto everyone else in an absolutist and objective manner.
I'm not projecting anything to anyone. This is only on Steam. Almost everyone shares my same concern and most players use tricks with keyboards and macros to get past that bad thing easily. I don't write my post on baseless arguments, therefore don't treat me like a moron and don't call others arrogand only because you can, thanks.

If you like horribly implemented mechanics it's your business but you can't be hostile to anyone who says something you don't like. That's actual arrogance.

I wasn't lying, so the time you spent typing out that idiotic response was a waste, sorry. ):
"idiotic". Do you really think you can deliberately insult anyone and get away with it? You seem like you don't agree with these principles, you attack anyone you don't agree with insults and sarcasm (not even the first time), something i DIDN'T do here.

At this point there is nothing to debate about, this discussion is onesided, in the sense that i tried to explain my position, you only attacked me in turn and tried to make me look like someone who only wants to rant.
 
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flerpyderp

Member
"idiotic". Do you really think you can deliberately insult anyone and get away with it? Stop being a smart aleck. You seem like you don't agree with these principles and like to make these forums toxic, you attack anyone you don't agree with, something i DIDN'T do.
Are you pretending that the post he was replying to doesn't exist?

"hurr durr i liked it Alessio is dumb! I love to repeteadly press spacebar for 1000 times, it's so fun and engaging!!!"
 

Megax60

Member
-Makes a thread of a game
-checks back 2 days later
-tons of garbage in the comments

800 dashes?? What if i told you i have all fiends on smt4, you know how to unlock A SINGLE FIEND?! Its just cancer (and optional).
you must enter a room, and there is a 1/256 chance for the fiend to appear, if it didn't, leave the room and enter again, do that some 200 - 500 times and you'll get one, out of 8.
You must wait like 15 seconds to repeat.

FINAL VEREDICT: i'll buy it
Pd:if that makes you angry, well, go play undertale or stuff
 
@flerpyderp: Thank you. Exactly what I was going to say. He calls me a liar and then adds "hurr durr galaxybrain.jpg" to my quote, but that's not insulting while calling that particular post idiotic is? What? :\

Don't worry about it, @Alessio. Like whatever you want. My only point in this thread is nobody HAS to do this extra content if they don't enjoy it. It's there for the masochists who do.
 

woodsmoke

Member
The art is truly amazing. But the gameplay isn't for me. I'll just enjoy screenshots for now and maybe buy it in a few years when it's -90% off.
 
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Misu

Guest
You buy a game that has worthy gameplay; not by its mesmirizing artistic style. Videogames are not tv series where it makes you become a potatoe staring at the screen. Games are for coordinations and challenges. If the gameplay is not good then there is no reason to buy this game at all (not even if its for a single cent)
 

woodsmoke

Member
I would find enjoyment with the amazing art, even if I find the gameplay meh. But the full (or half) price is too high for just that. I guess I could watch a lets play like a potato but I think the artist should get at least a little bit of $$.
 

chance

predictably random
Forum Staff
Moderator
You buy a game that has worthy gameplay; not by its mesmirizing artistic style.
<snip>
Games are for coordinations and challenges.
I'm not very coordinated (with games, at least). So as @melerski said, I might buy for the art if it were outstanding.

But I suspect most gamers would agree with you.
 
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Deleted member 13992

Guest
I loved the game! One of my favorites of the last couple years. Loved the gameplay/mechanics, the focus on exploration and discovery, the ambiguity of the lore, the music, the world building, the art, etc. It's definitely skill-based (you're not going to beat the game by blindly mashing buttons). And carefully paying attention to the environment is also part of the challenge, since there are a lot of secrets.

Not for everyone though. Looking at this thread and I see I'm in the minority, at least on here. It's not an objectively bad game though, I know plenty of people who also love it, so it's a matter of taste.

The 800 dash thing is difficult, but completely optional as a bonus challenge. So I don't know why it got dropped in this thread as a pretext for not buying it. That's like deciding not to buy a car because you don't like the paintjob on the walls of the factory it was built in.

Fantastic game.
 
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Misty

Guest
Honestly I think Hyper Light is a fantastic game, but it likely wouldn't be for everyone. Its story, ambience, and music are both very subtle, and the art is obviously amazing. I personally feel it starts to drop off slightly when it comes to combat; feedback is all great, but there's sometimes a sense of clunkiness when it comes to dashing and input saving. The world is fun to explore, with an absurd amount of secrets (Although, said secrets usually don't grant you any special or meaningful rewards, which is unfortunate.) If none of that sounds like something you'd like, then you almost certainly wouldn't enjoy it.
I never played it, but looking from the videos, the combat is good, and the art is bad.

The color scheme is weird and sickening. This is objective. He was terminally ill and the whole theme of the game is supposed to be coughing up blood and feeling sick. The art style was meant to make you feel sick.
 

Megax60

Member
I never played it, but looking from the videos, the combat is good, and the art is bad.

The color scheme is weird and sickening. This is objective. He was terminally ill and the whole theme of the game is supposed to be coughing up blood and feeling sick. The art style was meant to make you feel sick.
What did you say about the art style
 
What did you say about the art style
I agree with him, to be honest. I'll admit that what they did was technically pretty well done (because it was, obviously, and because it was very unique looking for a pixel art game when it came out), but the art style makes me feel slightly un-easy and sick if I think about it too long, too. I really didn't like it. I really don't like a lot of new pixel art, because everyone has decided to move away from nice natural, realistic colors, and turn everything neon teal and purple. Bleh. Very much not for me. For me, the art was the worst thing about HLD. Combat was the best thing, like Misty guessed from the video.
 
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Deleted member 13992

Guest
I mean, in our position (making pixel art games), we can't really say HLD's art is objectively bad because it's using "wrong" colors, right?

The roots of pixel art is technically the result of hardware limitations, back then unwanted. Now it's an enjoyable style. Not everyone likes it, but that's okay too. Not everyone's supposed to.

I think same can be said for HLD's art palette. You call it "sickly" or clashing, I call it having its roots in 60s-80s psychedelia, with a modern take. Not for everyone, but you can't just say an artstyle is "objectively" bad. Art doesn't deal with objectivity.

If art was constrained by objectivity, we'd still just be doing renaissance paintings.
 
Nah-uh. It looks better than HLD. You can tell because it made more money and had louder fans

and HLD didn't even have gote mom. just a bunch od enemies and imigery it ripped off from Evangelion, lol
 

flerpyderp

Member
You know what game has bad art style?
Undertale (except for the combat, they look great)
Disagreed. It has an amateur, almost childlike aesthetic, and to great effect. It's consistent, despite using multiple styles throughout the game, and the sprites all convey the characters perfectly. It is common to excuse bad art with the justification of "charm", but I think in the case of Undertale, "bad art" is not a suitable description. An actual bad artist would not have managed to convey what is successfully conveyed in Undertale's art. Before anyone starts posting individual sprites to point out how ugly they might look, I'd argue that is a flawed way to judge a game's overall style.

I'm aware of Undertale's fanbase of obnoxious zealots, and I'm certainly not part of it. I did however think it was a cool game with a cool style, and was very well done in terms of overall atmosphere and style, primarily attributable to the writing, followed by the music and then finally the art direction.
 
@flerpyderp: I appreciate the defense of what I think is a great and great-looking game, but I think Mega's post might've been a little facetious. I took his "everything looks bad, except the combat" to be a parody of Misty's post that said the same thing about HLD. Maybe I'm wrong and reading into it too much, though - I don't know why he'd pick Undertale specifically, unless Misty is a fan or he actually dislikes the art...

Anyway, I agree with you. Undertale's art was extremely charming, and fit the game perfectly.
 

Megax60

Member
Nah-uh. It looks better than HLD. You can tell because it made more money and had louder fans

and HLD didn't even have gote mom. just a bunch od enemies and imigery it ripped off from Evangelion, lol
it looks better because it has more fans?(99% kids), well i guess people have different tastes, i like more HLD art style.

I think that art is the best toby could do, he didn't even know how to program, and didn't know how to make sprites
but seriously dude, are you telling me this:

looks better than this?!
 
HLD is a great game, buy it!
Is it cool to hate HLD on these forums?
Mmmm....count the number of unique people in this thread, and then count how many of them said anything especially negative about the game - it was only like one out of ten people, so I don't think there's any big conspiracy against HLD on the GMC, lol.
We're game designers, though. We're going to be more critical of games than the average public, which is why the whole thread isn't gushing over an 8/10 (Metacritic) game that was extremely overhyped on release.

I think some people are suspiciously over-critical of it, though. I think they're probably jelly-bellies...the game made a lot of money.
 

Jabbers

Member
Gosh, is the negativity about HLD serious? It's a beautifully made, well received, critically praised product that has literally won awards for it's visuals, and enjoys broadly positive reviews, and yet there are people here complaining about the art and the gameplay... right.

Opinion is opinion I guess, but there are some very unfounded, unqualified, laughable ones in this thread. I can't tell how much of the posts here are serious but something stinks of amateur jealousy.

We're game designers, though. We're going to be more critical of games than the average public, which is why the whole thread isn't gushing over an 8/10 (Metacritic) game that was extremely overhyped on release.
Eh, downplaying it. Several reputable gaming publications have given it high scores and 94% of the 8500 odd reviews on Steam by gamers are positive. It's hard to wonder what motivates some of the teenage "game designers" on the forum to denounce it. I understand you don't need to be able to make games to criticise them, and an opinion on gameplay is subjective, but yeesh, you have to really dig to moan about this product.

Anyone remember when the GM community would celebrate GM games that did well? What happened to that... are we big enough that nobody cares anymore?
 
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Eh, downplaying it. Several reputable gaming publications have given it high scores and 94%
How is it downplaying it? The game literally has a low eight average on Metacritic. That makes it a low eight game, whether you like it or not. Or should we go ahead and say that you're up-playing the game, because some publications gave it 5/10s?
Maybe, but let's just say it's an 8/10 game, because that's what it is according to the largest game review aggregator/averager on the planet. I mentioned where I got my number in the statement you quoted from me though, so I'm not sure how you think I'm being unfair with that number anyway though, hahah.
It's hard to wonder what motivates some of the mature, handsome, and skilled game designers who are making better games than me on the forum to denounce it.
Could be jealousy! Or it could just be that like the reviewers who gave the game poor scores, they just don't think it's a very good game. Choose whichever one makes you more comfortable, and hold on tight to that opinion! ;)

Anyone remember when the GM community would celebrate GM games that did well? What happened to that... are we big enough that nobody cares anymore?
Short answer: yes.

Long answer: yes, it seems that way. Definitely the case for me, at least. I know I don't get excited about GM games doing well anymore. The engine's been good enough to make pro games with for years now, so it doesn't surprise or excite me when successful games are made with the engine.

Now, if someone I talked to and followed here on the GMC went and got rich with one of their games, I'd be ecstatic for them. That has nothing to do with GM, though. That's just me getting excited for a friend. I'd feel the same way no matter what engine they were using.
 
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Jabbers

Member
Maybe, but let's just say it's an 8/10 game, because that's what it is according to the largest game review aggregator/averager on the planet. I mentioned where I got my number in the statement you quoted from me though, so I'm not sure how you think I'm being unfair with that number anyway though, hahah.
I'm more interested in the breakdown of reviews. On Metacritic, 43 are positive and 4 are mixed. No negatives. The user review breakdown is a little less kind, with a person giving it a 1 star because they think it is too hard.

It's not what you mentioned, but what you didn't. Meanwhile, out of several thousand reviews on Steam, there is a 94% positive rating at this time. According to Wikipedia, Eurogamer, Destructoid, Game Informer, Gamespot, and The Escapist give it an almost perfect rating (9, 9.5, and 5/5), with some more conservative reviews on IGN, PC Gamer, and Polygon (7.6, 78%, 8.5). That's a damn fine effort and much more worthy of the "meh" attitude coming from the bedroom coder community.

Heres a thing: I don't care a great deal about the game myself. I'm also not trying to suggest anyone here shouldn't criticise the game, or that they are wrong. I'm sure there are many aspects of the game that can be picked apart, and many more which are based on subjective design decisions. It may be that the criticism in this thread is objectively more thoughtful and "true" than all of the player reviews and critics combined, but I for one don't have the nerve to think I know better than a product which has done better than anything I've worked on. And it just feels like we've got a load of beginner painters criticising museum paintings right here while they fumble with their beginner watercolour set.
 
I'm more interested in the breakdown of reviews.
You can be interested in whatever you want. It doesn't change the fact that the game is an 8/10 game on Metacritic, which means it's an 8/10 game by reviewer standards. That's not bad, but it's not especially impressive, either. I personally didn't think the game was anything special, either. ::shrug::

That's a damn fine effort and much more worthy of the "meh" attitude coming from the bedroom coder community.
A "meh" game is a "meh" game, no matter who is judging it. The guy who made HLD was a "bedroom coder" before he released his game. After he released it, he became a guy who made a ton of money on a decent but extremely over-hyped game. You can worship him and his work if you want to, but I (and others, apparently) are going to pass. I like my game more than HLD already, and it's only 20% finished - why would I be star-struck by someone just because they released their game before me? I know what I'm making, and I've seen what HLD has to offer.
but I for one don't have the nerve to think I know better than a product which has done better than anything I've worked on.
It doesn't take a chef to know when food tastes like 💩💩💩💩. Or, if you prefer, consider Da Vinci's musings that it doesn't take an artist to tell when the human form looks wrong in a drawing (iirc).

Keep improving. Believe in yourself, and work up the nerve to look at superior work honestly and to take it apart. You don't have to worship creators or games just because they're better than you, and there's nothing disrespectful about being honest about a game. Until then, stop projecting - some of us legitimately just find HLD unexciting! That doesn't mean we're jealous, hahah! :p
 
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