Kickstarter really is the golden boy of the indie-go-go crowd, and it’s easy to see why. Check out Hyper Light Drifter, a retro-style 2D action RPG which has already smashed past its funding goal. According to its developer Heart Machine, the game “plays like the best parts of Zelda: A Link to the Past and Diablo”.
Here’s the premise: Players take on the role of Drifters, collectors of forgotten technologies and history scouring the land for hints of a time before ours. As one of these Drifters, players have been afflicted with an insatiable illness, forced to delve ever deeper into the lands of Buried Time where treasures await. Hopefully, there is a cure somewhere, someplace, deep inside where the echoes of dark, violent and distant past eras resonate and seek to claim his life.
Fights look to combine both long and short-ranged combat, with a survivalist element from scrounging up battery packs to power deadly armaments such as battle rifles, light rail pistols and more. Getting around the map looks to be a cinch too, with a promised triple(!!)-dash system to help get past overhangs or zip around the battlefield. And that pixel art style is beautiful, sleek and entirely hand drawn.
Developer Heart Machine is working alongside Beau Blyth (Creators of the indie title Samurai Gunn out on PC later this year and showcased at Evo 2013) on programming and mechanics. Disasterpeace aka Rich Vreeland (Music composer for other indie titles such as Fez, Shoot Many Robots and Penny Arcade) will be doing music.
Hyper Light Drifter promises full controller support and will initially be out for the PC, with Mac, Linux, with stretch goals for PS4 and Vita support, if they are met. It is estimated to be out sometime mid-2014 and there are still a few days left to get in on the action.
Published: Sep 16, 2013 10:15 am