Hyper Light Drifter (PC: Now, PS4/Vita/Xbox: Summer '16)

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Oh mans, another friggin' awesome Kickstarter project that just hit 10,000 backers & got their stretch goal for PS4/Vita release. Details here: http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1661802484/hyper-light-drifter



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Pre-Alpha Combat Preview

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PC Release by the end of this month!!!!




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This game is really fun and mysterious, but JEEZIS FUCKING GOD, the boss fights are rough. I've beat the North and West ones after about a kajillion attempts each, but man. oh. man. are they rewarding once you finally kick the shit out of them.




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I managed the boss fight to the East without almost any trouble (nailed it on my second try). I've also started to learn how much there is hidden EVERYWHERE. There are little cues that you'll stumble upon because of your Sprite companion, Sometimes you'll notice a tiny little change in the world that you can interact with or walk through, and still other subtle audio cues that help in leading to hidden areas. Going back through dungeons once you've happened upon how those things work and know how to look for them is super rewarding.

The one thing I'm a little sad about is that the timing for quicker dashing is really tough to pull off in any practical way. Despite practicing it in the dash arena and getting 1124 consecutive ones, it didn't do much (especially since I did it with a keyboard to get the unlock from it at 800).

Overall, as things go on, you start to learn the pace is really methodical, and getting greedy and aggressive gets you dead. Occasionally you'll get tossed into a totally frantic room full of enemies, but it's up to you to sort it all out, and find a way to deal with it.

It feels like I'm finally hitting the real meat of the game, and I'm just starting to crack into the mystery of what all's going on. Pretty impressive still for a game with absolutely zero spoken or written dialogue.




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Pretty sure I 100% cleared the East. I had ta look up one little thing for a secret pathway I couldn't find, but I was close, & I'd've missed it otherwise, so I still feel pretty damn good about it. Now I'm contemplating which region to scour over next, since I kinda feel like attempting to 100% things before heading back South, though I'm not totally sure about that yet.

Also, found out that there's a Steam achievement for this game that's nuts — beating the game without ever dying. But… while that's probably the ultimate challenge, I also found out that NG+ gives you 2 health instead of 5. And the (currently) KickStarer exclusive NG Alt is a completely new character, but she only has 3 health. She's gonna be what I go for after I beat this.

Time for me to "git gud" apparently.


I am really stoked to see if the speed running community gets into this game, 'cause dear GODS I wanna watch some people who're amazing at this do playthroughs once I've beat it.




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[Geostigma]

I'm getting my ass royally handed to me by the bird boss and it's the most fun I've had since I played Dark Souls for the first time.

I get him to low health consistently but still manage to get caught in his column attack lol


edit:

NVM just beat lol

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Also i get the feeling this game is great for speed running. I'm gonna have to check out the subs after i beat this to see if there are any decent times for this game yet. Game is gorgeous too. Easily one of my new favorites.

 

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The North Bird Boss is the one I had the hardest time with. LOTS of death, but slowly working out his patterns finally let me beat him (with a little luck, too). I'm stoked that you're playing this too, especially so that this thread isn't just my own mini-rant. *^^*

That being said, the weapon you get is also the sidearm that I've kept through the whole game as an alternate to your other gun. Nothing's made me give up that combo, so all the death and hardship right out the door was 100% worth it!

Also, I'm curious which upgrades you'll end up going for. It's been really interesting slowly trying them out and figuring out which ones I've really liked, and which ones are just ok.

EDIT: Grats!!




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[Geostigma]

So far the only upgrade I have is the dash strike one you get from the left hand side shop.

It's the only upgrade I could afford and I went for it because I figured it might string together with the basic dash so I can move around the map much faster.

Which it does I can zoom around the map with these 2 fairly well xD Other then that though I haven't been able to purchase any other upgrades lol

 

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That's the Attack+Dash one, and not the Dash+Attack one, yeah? I don't have either, but I think that the Attack+Dash will be the next one I get. Upgrading is slow, since Gearbits aren't common but really rewarding to get them, so it makes you pick your options carefully.

So far I've got:
• Extra ammo for the main Drifter gun - extra handy.
• Extra ammo for the Sniper/Rail gun you get from the Bird boss - also extra handy.
• Special Attack (grenade) x2 - Really good way to clear out big groups of weak guys.
• Combo Dash - necessary for some secret areas & got me my alt costume.
• Dash Block - Sometimes useful.
• 1 extra health potion slot (pretty helpful in some of the challenge/hidden areas).
• Projectile deflect - super, SUPER useful.
• Heavy Attack - JUST got it, and it seems ok. Might help in the South.


Any idea which direction you're gonna head next?




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[Geostigma]

Special Attack (grenade) x2 - Really good way to clear out big groups of weak guys


Projectile deflect - super, SUPER useful.

I need these 2 so bad. I might head to the water area. I think it was the south? I forgot lol. I went there first and got about 2 triangles opened up but ran into an area with like 15 shuriken frogs which i just could not pass at the time and ended up going north to bird land out of frustration lol.

Imma head back and kick some frog ass lol


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And yeah it was attack+dash. Pretty useful with full energy you can execute 2 of them and it does about 2 hitpoints of damage.

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It was really useful on the Bird boss since my strat was to rush him down and use the dash attack to hit him as I was trying to dodge attacks he would cast under him, then hop with normal dash and use attack dash to re-engage lol

It was tough but my strat essentially was to stay on top of him the whole time lol

 

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North - Bird mountains.
West - Crystal forest.
East - Sunken city.
South - Desert ruins.

The hissing dashing plants in the East have probably kicked my ass more than anything. xD I'm still trying to decide if I'm gonna scrounge for extras in the North or West tonight or if I'm gonna head south and go for the boss there.

I'm SO glad that this game support the PS4 controller natively though.




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[Geostigma]

Yeah I was pretty happy when I realized i didn't have to load up DStool to play it aswell lol

 

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I'm not totally sure how to deal with spoilers or whatnot, since the story is mostly interpretive and non-linear (aside from having a start and an end).

Aside from the actual story cutscenes, I think that boss tactics are about the only thing worth potentially tagging? Maybe how to find certain little hidden things in the various regions, since they're fun to figure out on your own?




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[Geostigma]

Good point. It's a lot like the Soulsborn games in that regard. Much of the fun and wonder comes from how the game interacts with you so it's pretty fair to tag stuff like that lol.

 

[Geostigma]

This seems to be the current world record. Haven't watched it since I still want to experience the game prior to watching it get destroyed by speedrunners lol.

https://www.twitch.tv/nostradamon/v/58672686

It being under 40 minutes already is really promising. This game could be Shovel Knight tier when it comes to speed runs.

Also this guy has a movement tutorial which is pretty neat. He mixed the audio poorly though

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PpT4qzIkvIQ&list=PLUCj3_XleLoyBQhMfxEmejTsCJSiOTlDp&index=1

 

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I'm in the same boat. It's what I'm extra excited for as soon as I beat it. (Aside from attempting the Alt Drifter run). The movement tutorial is helpful, since it's a little tough to figure out on your own. (I did resort to the Keyboard control way of doing the 800 run though).

I'm excited to see what madness people will be able to do insofar as fastest runs, but also fastest 100% runs, no death runs, and no Warp runs (since if you never warp, none of the enemies, health packs, or anything else will reset).

TONS of potential for people much better than I.




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I got through probably 98% of the West area now. There was just one locked door that I couldn't get through

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'cause I haven't gotten enough keys yet.

Also, if you're gonna attempt the challenge area revealed behind the door with the full module lock in the West region — let me just say that it is impossible without the Chain Dash, and a Grenade. Don't even try without them. Also, it is frustrating as hell, but it feels AMAZING beating it.

Next, I'm off to try to clear out the full Northern region some time tomorrow. Oddly it was the first area I beat, but it's been harder for me to find all the secrets on my own thus far.




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[Geostigma]

I just beat the frog boss, took me 4 attempts.

I would have taken him down on the second attempt but

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He caught off guard with a hop when I had 3 hp which caused me to stagger then one the of the exploding plants took me out lol.

My mind was just blown too when I obtained a 5th triangle piece for an area. I legitimately thought you only needed 4 per area lol.

 

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Glad to see you had an easier time with that boss like I did.

Yeah, the >4 modules caught me off guard, too. It did suddenly make me a lot less mad about the door with all of the triangles in the North not opening though. The only thing I'll say about locating the unmarked ones is that listening for them is VERY helpful.




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[Geostigma]

Glad to see you had an easier time with that boss like I did.

Yeah, the >4 modules caught me off guard, too. It did suddenly make me a lot less mad about the door with all of the triangles in the North not opening though. The only thing I'll say about locating the unmarked ones is that listening for them is VERY helpful.




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It was soooo satisfying opening that door. Good lord the last room for that stage was pretty hard lol.

 

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It's been a while since I've played a game that incited this much rage and frustration but where the payoff was literally ALWAYS a sense of feeling that all that frustration was oh SO worth it. They really pull out all the stops in their final mob rooms.

Oh - which enemy type kicks your ass the most so far?




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[Geostigma]

For sure the hissing plants. Even when I had my movements down pat they still managed to sneak in a hit or two.

I've died to them while back tracking more times then i'd like to admit.

In the same vein the swooping/flying birds in the North were total BS at times lol.

 

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Same. Screw those massive planty monstrosities. I think that their attack method is that they path to your current location + your dash distance away. Basically I think that you HAVE to move perpendicular, or at least slightly to the side of them to avoid getting hit, which is tough when things get a little frantic.

I also really like that things are still hard, and sometimes you forget just HOW hard until you do go backtracking, and suddenly something just kicks the living hell out of you. The birds were pretty bad until I found out that your gun is basically the perfect tool for taking them out if there're too many to just time your sword strikes.




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