The world is yours to discover, if you want. While other games might sideline gameplay and story for the sake of tedious exposition, Hyper Light Drifter allows the player to put the pieces together themselves. The world of Hyper Light Drifter is full of hidden stories and secrets for the player to discover. More stories can be found if you decide to take the road less traveled. NPCs in each of the four main map regions will recount horrifying tales of the bosses you will encounter, and occasionally you will stumble across another Drifter, who has numerous adventures of their own to tell you about.īut there is more to the world than just these surface level interactions. As you travel through the game, the deeper lore of Heart Machine’s captivating, pixelated world begins to reveal itself. We discover all we need to know about the world in one wordless sequence.Īnd from there on out, all the discovery made by the player is done visually. A soberingly beautiful score by Disasterpeace underscores scenes of sprawling, beautiful, pixelated vistas nightmarish behemoths and our plagued hero, the Drifter. The opening cutscene is, in my opinion, one of the most captivating in gaming history. The dialogue in Fury Road is pretty minimal as is, and even with it missing entirely the story remains intact. If you were to watch Fury Road with the sound off, you would still be able to understand the narrative playing out on screen. George Miller is a director that understands how to craft a visual narrative. This version of the film follows all the same events as the theatrical release, but with only the music to underscore the visuals. Not the theatrically released version, but the “Black and Chome” edition (an edition of the film in black and white and entirely without dialogue). The entire story is told visually.īut how do you tell a story visually? A great example in a different medium would be Mad Max: Fury Road. If you talk to a shopkeeper, the only hints you’re given on how to proceed with your intended business are a number of currency symbols and an animation of what you’re purchasing. When interacting with an NPC you are greeted not by a dialogue box, but by a series of images relaying the character’s history. There are literally no words in Hyper Light Drifter outside of the main menu and pause screens. And I’m not just talking about a lack of vocal performances. Hyper Light Drifter is one of a handful of games that contain absolutely no dialogue. I want to talk about the storytelling of Hyper Light Drifter. But I’d like to look at a slightly more esoteric aspect of the game. Well, I could list off a number of things I think make Hyper Light Drifter worthy of your praise and attention: most notably the story of its creation, but also the gameplay, the aesthetic, and the soundtrack. “But what,” you may ask, “makes Hyper Light Drifter so amazing?”. This game is unquestionably my favorite of 2016, and will most likely remain that way forever. If you haven’t had a chance to play Hyper Light Drifter, stop reading this article right now and go buy it. Originally published as a part of this video
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |