Hyper Light Drifter Guide

It is a top-down action RPG that brings modern design to the tradition of classic 16-bit games. You travel through a land haunted by echoes of a violent past as the Drifter, who suffers from an incurable illness. Developed and published by Heart Machine, it was released on March 31, 2016, and supports Japanese.

The game deliberately avoids explaining things in words. You piece together the story and the world's history through visuals and fragments of imagery. The lack of explicit explanation is intentional.

Make dash-based evasion your priority. There is little room for taking hits, so avoiding damage comes first. Even ordinary enemies require careful handling.

Areas extend in each direction. The order is relatively flexible, so heading in another direction when you get stuck may reveal a way forward.

Among the games covered on this site, the top-down Bastion and Transistor, the sparsely explained Rain World and the exploration-focused CARRION share similar qualities.