I don't make topics often, but when I do, it's probably because I have something interesting to talk about.
Hyper light drifter is a game styled after older arcade type 8-bit games. It's really fun, and is available on Steam for $19.99 (USD). I would tell you it rivals Undertale, but that's a matter of opinion, and I've never actually played (or been interested in) Undertale.
The fan community is small, and by small it's like, the majority of the fandom is 26 (and growing) people in a skype chat talking, drawing, & writing --- while this is an exaggeration, I think you get the idea. It's not huge.
In HLD, you play as a character known as the Drifter. They appear to be genderless or gender neutral, but most take on the assumption that the Drifter uses male pronouns. My personal headcanon is that they're gender neutral, but everyone's different. Anyway, your goal essentially is to clear all 4 directions (and find secrets along the way) of North, East, South, and West. It can be considered quite difficult, but the accomplishment of finishing it is probably better than the stress of dying over and over again --- it's an automatic save, so you can't choose when to, and sometimes that's quite a killer.
I believe the final boss is named Judgement, and you will see Judgement frequently in cutscenes, usually after you kill a boss. Frequent also are "episodes" of Drifter collapsing and coughing up blood do occur.
Let me just say, the soundtrack is gorgeous and so is the art. When you come upon beautiful scenery, the music will swell and leave you feeling like you're living a fantasy.
The creators of this game did SUCH a great job with the pixels, and the fluidity of every motion makes my animator's heart sing.
Here are some fantastic screenshots of the game:
(all found on tumblr)
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/c54f3bc9236234130123c093e4cdd1bf/tumblr_o70810eVGC1tkksseo1_1280.png)
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/b9b3cbe72b001b3cc6b777e39cb447f5/tumblr_o707kd8imz1sa31yoo1_1280.jpg)
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/ff134323cd89f68d02c21f00c0d977d1/tumblr_o6zd5pVLhA1vt98yto2_1280.jpg)
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/464af1db8125c042d39f4b124c25a78a/tumblr_o6zd5pVLhA1vt98yto1_1280.jpg)
(https://67.media.tumblr.com/33021a45ece3910709ca193ad215c8e6/tumblr_o6zd5pVLhA1vt98yto8_1280.jpg)
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/9f06ad7dfb6024e81c26f1ebb7c3f4e6/tumblr_o6zd5pVLhA1vt98yto10_1280.jpg)
Now, I have yet to finish it, but I advise you do NOT go through tags on tumblr, etc., just in case you run into a spoiler, because I believe there is a pretty big one at the end of the game.
It plays best with a controller (Xbox/PS) but I've been doing pretty well on my own with my laptop keyboard since I don't have a wireless receiver for my Xbox controllers.
A recently added update is a local co-op feature! Meaning you can play with your friends, woo! Unfortunately there's no online co-op (yet, hopefully).
Thank you for checking out this post! I do hope you're now interested. Drifter (the main/playable character) is extremely fun to draw so there's lots more fanart to look through, if you're into that. And before I go: Like any other group or fanbase, HLD's fandom does produce NSFW content. I do not take responsibility for you coming across this kind of content, because I myself prefer to avoid it and block tags/links/etc. that contain it. Please be careful out there, kids :- )
Here are some gifs made by the lovely chain-dash-to-oblivion on tumblr!:
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/b137c91364fae1312e1357da3eac5d79/tumblr_o6wsk9uZXe1ufmjzjo1_250.gif) (https://67.media.tumblr.com/ae1ea30b751fa23c0c7edfe85341c346/tumblr_o6wsk9uZXe1ufmjzjo5_250.gif)
(and my personal favorite):
(https://66.media.tumblr.com/1a83a8418293b79dad80de93512bb0da/tumblr_o6wawpkXnl1ufmjzjo1_500.gif)
The layout is gorgeous all on its own and I love some good ol' 8 bitz.
Thanks for sharing ~! This does seem interesting and I'm wanting to look into it a bit further to see what else could possibly be in store Hopefully I don't run into any spoilers...
Definitely going to check into this c;