How Hyper Light Drifter Creates A World Without Words 

[Me thinking i've throughly enjoyed, appriciated and understood this game] [10:45 comes in] "Holy fucking bombshell" You really exposed me to another layer of this game i didn't knew existed, which made me appriciate it in a completely new light, thank you

This game. THIS GAME. The intro cinematic alone hooks you with just mystery and intrigue and doesn't let go. I think this type of storytelling is what has been missing from the rest of the industry - minimalistic and allowing you to form your own connection to the themes. Every time I have a conversation with someone about the story, something new or a different take gets bought up which is totally valid. I totally agree that this would not be possible without the near perfect design. Great review, great game, and to everyone who hasn't played it, what are you doing :)

I've still never played this game but this makes me want to drop what I'm doing and give it a go

Totally agree on how effective the game's mechanics and challenges are communicated to you invisibly. I'm not so broken up about the minute text boxes that do appear and don't think it breaks immersion so much. But what really blew me away with this game was how Heart Machine was able to achieve such a degree of emotional depth, compared with basically any other game. The image-based text boxes were often more effective at conveying emotion and tragedy than any text of voice based exposition possibly could. You could argue a full CG sequence would work better, but by distilling the key points to 3 or 4 images, the player can fill in the rest and by not filling in all of the narrative space for us, there feels like there is always something left to learn. The music also does a lot of heavy lifting in conveying the tone to the player, when danger is near, or when the mysterious black figure is around. Obviously I would not have put so much time into it if the game weren't fun and the mechanics weren't as crisp and clean as they are, but I honestly feel the powerful story telling and soft world building is what kept me going through it.

6:43 "...our last episode about Sekiro..." *Looks at Anatomy playlist and JM8's channel* *It's not there* I need to find this parallel dimension where this video exists, because that sounds dope

The ability to heal is the only mechanic that really needs a text box, that's not the sort of mechanic someone would be guaranteed to learn simply by playing, nor is it something level design can teach you about, a person would be far more likely to think that warp points are the only way to heal.

A well argued essay on the merit of level design as replacement for text boxes. I would argue that there are "in world" interpretations to the story that are valid even without the allegorical appeal to the life of its author and hence speaks to the further merits of the game.

Anatomy? Well, it certainly has a lot of heart!

Surprised you didn't mention the conspicuous L tiles that point out every 'secret' area in the game. In an earlier build these L tiles were not there and so people had to wallhug everywhere and find them manually. It's interesting as by making the secrets more visible, they become less secret, but the L tiles are easily overlooked when exploring. I'd disagree the Drifter dies for nothing.

HLD has been one of my all time favourite games. So much that I've bought the game three times (different media/ platforms) and have written extensively about it, with my final entry surrounding the weird historical parallels to the real world coming up in a few weeks...

1:15 Funny how you said that cos I remember one review gave it a negative review cos he got stuck on the progress on the left side. Only from the backlash and some feedback, he finally got futher into that temple! Never encounter that problem cos I went to the right side which was easier to tackle first!

Gosh, I actually got chills. The narration backed by the soundtrack...just...phew. Thank you

I have not played this game but it reminded me a lot of Journey. Playing through Journey, I loved the simple gameplay that largely was figured out through lighting and the environment reacting to your abilities/movements. Simple mechanics sure but as JM8 has said in his video it’s a true mastery of level design and creates such an immersive experience for me. No dialogue there either, just limited facial expressions that left some emotions up to the players interpretation. Will definitely be checking this out.

Another great episode Jm8, keep em coming! Q A level theory is super interesting I hope we hear some more about it in other episodes.

I am very proud of this video that would not exist if I, greatest suggester on the planet, had not pitched the idea. I believe my pitch was something along the lines of "fuck it, just do Hyper Light..."

I think even if it had text, more areas and locations wouldn't benefit hyper light drifter. The simplicity and manageable scale was a big part of what made it enjoyable to me

I just played this game for the first time. Can't belive I waited however many years. It's a masterpiece.

There's nothing worst in a game, then finding a cool place to explore and finding that the work to get there is only a dead end.

Really liking the look of this game, might pick it up in the future. Great vid as always m8

Yeah...no. I completely bounced off this one in part because of the lack of text. You call text boxes lazy, but they're also more certain. No matter how much any player wants games to respect their intelligence, there's always going to be other players locked out because of just not getting whatever clues the designer tried to put in. That issue is then only made worse if the player has to constantly be interpreting the clues over and over. As I see it, this game relies on the player being invested almost purely because of those opening visuals and then carrying that investment through a constant set of mental brick walls. That's a lot to ask. On top of that, it doesn't directly show how things work, expecting the player to use trial and error instead. Take those plants at the beginning, for instance. It's been a while, but as far as I recall the game never indicates that the player even has a weapon much less a way past there. It also hands that to the player immediately after a grand narrative animation. My first guess was that I was supposed to trigger more cutscenes somehow and come back later.

Hyper Light Drifter is perfect. Which is to say... it's not perfect, but it's like... as close as a game made on a tight budget can ever be. The world could have been expanded further, if they had more time and money. If it were up to me, i would do the following things in this order of priority: 1. make the final area a full-fledged level/zone on the scale of the other four, 2. add "final exam" encounters to each of the four main areas that you can access after you've collected all the stuff, basically "now that you have everything here's what you use it for", and 3. add additional NPCs/non-combat encounters out in the world at large. None of this needs to break the basic structure of Hyper Light Drifter or its self-imposed constraints, but i think it would make the world feel way more fleshed out. That said... it would, of course, be a lot of work. They've gotta do everything the hard way. But hey, we're getting Hyper Light Breaker now!

Very good jm8 as always keep it up m8 looking forward to seeing the next one 😊

I remember Jack Packard and Rich Evans playing this on RLM’s gaming stream. Bought it straight away.

Great video for a marvelous game. The musical score by Disasterpiece is sublime as well.

A fantastic essay. Hyper Light Drifter is something special.

I feel that in our lives we should always try to do what we feel is right to do. But even past all of the love and care or pain and suffering we give out or take in, death is always at the end of it all. A big part of life for me has been accepting our own mortality, life is something that is so tiny and small when you think about it. Even though that may be the truth the point of life is to get lost in its wonders of your life and to enjoy and learn from it. Feel happy, sad, angry, disappointed, ecstatic, etc because one day it will all go away. If it’s all a void then join me in yelling into it with all of our thoughts and feelings until it all ends, you better enjoy it.

I do think it's a worthy tradeoff. So much so that I backed the game on kickstarter.

I'd say HLD is a proof of concept. It's polished a prototype for a unique design philosophy to a mirror shine. I'm very much looking forward to the next game which values showing over telling to the same degree.

My favourite game. Thank you heartmachine

I really like how the developers make this game so personal

Damn, I know you said there will be spoilers, but you didn't say there will be THE spoiler. I was so about to play this game, but now when I know the ending I probly won't. I'm not criticising, I used to do a bit of critical writing, and I always hated to be held back by *no spoilers please* when I wanted to point out something important or share an idea. I just had this moment of: ohh, I really would like to get to this point myself, now I can't. Still enjoyed the episode, keep them comming!

Great video once again!

I think the non-diegetic aspect of short prompts explaining in the simplest terms that L1 is heal is more than acceptable. Indeed I think a prompt to explain dashing, and sword slashing would have been in its place (without changing the tutorial area as it is) to maintain consistency.

Best game I've ever played

Thank you so much!!!!

He is not searching for cure, he is trying to do what needs to be done before the sicknes takes him. At least thats how I see this.

I haven't played a lot of this game, but I still really enjoyed what I played and I will be returning to it. Do I think the simplistic world is worth it? Personally, I feel this game really pulls it off. I think the developers really nailed it with a fantastic balance.

love these videos

one of my favorite games in terms of design and I wish more devs made games like this instead of using text in lazy ways

The lack of text is what turned me off from this game. Yes, it is simple and fairly easy to figure out so the text isn't necessary, but I like a little complexity and differentiation in play styles since that affords replayability and can produce ongoing conversation about how different approaches had different outcomes. I like the multiple builds I can take in Soulsborne games or tweaking the skill trees in other games by looking at what I can acquire and testing its effectiveness. I love getting all munchkin-y with abilities, skills, items, and more.

I completed Hyper Light Drifter without realising half the upgrades were there and wondering why it was so damn hard towards the end.

Another great video J, beautiful ending (the bit about the developer .... not your face at the end :P )

Great game. Fun video.

Sick video brah, also is the game any difficult? I’m thinking of getting it as a “chill game” to play pretty casually. Also i know i’ve said it tons but keep up gods work m8

Just like HLD this video is another absolute masterpiece

Yeah, get rid of all text! We don't need any text here, we can instead comment wi

WAIT JUST A FUCKING SECOND IS THIS HBOMBERGUY????????

9:04 you've still got the J in your Google profile, twice. Too much text, unsubscribed

Hyperlight drifter, now that's what i call a video game, one might find oneself pondering as to why would someone call it a videogame and the answer to that is obvious, because it is indeed a video game, now here's where my opinion diverges from the blabbering and mundane to something antediluvian, video games don't exist but if they did they would be better as JRPGs in which you could play through the story of the bright, bashful and otherwise brilliant Seth from the somewhat obscure book known as the holy bible king ronald edition prepare to die edition featuring dante from the devil may cry series, my favourite part of the bible has to be the metroidvania aspects that it seamlessly and senselessly sequests in the sublime script of the sahara sand desert, my favourite zone in the bible is the McDonalds level where the entire level is filled with the heat and stench of a thousand burgers and perhaps one or two pickles. My favourite thing about it overall though absolutely must.

9:20 OK yeah I did not get any of that from the game. Maybe if they put a LITTLE bit more of that story actually IN the game. As it is, I thought the game was really solid mechanically but the story was forgettable. I played through it once 6 years ago. I didn't even remember how it ended. The game gives you nothing to connect with and you die at the end. Not really gonna be the metroid-vania I go back and play over and over for the story. And its not that I don't like silent thoughtful games. I played through Journey about a hundred times and Shadow of the Colossus is one of my favorite games of all time.

Great content, but I’m not a fan of the comedy segments. Just focus on explaining the design concepts, it’s good enough to stand on its own.

Can I just say, "The Anatomy of X" is quite possibly the most boring title you could give these video essays.