So we get a "spoilers" warning but not a "this next bit will make you reflect back on your past, wasted opportunities, reflect on your future, inevitable demise and then cry inside" warning? Yeah cheers, Matt ;)
There are no wasted opportunities - if you're able to look back with the perspective that makes the past look like that, then you've clearly learned something valuable! :D AND THEN WE ALL DIEEEEE xxx
@@MattLees No, seriously, thanks for the spoilers. I loved the part where you said you'd tell us when the spoilers were coming yet didn't. Sloppy, and you've totally ruined this game for me. Got your view though, yeah? Bell-end.
The spoiler warning is at 09:45. And I realise I’ve come late to this, but I just felt like I had to comment and say I hope you’ve grown beyond slugging insults at internet strangers. Killer review Matt 🥳 i _did_ stop at the spoiler warning, and I can’t wait to get my hands on this! No idea how I missed it! HLD seems phenomenal.
@@Wykesidefruitmachine he very plainly states when he's about to enter the part of the video with spoilers, and he says if you don't want spoilers to stop watching. I know because that's where I stopped. You utter jackass
Hyper Light Drifter is what i like to call my "Depression game", i usually play it whenever im feeling my lowest point of insignificance and hopelessness. The incredible soundtrack and colorful visuals combined with the sheer difficulty help remind me that even though there are times you struggle with making progress, you do find moments of piece and quiet before and after you make it through what seems like a daunting challenge
The words you're choosing to use in the video are brilliant. Often times words fail to explain subtle, raw emotions and is often lost. But you managed to put together the right context and phrasing to explain a possible subconscious understanding that we have with titles like Hyperlight Drifter. Well done.
That scene where the music picks up and you see the corpse of the giant robot on the mountainside. I had to pause my game and take a screenshot. That's been my phone background for years now. I didn't even realize it was about to become my all time favorite game yet.
"... but the timing of this is.... impossible, but then it becomes less impossible until you can finally just... do it?" I love that line so much. It explains why I love games like this so much. I fell in love with Hollow Knight for the same reason. I'm gonna need to play this...
Man, I only just found these reviews and can't stop watching them. This guy delivers the most intelligent and engaging reviews i've heard for a long long time, absolutely brilliant. Great delivery, peppered with nice dry humour. His review of No Man's Sky is the best i've seen/listened to by a country mile. He should've worked for EDGE magazine back when it was great. Good job.
He reads the main moral of the story of the Drifter as coming to terms with mortality and struggling to leave something behind that is valuable. I see it more in line with a real search and desire for immortality, something I think we all have, and something that the drifter is able to find after his death in the after-life. I could say more about how his own dark enemies and the good works he does in the world tie in with this, but that may require my own video.
Wow this video was amazing. Thank you so much Matt. Hyper Light Drifter was one of my favorite games of 2016 and I'm so glad to see you talk about what made it such a touching and beautiful experience PS: I'm unbelievably happy that you are back :)
Awesome video review. My Mother In Law passed away on Friday and her funeral was today. That said your review was something I could relate to and it’s amazing that a video game can be so touching. I bought this game on PC and didn’t get very far but became interested again when I heard this game will be released on the Nintendo Switch this summer. First time on this channel so I did sub and love that you didn’t ask for money or likes or anything else. Thanks again.
This game is a masterpiece. I'm currently playing through it and picking up on all of those minute details and the ways the story is told to the audience without saying anything at all. The use of imagery is both subtle and striking, and don't get me started on the music. My god it is brilliant.
Still haven't gotten around to trying this one but a great personal triste of the game as usual Matt. I think after this I'm finally going to get my act together and give you some money. You absolutely deserve as much as I can afford. I loved your written work back in the day and you haven't lost your unique ability to get right to the heart of what makes a game great and make a fantastic case for why everyone should love it as much as you do. Can't wait for the next one 😁
Great video really showing what makes video games special demonstrating what a huge impact it can have for the creator and players. the subtle lessons that unravel slowly giving that moment were an epiphany hits you what the game is really about leaves you with an impression that is truly unique in video games in my opinion. Just look at games like the beginners guide which is a more useful lesson in depression, self doubt and anxiety more than a 10 000 page study. And instead of reading the information realising it yourself is that much more personal and powerful. Sorry for a bit of a rant but it's just great to see any kind of media covering great content instead of the usual dull ign videos regurgitating rubbish. Keep up the great work
You nailed it. You nailed everything about it, especially the soundtrack. I don’t call this game’s soundtrack my favorite of all time lightly. Beyond just being astounding works in terms of sound design and music theory, the way they’re integrated into the emotional flow is breathtaking. I think my personal favorite may be the drowned colossus in the east, the placid lilting of those airy chords giving way to the thick grinding bass like you can feel it making the lake vibrate under your feet. It’s unforgettable. This *game* is unforgettable.
Difficulty is lessened by forgiving save mechanics. If your stuck on a boss you don't need to beat the difficult section before him to fight him again. You get free retries
I won't be so exaggerating to the point that I'd deem it miles below Dark Souls in terms of difficulty. But to be frank, it's really not very difficult when compared to Dark Souls, especially after you acquire more skills and after you become familiar with enemies' attack patterns. Some people dislike Hyper Light Drifter because of either its difficulty in battling the enemies, or its 'convoluted' path-finding, neither of which I found problematic during my playthrough. It's a challenging game and an extremely well-crafted masterpiece imo. And to those who struggle with path-finding, you must not have played classic Tomb Raider games back in the 90's. For they are what hardcore gamers grew up with and they were not that hard even during that time, when people were first exposed to these kinds of games.
I bought the game because of this video, well I actually saw many others and heard quite a few people praising the game but this was the last drop :) Cheers!
great video about a game a absolutely adore. the music, the pixel art, the storytelling, and the tight combat. it's sooo good. as for comparing it to Dark Souls, it's not just the difficulty. it is mostly melee combat, has comparable dodging, a stamina system (if i remember correctly), limited healing, enemies and especially bosses telegraph their attacks, and even a single regular enemy can be dangerous. especially New Game+ felt a lot like Dark Souls; had to grind the first boss for at least five hours.
have you guys played Continue9876543210? it's about a dying playersprite trying to stay alive a little bit longer in the netherworld where it's awaiting the trash collector. very much of a piece with Matt's comment at the end about Hyperlight being about being able to find some peace, although the playersprite's search for meaning makes me baaasically tremble and shake constantly with emotion in a way Hyperlight didn't.
This was an amazing "review" of this wonderful game. The moment you picked at the beginning, I literally felt the same. You described it so well... I cannot even find the right words. Good work.
There is more to learn about the story of HLD than people usually let on. It's just hidden behind visuals, not outright spoonfed to us through words, except the monoliths with the alien glyphs on them, which can be deciphered, and they reveal some important lore :)
So let me see if I got this right this game has a journey like narrative with a furi type battle system and the legend of Zelda esk world Did I get the comparison right or just kill me for comparing
I really liked the darker tracks in FEZ. It was spooky and made me cautious and yet at the same time really excited that I might discover something amazing. Kind of like what the character in that game was going through.
This is great. Feel like a friend is telling me about a game I should play with a littler “RU-vidr” thrown in. Been wanting to try this game out for a while now
That's good to hear! Personally If you haven't done so already I would play it through with all expansions and no mods. Although having said that I hear the Longwar 2 mod is excellent but I haven't had a chance to try it yet.
While I'd agree with Gormond on staying away from the mods that alter a lot of things until you've given it a bash vanilla, there are some quality-of-life mods that I reckon might be worth pursuing, although even there you might want to play without them and see what, if anything, annoys you about the way it works out of the box first. Some that might be worth considering: *Stabilize Me!* - allows you to use a downed unit's own medkit to patch them up if they're unconscious and bleeding out *Flamethrower Panic Fix* - removes bug where flamethrower has 0% chance to cause panic *Stop Wasting My Time* - prunes pointless pauses *Gotcha (Flank Preview Evolved)* - modifies the line of sight indicator that pops up over enemies when you're hovering over possible movement locations so that it changes colour when you would have them flanked *Show Health Values* - adds a numeric total next to health bars (for enemies with heaps of health and armour later on it can be squinty and tedious double checking how healthy those gray bastards still are) I also recommend some extra content mods (that do not alter the fundamental game) for more variety. In particular I get any foreign voice pack I can find (make sure you enable the different languages to match soldiers' nationality in the options), it adds so much personality to have a unit's barks in another language. Some such mods (these all add to the pool of things that might randomly turn up in game, they don't require you to go and hunt them out in customisation menus or anything): *Capnbubs Accessories Pack* - a bunch of new cosmetic bits and bobs for your soldiers - helmets, visors etc *Ink And Paint* - new tattoos and warpaint for your soldiers *More Maps Pack* - new chunks of landscape to war on *Dragon's WIlderness PCPs* - new outdoor maps *Expanded Callsigns and Nicknames* - as it says on the tin *More Nations Mod* - more places your soldiers might hail from *More Random Backstories* - more lore for your soldiers Also, Long War 2 is brilliant, but changes the game quite a bit. It ends up feeling a bit more like old 90s Xcom, in some ways.
YES! The sound design caught me in the same way, it was excellently timed with player progression and visual leads. The art and sound direction is outstanding. The game is a work of art, NES-hard brutality to the player not withstanding.
I think us 'Matts' have a propensity for delving, exploring, and maybe even probing into the intense feelings associated with our own existentialism and mortal brevity - what a nice soliloquy on that!
This game has the best video game soundtrack of all time and the visuals are fuckin beautiful. If I saw a really really good anime of this I would literally cry and feel so fulfilled.
So I decided to get this game after watching this review. Just finished it five minutes ago, and I'm still crying deep inside... Talk about a gorgeous game. Just wanted to leave a quick thanks for pointing me towards this experience, which I've never seen the equal of in video games.
"Thats a Thats a Thats a funny joke" Love it every time. Not sure if its the usual "bad" joke before it or if its just that good on its own. 4:44 - really nice transition. 7:10 - a better one
i've been saying HLD is my favorite game since about 2017. It still is. Absolutely a master-freaking-piece. in so, so, so, so many ways. I've replayed it about 7 or 8 times now and it's still almost overwhelming to sink my teeth into. I've done all the achievements, the switch dlc, all that stuff, and I still feel like it's the best game i've played. It's my favorite.
Great Video. Nice to see some love for this game, I feel like it past a lot of people by. Any chance Quinns has still got that VA11-HAL-A video still in the works. I love see an in-depth opinion piece on it. Keep up the great work guys :).
