14 DAY TRIAL // A brand new video has popped up online, offering us an in-depth look at the upcoming Hyper Light Drifter's combat techniques, movement and general gameplay.
The pixelated 2D top-down action role-playing game has just gone through a backer-only preview for the very first time, enabling Kickstarter supporters to enjoy the game by themselves and get a taste of what's coming.
Following backer feedback, developer Heart Machine decided to let the preview build be accessible through the end of the month, enabling those who pledged their money and made the game possible to enjoy the game a little longer, before the final release.
Of course, brief windows of testing are pretty useful, enabling a large array of machines to try and run the code, and letting the team know what they did right and what needs more polishing, but having a test period run for more than a few days can potentially yield an overwhelming amount of data and feedback, especially for a small development team.
Nonetheless, Heart Machine wanted to let their backers enjoy the limited slice of content for longer, extending the timing so that backers who couldn't join in on the fun during the three-day weekend test would also get to see how the game performs.
Hyper Light Drifter proves the importance of Kickstarter
One of the main feats that the little 16-bit game pulled off was showing that you don't have to be Tim Schafer to have the Divinity series under your belt or to hail from Black Isle Studios in order to be a huge hit.
Heart Machine managed to capture the attention of the masses by showing a soulful creation with exciting, innovative gameplay and a brilliant artistic direction, managing to completely smash through its initial goal and raising a total of $645k / €515k in funding.
Hyper Light Drifter puts you in the shoes of an adventurer setting out to explore a beautiful ruined world, full of peril and lost technologies, following the echoes of a violent past, revealing bits and pieces of a dead era.
The team sought to recreate classic 8-bit and 16-bit experiences and imbue them with modernized mechanics and designs in order to create a nostalgic adventure on a much grander scale than it was possible in the days when pixel graphics were the norm.
The video shows the game in action, offering us a sneak peek at its colorful, vivid world, as well as highlighting some of the abilities of the Drifter, enabling gamers to see how they'll be able to face off against the merciless underground.
Hyper Light Drifter is scheduled to come out sometime before the end of the year, headed to PC, OS X, Linux, and the PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, Xbox One, Nintendo Wii U and Ouya consoles at a later date.
