There’s definitely some autobiographical elements in the story.” He’s coping with his own set of problems, but he’s still managing to live his life and do his job, essentially. Especially in this game, the story revolves around an ailing drifter. “It goes into everything I do, really,” Preston told Rock Paper Shotgun in a 2013 interview. Like many passion projects, Hyper Light Drifter has an unusual origin, Preston’s experience in living with a genetic heart condition. “I want it all to be as beautiful as possible, forging color with the dark and eerie wastes and intimidating landscapes.”

“From characters to background elements, everything is lovingly crafted while I hum show-tunes and squint suspiciously at the flickering pixels until they perform as intended. “Miyazaki films have taught me that beautiful animation and design add life to a world,” described Hyper Light Drifter Lead Designer, Alex Preston in the game’s Kickstarter campaign. Hyper Light Drifter is a “2D Action RPG in the vein of the best 8-bit and 16-bit classics, with modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale.” When I read a description of the game’s ambitions, I knew it was true love. The first time I laid eyes on Hyper Light Drifter‘s protagonist, a nameless Drifter, lounging beside a pixel-perfect fire pit, I fell in love.

Inspired by nightmares and dreams alike.Įvery so often, a project, whether it’s a book, a film, a videogame, or whatever, crosses my path and I can’t help but stop to stare. Explore a beautiful, vast and ruined world riddled with unknown dangers and lost technologies.

Hyper light drifter sprite