

Your starting character can neither dodge continuously nor attack continuously without some kind of pause. Fortunately, enemy attack patterns are extremely basic, bosses have fairly predictable attack patterns and canon fodder (basic enemies) only one or two. This fact was the cause of many deaths.ĭefault characters can only do a three hit combo before a pause so it often is necessary to dash between strikes. Unlike many games, enemies do not flinch when they are attacked, attacking an enemy will not cancel their attack animations, but being attacked will cancel your attack animations and you will have to recover, where you are prone to more damage after a tiny period of invulnerability.

When this happens you will take time to recover (as shown in game with animation). However your attacks can be cancelled by damage from enemies. Make of that what you willĪttacks take a specific amount of time to execute and cannot be interrupted or cancelled (without advanced techniques) with controls, this is the same for you and the enemy. I think this issue may be exacerbated by playing a 16-bit game at larger screen resolutions, the sprite composition may offer the visual system poor reference for precise motion at high speeds.įinally, according to the developer, and in my own experience playing with a controller provides the best game feel. In the past the game had a engine bound 30 FPS cap, 60 FPS has since been patched in. Combat and actions feel less jerky than with keyboard (but no less challenging). Playing with the controller changes game feel. Fortunately the game has beautiful pixel art and a good soundtrack in addition to much lore (wow!), if you don't appreciate these, you might as well ask for a refund because these elements are intended to carry the game. Because you are immediately thrust into the game world, you must rely on experimentation and exploration to see this game through to the end. No amount of button mashing will allow you to be successful at this game.Īs I see it, the meat of this game is discovering the enemy attack patterns for yourself and experimenting with fighting styles.

First and foremost, Hyper Light Drifter or HLD is a sprite based 2D with timing based game mechanics.
