Am I the only one who thinks this game looks bad?

[Johnny IV]

Not because of the DEI or anything.

I really love Hyper Light Drifter and I was a bit disappointed that Solar Ash was not a Sequel or something to it. Few years pass and finally: Hyper Light Breaker

The Announcement Trailer was so cool, or rather the animation was so fire! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Ks_t8ei97c&ab_channel=IGN

Then the switch to the gameplay and I was really dissapointed. Risk of Rain 2 at home, but kind of generic, samey and ugly.

I will still try it eventually, when it gets discounted. Maybe I am wrong and the game is good or at least somewhat enjoyable, but I think the devs did a better job with 2D-Pixel-art.

The price is also way too hight for an EA-title!

[Kitten Shady]

Well, what's for shure - it looks pretty plain and without any special artistic refinements. Graphics on level of not the best PS2 games, gameplay is too standart, enemies in one of this year trailers this seemed to me extremely weak in terms of difficulty.
So far, something very unclear in terms of quality and level of interest.

At least what for shure won't be here but what I waited in vain in my naive hope - is a plot and more info about Drifter's universe (I don't know why I hoped for this, but they've been singing: "For the sake of plot we even removed the character editor!!" Well, where is your plot? At least one plot trailer, spoiler, cutscene, comic??)

[Kitten Shady]

And yeah, now it's unclear why the first trailer was drawn. The game is in 3D; the cutscenes could have been in that style, but there are no. Strange.

[Kitten Shady]

The main problem (at least for me) I would say is that all the locations look equally uninteresting in terms of art and plot; in Drifter you enjoyed just looking at the landscapes, your imagination turned on, your brain started working on theories, analyzing the picture, because it was interesting, because you wanted to understand what happened in the past. But here I don’t see anything that can be examined and analyzed. Some ordinary trees, buildings, crystals, identical robots. There is no visual information, no mystery. Just an ordinary, very simple landscape.

[Johnny IV]

Yeah for sure. And it doesnt help at all that this game is a rogue-like.

The game would have benefited if the world and the game experience would have been handcrafted. Too many devs in recent years use the roguelike formula, without it benefiting the games themselves, at least I believe that.

And the price for the EA start at 28,99 € is too expensive in my opinion. Especially because, as is typical for EA, it probably won't offer much content at the beginning. Seems a bit greedy considering that they want to demand even more money afterward, but I also know that the studio has to be financed somehow, but they should have thought about that beforehand. (Maybe this sounded a bit too harsh...)

At least they didn't went epic exclusive like last time. (Or will they bait and switch like last time?)

[Johnny IV]

Maybe I am too harsh, but I really think this game should have been a 3D Hyper Lighter Drifter in coop and not "indie" Rogue-like slop.

A few years back I was a big fan of the genre, but now every game is roguelike or has elements of it. Its boring. I know there are exceptions but they are few and far between!

[Kitten Shady]

Yeah, if it's a roguelike and has no plot, then I have a very vague idea of ​​what would motivate to play this game for long. Because if it's just a series of fights for nothing, it'll get boring sooner or later and that's it. They said "With generation you will have endless worlds", but for what?? Sure, there maybe people who will find incredibly interesting the process of endlessly chopping 3D models and doesn't need anything else, but I would like a more substantial goal, at least some prize for my chopping.))

[Kitten Shady]

Originally posted by Johnny IV:

Maybe I am too harsh, but I really think this game should have been a 3D Hyper Lighter Drifter in coop and not "indie" Rogue-like slop.

A few years back I was a big fan of the genre, but now every game is roguelike or has elements of it. Its boring. I know there are exceptions but they are few and far between!

I have a strong impression that roguelike and walking simulator geners were made exclusively for those cases when you as a developer are too lazy to come up with gameplay and everything else, and generally do not want to spend a lot of time on the game.

[Johnny IV]

I wouldn't say exclusively, but in recent years it sure seems like it. And thats why I don't have a big interest in those titels anymore, for the most part.

Now we can just wait and see how the game turns out. Maybe it will be fun, but I doubt it.

[MrPesiq]

the game looks gorgeous - don`t know what you`re watching - at least form the game-play that they showed has an unique style like risk of rain 2 - probably won`t be for everybody but no game is

[Johnny IV]

That's pretty subjective, I think. I don't really see the appeal. Its probalby the direction of Heart Machine after Hyper Light Drifter that I dont like. Hyper Light Breaker could have been something special, but after all I have seen it is Hyper Light in all but name. Especially the roguelike aspect and the graphic style I don't like.

There are too many games that would benefit not to have roguelike elements. After a few runs despite what the devs might tell you it will get stale and everything looks the same. Hyper Light Drifter was good because it has a handcrafted world, among other things.

[Johnny IV]

I guess my main problem is that they called it Hyper Light Breaker. I am certainly not the only "og" HLD-fan, that is disappointed in the direction of HLB.

If it was called any other name, then I wouldnt care that much too be honest. As I said in the post, the original trailer got me hucked, but the gameplay reveal was a big dissapoinment.

I feel a bit betrayed, but I know or hope that was not intentional.

[Kitten Shady]

Originally posted by MrPesiq:

the game looks gorgeous - don`t know what you`re watching - at least form the game-play that they showed has an unique style like risk of rain 2 - probably won`t be for everybody but no game is

Depends on to what to compare. It looks pretty good for a 3D indie (maybe it's only me "lucky", but almost all 3D indie I've come across looked worse than even PS1 games)). But not as beautiful as, say, Ratchet and Clank from PS2, although they are very similar in style. Or like the recent Nikoderiko, which pretty simple looking itself.

[yaveshtolethien]

I was genuinely sad when I saw the gameplay the first time. HLD is among my favorite games of all time. this game isn't a sequel. It's a completely different game set in the same universe. The gameplay of the OG is extremely responsive and crisp. This looks clunky. The foolishness in bringing a DEI company into the development... like it or not, it adds a huge element of controversy to the game, and will only take away from its reception. It's not like the people are human, so I don't even know what they were supposed to do here. But all that aside, I'll wait for a price drop, too.

[Johnny IV]

Exactly. The combat lacks the weight it had like in HLD or so it seems. The good and mystical level design seems to be gone too, thanks to the (unnecessary) Roguelike elements.

Yeah DEI could have a negative impact on the story and characters. The most harmless would be something like body type A and B, but that would also be unnatural. We can just wait and see how it will impact the game.

My expectations are low to be honest. Not only for the game, but for Heart Machine as a hole. (Sadly)

[ileftclick]

Originally posted by yaveshtolethien:

I was genuinely sad when I saw the gameplay the first time. HLD is among my favorite games of all time. this game isn't a sequel. It's a completely different game set in the same universe. The gameplay of the OG is extremely responsive and crisp. This looks clunky. The foolishness in bringing a DEI company into the development... like it or not, it adds a huge element of controversy to the game, and will only take away from its reception. It's not like the people are human, so I don't even know what they were supposed to do here. But all that aside, I'll wait for a price drop, too.

price is $30, and also dont worry about dei involvement there is none.