4/5 ★ – Diego_Rivera's review of Hyper Light Drifter - Special Edition.

I liked this game a lot. It’s clearly a homage to Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past. Except it’s drenched in a synthwavy, blue and pink neon aesthetic. The art style left me in moments of pure awe as lights flashed, and colossal celestial beings took over the screen. Exploring dungeons and slashing your way through enemies is the main gameplay loop. Solving puzzles, acquiring key items, and uncovering secret rooms is really exciting. But I often found myself getting frustrated with this games map. It doesn’t pin point exactly where you are in the world and reading it can sometimes be confusing. Some rooms were way to obscurely hidden. I spent a lot of time running around in circles with no idea where to go only to find a hidden pathway completely by chance. I like when bonus rooms are well hidden to reward thorough exploration. But when key items are hidden in these rooms, it can be really frustrating and can have a negative effect on the games pacing. Combat is simple but really satisfying. There’s good feedback when you land attacks with your sword. I like the combat loop of recharging your projectile weapon by landing hits with your sword. Getting into a rhythm of switching between melee and projectile attacks as you dash around enemies is really thrilling. The game is completely devoid of dialogue. The story is exclusively told through still images, and flashback sequences presenting some sort of calamity. I’m sure there’s plenty of people smarter than me that can piece together the story. I was just amused by the big scary robots. There’s plenty to do for completionists that are looking to find every upgrade and optional room. I was content with just finishing the main story in a few hours. If your fan of classic Zelda games or Metroidvanias, you’ll enjoy this one!