I think so Hyper Light Drifter maybe released at the right time. Indie games were really carving out their own corner of the industry back then, in 2016, and it was quite a year with some (relatively) big titles – Fire watchThe Evidence, Inside, Cup headEnter the Gungeon, The Darkest Dungeonand even Stardew Valley. It could be argued that 2016 was the year of the indie game, now that I think about it! In the previous few years we had equally popular titles such as Her Story, UndergroundDownwell, Soma, Octodad, and Shovel Knight.
A big common denominator here that you can quickly see is that, unlike many indie games these days, all of the ones I've mentioned here are much more singular experiences. Stardew Valley obviously has co-op, but everything else is generally designed for solo play, a stark contrast to the proliferation of small-scale live-service titles, roguelikes, and games other such designed to be played forever.
Looking back at all these games, and Hyper Light Drifter in particular, all now around ten years old, I can't help but feel like the amazing work he continues , Hyper Light Breakershows how things can change in ten years. What really sold a lot of people on Drifter back when it was a Kickstarter was the combination of modern pixel art, a memorable synthy soundtrack, and an interesting world. The game finally delivers on these three features, delivering a game where you have to make a statement for yourself.
The focus is really on combat and world building, unencumbered by the state the games industry is in right now. Every day you can jump on Steam and see so many developers trying to be the next big thing, and they are rarely spontaneous experiences. Multiplayer is huge now, live service is the defacto in a lot of cases (although it rarely works). That last one, I can't blame anybody for – when times are so hard and people don't have that much money right now, of course you want to design something that can replay ad infinitum, otherwise you might just miss out on sales. Only the bigger name indie teams (who may not be really indies anymore) can afford single player titles, inspired by JRPG or Zelda.
In turn, I can not blame him A heart machine for deciding to take the world he established in Drifter and turn it into a roguelike, one that I imagine will have some live-action elements to keep players coming back once it's out of reach early. Right now, it's hard to know if that's the right call. Early access really means early, with only the main loop in place right now. Drifter's challenging combat is well-realized in 3D, though I'm sure it will get some improvements over a few updates.
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There are also similarities to what is to come From software title Elden's Circle: The Night's Kingalso a roguelike with procedurally generated maps that force you to take down terrifying bosses, so Heart Machine is in good company there. Ironically, however, Nightreign also shows how different the industry is compared to ten years ago.
Does it make me sad? Yeah, a little bit. Developers are still making games like Drifter and the other indies I mentioned at the beginning, I wouldn't even say there are less of them, if anything there are more than ever. That's part of the problem too, there just isn't a place for them in a sea of games that have a higher chance of survival due to their ease, not to mention how difficult it is to find them today.
It's no wonder the industry has changed so much in ten years, I just think it took Breaker to make me realize how much it's different now. I'm not trying to make a judgment call here, mostly, I really hope it works out for Heart Machine, because it could be something very special, if the Calculate early access links.
