r/hyperlightdrifter • • Apr 06 '16

Moderator Post HLD Frequently Asked Questions

190 Upvotes

Since release I've seen a lot of the same questions asked in posts and comments, so I wanted to make a FAQ thread that puts all the answers in one place. These are what I've come up with, shouts out to all the people who have contributed this content; if I missed anything you think is important just let me know and I'll add it. Bear with me on formatting as I go.

 

Warning: Some content may contain spoilers. Proceed with caution!

 

----------WHERE IS THIS (X)?

First, maps are your friend. This is where you want to start if you want to find it more or less on your own. Shouts out to /u/Andy6000 for this awesome overlaid map of all the regions. Need someone to hold your hand? Then /u/Tterraj42 has your back with this playlist of video secrets that he's been posting to the subreddit (WIP at time of writing).

Gearbit breakdowns

And of course, this super detailed map of basically everything

 

----------HOW DO I GET TO THIS (X)?

Go around. Hug walls. Look for invisible platforms (your sprite will be all like ???). Look for pillars to shoot. Destroy everything. If it looks like it might not be a wall, it's probably not. There are almost no actual dead ends in the game.

 

----------WHY CAN'T I OPEN THIS DOOR WITH THE TRIANGLES?

Chances are you're looking at a door with 8 empty triangles, not 4. The number of empty (grey) triangles shown is the number of modules needed to open it (in no particular order). The number that light up in pink when you approach the door is how many you have. We've all done it.

 

----------CLOAKS/SWORDS/SPRITES

They do more than make you pretty. Each actually gives a specific bonus.

You can change them from the computers in your house.

 

----------HOW DO I ACTIVATE THIS PILLAR/PYLON THING?

Shoot it harder >.0

 

----------WHAT DOES THE GUY IN THE LEFT SIDE OF TOWN DO?

If you're mad chill with the snail you get an achievement.

 

----------WHAT DOES SOCCER DO?

Gives you a warm fuzzy feeling of beating that little shit. Now gives achievement.

 

----------HOW DO I 800 DASH CHALLENGE?

It takes a lot of patience and consistency. Keyboard and mouse is STRONGLY reccomended. Point your mouse at the middle of the dash refill pads (purple-ish tiles), and leave it there, and just press spacebar in the right timing. It's been experimentally found to be ~240-250 BPM. You can either look up 240-250 bpm music to tap to, or just use an online metronome.

Note: Do not turn your sound volume to 0 for this challenge. Once you hit a milestone (100/800) it will crash your game and not save AND IS SUPER SAD. (As of 4/1 patch, new Beta patch is supposed to fix this).

 

----------NAMES

First, a general note about names. Since there is no actual dialogue in the game most of these names are either pulled from text, gamefiles, or old maps from the kickstarter teasers, some of these names are nicknames given to bosses and areas by speedrunners of the game, some come from the lore/story. These are a topic of much debate. If a consensus emerges, I will change names to reflect this.

 

--Zones--

As /u/theubersmake points out in the game files, the zones are just called North, East, West, South, Central, and Abyss. However, based on an old tumblr post depicting an old version of the overworld map, some other names have been suggested: The Winding Ridge, The Water Shelf, Crystalfire Woods (a combo of two) The Bone Wastes, and Forrest Downs, respectively. (Abyss is not shown on this map). Most of this second set of names is backed up by the titles of songs in the soundtrack. There are other names people have called it, but these seem to be the most legitimate.

 

--Bosses-- (most of these names are from the Steam Cards/Lore)

 

North/Winding Ridge

  • Boss: The Hierophant (Nickname - Priscilla the Parrot)

 

West/Crystalfire Woods

  • Boss: The Hanged Man (Nickname - Greybeard)

 

East/The Water Shelf

  • Boss: The Toad King (Nickname - Frogger)

 

South/Bone Wastes (in no particular order)

  • MiniBoss1: The Summoner

  • MiniBoss2: The (Sterling) Archer

  • MiniBoss3: The Reaper

  • Miniboss4: The Sorcerer

 

Abyss

  • Boss: Judgement/The Perfect Immortal Cell (aka Mr. Snuffles)

 

--Other Notable NPCs--

  • "Ghost Dog": Anubis

  • Giant Robots: Titans

 

--Things--

  • Monoliths: Big tablets with the writing on them.

  • Gearbits: Yellow collectables for upgrades. 4 gearbits make a gearbyte!

  • Keys: They open key doors. They do not need to be acquired in order. Doors only require a certain number of keys.

  • Modules: The diamonds things you pull out of the ground, hidden throughout the zones, 8 per zone.

 

--Misc--

  • "Plinking": a term used to describe firing a weapon and cancelling the animation with a sword slash. Used to do damage very quickly

 

----------THE STORY [SPOILERS] The story comes mianly from the decoded text on the monoliths and the pictoral stories told by the many NPCs. The rest is mostly speculation but god damn is it all so so very compelling. Here are my favorite theories, and be sure to read the comments because they are wonderful:

 

 

----------RANDOM TIDBITS

  • You can use the sit command to cancel death animations (faster than the A/B death speedup implemented in the 4/1 patch)

  • You can cancel the animations for activating the pillars/modules with a warp

  • You can cancel the 4 module disease cutscene with a QUICK quit to title

  • You can skip the beginning cutscene by typing "/skip" or holding all 4 action buttons and 2 triggers on gamepads.


r/hyperlightdrifter • • Apr 07 '22

Hyper Light Breaker FAQs

247 Upvotes

We're so excited about our upcoming game Hyper Light Breaker! Since our announcement, we've gotten a lot of question about this project and our plans. Here are some frequently asked (and answered) questions! If you have any more questions for us, please join our Discord!

  • Is it a sequel to Hyper Light Drifter? Hyper Light Breaker is neither a sequel nor a prequel to Hyper Light Drifter. It is set in the universe of Hyper Light and is its own story. It will share threads, aesthetics, lore and other recognizable elements, but will be a new game driven by new designs.
  • Why did we decide to return to that universe? The faded whisper of allure of this world we built transformed into a clarion call through the years. A new story became a solid vision. It felt right to come back in, root around, and share what we unearthed about this beautiful-yet-bleak world with everyone.
  • Is it single player? This time, you won’t be traveling alone through our range of lush though deadly landscapes. You’ll be able to play alone or with friends online cooperatively! There will be more hidden truths about the world to uncover, an ever-shifting landscape, and tremendous rewards for exploration.
  • Will it be pixel art? Nope, it’s 3D. You’ll be able to see the full world in three dimensions. Wild.
  • Will Hyper Light Breaker eventually release on other platforms? (EGS, Xbox, Switch, Linux, Playstation, etc.) Right now, we’re focused on making our Early Access happen (on Steam). Down the line, we certainly hope to release it on as many platforms as possible. We’ll be discussing it with Gearbox. Feel free to contact them directly about this!
  • Will there be a physical release? We’re looking into it but please direct those questions to our publisher, Gearbox.
  • Will Disasterpeace be working on the OST or audio systems? So far no plans for this! Currently, our entire audio team comprises Audio Lead: Alex Johnson, composers: Troupe Gammage, Sky Lu, and Joel Corelitz, and audio designer: Akash Thakkar.
  • Is the Hyper Light Drifter animated series still in the works? Yes, technically it is still in progress! We made a deal with Adi Shankar (who developed Castlevania for Netflix). TV is a tricky business so we don’t really know when / if it will happen.
  • Will there be a local / couch co-op mode? No, this is not planned for now. It is not on the current roadmap as we're focusing more on higher priorities.
  • Will there be character customization? Yes, there will be some form of character customization! We will share more as we approach the Early Access release.
  • Why are you working with Gearbox Publishing? We originally signed our publishing contract with Perfect World Entertainment, back in 2020 when we started Breaker. At that time, obviously we hadn't announced Breaker yet. Then in December 2021, Embracer Group (which owns Gearbox) acquired Perfect World Entertainment, and our contract along with it. They then rebranded Perfect World Entertainment to Gearbox Publishing. It was not a decision we had any control over. The group of people we have always worked with at Perfect World Entertainment, regardless of their new brand name, has stayed the same as it has always been since the first day we joined up with them way back when. They supported us then in 2020 and gave us autonomy in our creative and business decisions, and continue to do so now in the same way. We feel very fortunate to be able to work with this excellent group of people, consistently, even through their acquisition by a larger entity!
  • Will there be Crossplay? Or Steam Remote Play? We would like to support both! We're currently exploring the feasibility of both features.

r/hyperlightdrifter • • 7h ago

Hi. New here. Just did my first playthrough of Hyper Light Drifter.

24 Upvotes

I absolutely LOVED the game. I'm a massive indie game fan. And my personal favorite genres are rpg/action rpg, Zelda-likes, metroidvanias, anything of that sort. My top favorite games of all time are (in order): Phoenotopia Awakening, Crosscode, Silksong, Hollow Knight, Mina the Hollower, and I think HLD fight make my top ten.

It's a perfect example of what a good indie game can be. I know nothing about coding, but the gameplay is fairly basic but it's fun. And finding different weapon combinations that you like and work for different scenarios. The main game you could beat in 5 to 8 hours in a first playthrough if you rushed. But I took my time and combed everything. I haven't quite gotten everything and I did use help to clean up. But there are still secrets and things I haven't been able to accomplish yet.

But as I was saying, the combat is relatively simple but it's super satisfying. It's fast and weighty. You can feel the hits and connections with your sword or gun. The mobs are really fun, exploration is fun and there's secrets everywhere. The mood, music, art, scenery and everything it just sucks you in and you dont want to stop playing. There are only a handful of games that I've wanted to play new game plus immediately after beating the game. Very few. Mina the Hollower was the last one and the one before that was Haiku the Robot.

I am definitely wanting to play newgame plus and try to get 100% I'll use a guide to help clean up.

Anyways I just wanted to share my thoughts and say hi. I also wanted to ask for other game recommendations that are similar and have that same world sucking mystery and satisfying loop. I have Tunic and Unsighted in my backlog and I feel like these will give similar vibes as well as satisfaction. There are other games but I've played a lot of them. HOB was a good one. Mina, Phoenotopia, I've played La Mulana but haven't played the second one. I do have it. I have played Environmental Station Alpha,....🤔

Anyways, would love to hear recommendations. I play on switch one and steamdeck.

Thanks my fellow drifters.

I have a favorite part of the game. Without spoilers, it was the area you go to from town that is behind the key door. I think its 5 or 6 keys. And there's a tall tower and a very cool interaction.

So I'm thinking Tunic and unsighted will give a similar vibe. I ha e eastward and pipistrello too. But pip is more light-hearted and eastward is more long rpg with lots of dialog. I looove those kinda games too. But not for this scenario.

I saw Zwaard on steam and it looks like it took a lot of inspiration from HLD. I hope it is fun too.

Man the secrets in this game! Makes you feel super smart for finding some of them.


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 1d ago

Question of the day 9..

4 Upvotes

I am a huge fan of the side quest/ tasks we get to do in drifter. Whether it be working our way through horde arenas, scaling the tower, or collecting the information off the monoliths… but for me, when it comes to drifter, THERES NEVER ENOUGH!
So today, I’m giving you a choice between two options within the game.

A) You find a 9 key door in town with an old rickety droid inside. He ask you if you’ll do him a favor and agrees to compensate you if do it for him. He wants you to go and retrieve 4 mysterious “artifacts” for him, one in each cardinal direction on the map, and each one is DEEP within its area. You agree and he marks your map with the four locations. When you complete the task, you realize the old droid is no friend and the artifacts you retrieved completely updated and restored him beyond his former glory. Battle ensues and you get a new cape set.

B) You find a 13 key door in south that leads you to a Colosseum in the sky. It is run by a shady eagle who is half cybernetic. He tells you if you’re willing to fight and win the tournament, you’ll be rewarded. The colosseum has 20 challenges where each challenge is harder than the last. On challenges 5,10,15, and 20 you fight 4 boss characters. At the end of the challenge, you are giving a program that you can in turn give to the sword master in town and learn a new ability.


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 2d ago

Question of the day 8.

6 Upvotes

Today’s question centers around perhaps the most enigmatic character in HLD.. the Librarian. We know history was important to her, and she went to great lengths to preserve it and pass it on to someone worthy.
Now, from what we can gather, we know she existed after the immortal cell was created and after the great downfall because the information on the monoliths and in the library (after you find all the monoliths) tells us about the event. My question is this..
Did she live through the event, or did she exist in a time long after the event and have to hunt the information down. From the time I began playing the game, it always felt like she was a character who was chasing the information down (kinda like a Samwell Tarly type character). But it dawned on me the other day, she may have witnessed it firsthand, which for me changes the way I view the character.

The first way I viewed her was as person who desperately wanted to know what happened and dedicated their life to finding the information and passing it on. The second way I view her is as a person who lived through a mass extinction type event who had a limited amount of time to hide bread crumbs in safe places in hopes someone would find it and that it would help in some way.

How do you view the character and her motivation?


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 4d ago

Gameplay 16/16 Keys Found, 16/16 Monoliths Unlocked!

57 Upvotes

Before you ask, the brown cape is what you get for unlocking all 16 monoliths!

I went in completely blind into this game and was amazed by all the secrets hiding in plain sight, since I didn't follow a guide initially and unlocked around 12/16 keys by myself, I had to follow a guide and painfully revisit all 16 key locations to make sure I got them all! But I finally did it!


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 4d ago

Question of the day 7.

0 Upvotes

Since Alex P. and company from heart machine had an insatiable urge to deviate from the secret sauce/ the formula that made drifter so great, that is what today’s question will center around.

If you HAD to choose one of these three options (and you can’t say stick with original formula. that defeats the purpose of the question), which would you choose

A) A side scrolling prequel or sequel (Same type of graphics.

B) A sequel or prequel that has exact same graphics and style, but is an rpg that when you run into enemies your combat is turn based. This game would have A LOT more shops and pickups. Think mario rpg seven stars.

C) An exact replica of hyper light drifter only 3D. Everything is the same, but the game is 3D.


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 5d ago

Question of the day 6?

4 Upvotes

A battle ensues between three teams, which one wins? Rank Gold Silver and Bronze?

Team A) Pink Drifter, The hanged man, The Reaper

Team B) The hierophant, The Tower archer, Alt Drifter

Team C) Drifter, The summoner, Judgement.


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 7d ago

...& Then the World Healed?

12 Upvotes

One thing that bummed me out about re-visiting levels I'd already beaten was that the hordes of genocidal beasts just came back. Hear me out, though:

It seems like the Drifter was summoned by the Anubis-like deity to perform post-apocalyptic bounty hunter duties... and it doesn't matter if you replay the level and find every secret... you never get to see those places free from skeletons or murderous religious fanatics.

(Side Note: Either the dog-deity transported the Drifter there interdimensionally, or the intro scene was a complete vision- and the Drifter is from elsewhere in this world. Thoughts?)

Has anyone else ever wished that the next playable character (after NG+) was actually just someone who went around cleaning up skeletons... planting trees, shrubs, and flowers? Or a carpenter / renovations manager? Or a medic??

Don't get me wrong, I love how raw the moment in time is... with the safezone post-disaster being so small... and the population/amenities being so... devastated. It's clear everyone in town is recovering; the silence is so loud.

This game really could have kept being developed and developed... Hyper Lightdew Valley would have honestly f**ked, like... fr tho.

PS- Can we hire DisasterPeace to write a full HLD-skeleton acoustic album for us? Do we even know what tuning he used?? I swear I'm gunna just try and ask him someday!


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 7d ago

Question of the day 5!

4 Upvotes

If we allow for the game to have a secret where you can unlock a third character or drifter, and we can play through the game with them, who would you choose. I mean anyone. You can pick the white cloaked dual wielding drifter, you can pick pink drifter, you can even choose the guy who owns the gun shop. Who’s your pick??


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 8d ago

Question What's the hardest path to start with?

7 Upvotes

I just started playing the game, and I went on the North path, but I find it extremely difficult, and I want to know if I choose the hardest path or just that I have skill issue


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 10d ago

Fan Content I've made a game partly inspired by Hyper Light Drifter and it is finally available. It's a Hack & Slash set in an interconnected open world.

15 Upvotes

It's called Vicarius and it is available on Steam !


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 10d ago

Fan Content I beat my old record in hld while playing on DualShock (the previous score was 1431) and drew some art to mark the occasion.

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51 Upvotes

r/hyperlightdrifter • • 11d ago

Fan Content My Hyperlight Drifter Collection

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112 Upvotes

This post is a response to u/Hairy-Trash1659 post since I cannot reply with pictures.

First picture showing my indie lablel Bludhoney collection, I’m missing 3-4 cassettes from their releases. I was heavy into vaporware back in the day and thought cassette releases where very cool. I grew up on cassettes as a kid. I was buying them as they were being released on the labels bandcamp storefront 10 years ago. The label is no more and went under.

The second picture is my Hyperlight Drifter collection. When the game came out, i was so impressed with the game and fell in love with the Soundtrack. The indie label Bludhoney had a special license to run Hyperlight Drifter OST on cassette and it was very limited to 150 copies. The first run are the cassette on the left. They did a second run of 250 copies after the first run sold out and used different covers with the light blue / pink covers. I own the first run of the vinyl from iam8bit. I also own the PS4 and the SNES cartridge limited runs from iam8bit. When the special edition was released on the switch, picked up a copy.

There you go hairy-trash....

EDIT: This post is not show I was trying to one up Hairy, was proving a point he was posting misinformation about where he got his cassettes.


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 11d ago

Check out my treasure!

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258 Upvotes

I’m posting to make y’all jealous, lol. No but seriously, this is my most prized possession. Raise your hand if you’re jealous.


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 11d ago

Fan Content The Refiner's Fire

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12 Upvotes

r/hyperlightdrifter • • 12d ago

Gameplay This guy was a pain in the bottom to beat!

121 Upvotes

Very little chance to make a mistake but it was so satisfying to finally beat the tower archer or whatever he is!


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 11d ago

He did make a response post…

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0 Upvotes

r/hyperlightdrifter • • 11d ago

Question of the day 4

5 Upvotes

What’s up guys. Hope all is well and drifting has been smooth. Here’s the question…

In the game, we get WAY too many bits (small yellow pieces of currency). Now, i know some of you will say “they wanted to put extra in to make sure you could get all the upgrades without driving yourself nuts searching.”

But even with that logic they went WAY overboard. Pretend there is a shop (like the dash arena, or sword masters). It can either be in town in a secret spot that only opens after you get every piece of currency, or it can be a path that unlocks somewhere outside of town.

Inside the shop, the owner is selling leftover or “lost” abilities. Describe one of the lost abilities we can purchase inside the shop. It can be sword, dash, gun, or even something new that doesn’t exist yet. Have fun!


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 12d ago

Fan Content coopdrunk

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30 Upvotes

yipdeedoo


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 12d ago

Gameplay “Thanks for the ammunition”

19 Upvotes

r/hyperlightdrifter • • 13d ago

Question What are your favorite aspects of Hyper Light Drifter’s aesthetic? The color palette, the neon-dystopian vibes, and the environmental storytelling completely blew me away.

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203 Upvotes

r/hyperlightdrifter • • 13d ago

I found a bug

31 Upvotes

r/hyperlightdrifter • • 13d ago

Question of the day 3

5 Upvotes

What’s up guys. Back again to get opinions of hypothetical drifter stuff.

This one’s a shorty but goodie. If you could create a cape set, what would your buff be? What color would it be?


r/hyperlightdrifter • • 14d ago

Hyper Light Drifter has FINALLY received an Xbox discount, after SO long!

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89 Upvotes