'Hyper Light Drifter' released on PC; console ports coming later this year

Hyper Light DrifterHeart Machine

The indie video game scene has quickly exploded with a rush of good titles over recent years, with games like "Shovel Knight," "FTL: Faster Than Light" and "Stardew Valley" all prime examples of good indie games with a retro flair. Heart Machine's "Hyper Light Drifter" carries that legacy on as it launches for PC, Linux and Mac via Steam.

According to a report from Kotaku, Steam users are reveling with how good the game is. To date, there are over 1,880 reviews on the game's official Steam page and it has still managed to maintain a "mostly positive" rating, which is the highest general average a game can achieve from users on the Steam network. 

Gamespot has given the game a score of 9 out of 10, while on Metro Game Central, the game scored 80 out of 100. To date, the game has averaged a score of 86 on Metacritic, based on 18 different professional reviews from video game sites and authorized video game critics.

"Hyper Light Drifter" utilizes an old-school pixelized 2D artstyle and focusing on action-adventure gameplay, similar to that of "The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past." However, critics are quick to point out that the beautiful artstyle and music are nothing in comparison to how well and responsive the game plays and that its high difficulty is a refreshing change of pace.

However, the game is also set to be released for consoles, particularly the PS4 and Xbox One. According to the game's official trailer, the console ports will be released before the end of the year and fans have begun to speculate whether the console ports will launch before the end of summer, hinting at a potential late June or July release.

Unfortunately, the developers have not given any hints of a portable release on devices such as the PS Vita or the New 3DS.