They are clearly the bad guys in the story, and the player-character is always diametrically opposed to them in both a gameplay and story context. But we are never actually given the chance to pass moral judgment on Team Rocket’s activities. Since the business of capturing Pokémon and keeping them in Pokéballs invites the obvious comparison to slavery, the games introduce Team Rocket as an example of how people can take advantage of Pokémon. The Pokémon games are a good example of this. There are a number of games that have a moral message wrapped up somewhere in the plot, but many of them are similarly heavy handed in how the present this moral. I think it has a lot to do with Preston’s willingness to accept the player’s interpretation of the game. So what is it that Hyper Light Drifter gets so right? I’d argue that it has some of the best world-building of any game released in the past couple months. And yet, despite this feature, Hyper Light Drifter manages to establish a rich story and interesting characters through a combination of cut scenes and environmental storytelling. For the vast majority of the game there aren’t even recognizable words, with the only script appearing being a set of indecipherable glyphs. In an industry that uses dialogue so heavily to establish plot points and character motivations, Hyper Light Drifter is the rare exception in that there is no dialogue whatsoever. His expertise in crafting worlds on a canvas is pretty obvious to anyone who plays the game, and it’s one of the reasons why Hyper Light Drifter is so unique. The project was spearheaded by lead designer Alex Preston who, interestingly enough, is an artist by trade and is only just venturing into the video game industry. It’s easily one of the most beautiful games I’ve ever played, featuring an incredible, atmospheric soundtrack and absolutely gorgeous visuals. I recently finished playing Hyper Light Drifter by Heart Machine, the latest indie game success story from Kickstarter. Note: This is an excerpt from a blog post - to see pictures and hyperlinks, click here.
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