Hyper Light Drifter Gets New Release Date, Is Not Hyper

Old facts: Hyper Light Drifter is a 2D action RPG with i) beautifully drawn and animated pixel art ii) a Kickstarter campaign that asked for $27,000 and received $645,158 iii) the best videogame name around. New facts: i) Hyper Light Drifter won't come out in June as originally planned ii) a closed beta will arrive near June instead iii) the development team are targeting an end-of-year date for the release of the final game.

Hows, whys and new images below.

Images first, because really that's all I care about.

Coo!

Ooh!

Right. The delay is half that normal thing, and half that very specific thing. The normal half: getting more money than they ever expected has caused the scope of the project to change. More than that, the team don't want to rush it out the door in a sloppy state, as they might have had to do back when they were impoverished.

The original approximation of a June release was for a game developed with just myself and Beau Blyth, something much smaller; I would have been creating art for the next six months, with much rougher edges and animation. Since we have been given this remarkable opportunity, the project has evolved, requires polish and finesse that I was not originally afforded. We are able to make the experience whole, into the full vision I had wanted it to be.

The other is that the game's creator, Alex Preston, has health issues that prevent him from pushing himself too hard. Preston spoke to Nathan late last year about how those health issues had informed the design of the game. You can also watch Nathan play an extremely early build of the game over here.

Keep an eye on the Hyper Light Drifter's Kickstarter page for more updates/stunning artwork.