Hyper Light Drifter vs Superliminal
Hyper Light Drifter
Hyper Light Drifter is an action-adventure RPG with a very unique pixel-based art style and a fun gameplay that will keep you coming back for more. The storyline in this game is pretty bleak since you play as a drifter who happens to have an odd but vicious disease that keeps haunting your thoughts and dodging your every move. By traveling to the dark and savage lands of Buried Time, you hope to find a way to finally be free of this illness.Being ill, you aren't exactly in your fighting prime and so, instead of relying on your frailing strength, combat in this game mainly involves dashing away to avoid blows and trying to strike the enemy in between dashes. In some way, it may feel like being the less burly underdog in a WWE match. There are plenty of weapons to help you though, along with a variety of incredible skills which you can master.
The world you play in is also quite vast, with plenty of hidden nooks and crannies - usually with a bonus reward in them - for you to find. In addition to the story mode, there is a horde mode (endless) as well where you can truly put your combat skills to the test. However, one of the best things about this game is the soundtrack which somehow seems to complement the game's graphics and its overall atmosphere perfectly.
With the unique pixel art and the old-school feel, Hyper Light Drifter may not be everyone's cup of tea, but if you do enjoy such games, you'll find that this game is truly a hidden indie gem.
Superliminal
Superliminal is designed to challenge even the most avid of puzzle solvers, providing them with mind-boggling puzzles, the unique ability to change the size of objects based on depth in perception, and a story filled with heart.The game starts off with you dozing off at the couch in front of a TV showing a weird commercial about some dream therapy program that promptly landed you in a weird dream-like state in which you find yourself the subject of an odd scientific experiment. Thankfully, unlike the more surgical kind of experimentation which would definitely turn the game into a horror show, the scientist behind this experiment is more concerned about testing your mind and its ability to perceive, pushing it to its very limits.
Superliminal offers a nice variety of perspective-based puzzles for you to solve as you move from room to room in what seems to be a vast yet empty scientific complex. The puzzles here start off easy enough since the game does have to do its job of introducing the mechanics to you. The mechanics here mostly involve finding objects that you can manipulate (a.k.a. resize and reposition) and then use in the puzzle’s solution in order to move on to the next “level” or room.
Once you got a hold of the basics, the difficulty of the puzzles starts to ramp up and at times, you might find yourself completely at loss as to what you should do, as I did… and I’m ashamed to say pretty early on in the game. When the game says that “what you see isn’t always what you get”, it’s not kidding.
Superliminal is one of those rare, trippy puzzle games that either you get it or you don’t. Puzzle enthusiasts might find the game more than intriguing to take a crack at due to its unique perspective-based puzzles. The game may be short but the experience it leaves you is unforgettable!