Hyper Light Drifter Feels Like A Whole New Game

My biggest complaint about Hyper Light Drifter was its 30FPS lock. Mostly because of the the game’s heavy reliance on split-second reactions, such a technical restriction seemed weird even after playing through the game and enjoying it immensely. Luckily, a new Steam update just introduced 60FPS for the Windows release, along with a brand new “boss rush” mode.

The update is currently only available to PC users and can be activated through Hyper Light Drifter’s BETA branch. Here’s a step-by-step guide:

1. Right click on Hyper Light Drifter in your Steam Library
2. Click on “Properties”
3. Click on the “BETAS” tab
4. Click the drop down menu and select “next_update”
5. Click the “close” button and your game should start updating immediately

A World of Difference

Needless to say, the framerate increase is immediately noticeable. Although I don’t consider myself particularly good at the game, a quick session with the updated version allowed me to pull off moves which had seemed impossible. The “boss rush” mode, on the other hand, involves you going through a path riddled with entrances leading to each of the game’s bosses. Of course, you’ll have to finish the game first, but having the option to revisit each fight is certainly welcome.

It’s worth noting that Heart Machine were originally hesitant on changing Hyper Light Drifter‘s framerate. This was mostly due to GameMaker limitations, with the developers even mentioning that the porting process would take many months of laborious work. However, it seems like the team’s hard work has paid off, with a considerable amount of Steam users already commenting on purchasing the game due to the improvement in framerate.