# Hyper Light Drifter — Explore a mysterious world

> Action-adventure RPG with exploration, combat, and hand-animated visuals. (iPhone/iPad app by Abylight S.L..)

- Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hyper-light-drifter/id1453875289 (this page in markdown: same URL + `.md`)
- Developer: [Abylight S.L.](https://appshunter.io/developer/964465649)
- Category: Games, Entertainment, Action, Adventure
- Price: $4.99
- Rating: 4.90/5 from 6,721 App Store ratings · 544 written reviews indexed
- Age rating: 12+
- Requires: iOS 13.0 · 813 MB
- Languages: American English, French (France), German (Germany), Italian, Japanese, Korean, European Portuguese, Russian, Chinese (Simplified, China), European Spanish and 2 more
- Released: 2019-07-25
- Data updated: 2026-09-12
- Monetization: paid
- User reviews in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hyper-light-drifter/id1453875289/reviews.md

## What is Hyper Light Drifter?

Finally, Heart Machine's award winning slash-'em-up arrives to iOS in the most polished and refined version yet, the Special Edition.


► Winner of the Audience Award and Excellence in Visual Art awards of the prestigious Independent Games Festival.

► 14 + nominations among the Best Visual Design, Best Audio and Best original Game categories.

► 9/10 Destructoid - A hallmark of excellence. There may be flaws, but they are negligible and won't cause massive damage.

► 9.5/10 Game Informer - The combination of soundtrack, art, and combat creates a rabbit hole worth your full exploration.

► Eurogamer Recommended - Heart Machine's slash-'em-up is punishing and precise - and incredibly beautiful.

► 9/10 GameSpot - It is more than simply pretty; Hyper Light Drifter uses its visuals to both guide and relax you. The grandest vistas calm your pulse between difficult, breathless combat sequences.

► 8.5 Polygon - Hyper Light Drifter deftly mixes contemplative moments with breakneck action.

► 5 Stars Darkstation - The top-down action-RPG Hyper Light Drifter is an amazing game: gorgeous, a fascinating world to explore, tight controls, beautiful music, and the faith in the player for you to figure things out on your own.


Echoes of a dark and violent past resonate throughout a savage land, steeped in treasure and blood. Drifters of this world are the collectors of forgotten knowledge, lost technologies and broken histories. Our Drifter is haunted by an insatiable illness, traveling further into the lands of Buried Time, hoping to discover a way to quiet the vicious disease.

Hyper Light Drifter is an action adventure RPG in the vein of the best 16-bit classics, with modernized mechanics and designs on a much grander scale. Explore a beautiful, vast and ruined world riddled with dangers and lost technologies.


Features:

● 120 fps gameplay on iPad Pro / 60 fps on iPhone and iPad.
● Compatible with MFi controllers.
● Game Center achievements.
● Haptic Vibration.
● From each character to subtle background elements, everything is lovingly hand-animated.
● Easy to pick up, difficult to master; enemies are vicious and numerous, hazards will easily crush your frail body, and friendly faces remain rare.
● Upgrade weapons, learn new skills, discover equipment and traverse a dark, detailed world with branching paths and secrets abound.
● Evocative soundtrack composed by Disasterpeace.
● All the content from the original game + more weapons, enemies and areas from the Special edition.

## Key features

- Hand-animated visuals
- Vast, ruined world exploration
- Challenging combat
- Weapon upgrades and skills
- Branching paths and secrets
- Evocative soundtrack

## Chart rankings

- #122 in Top Paid · Action (US App Store)
- #129 in Top Paid · Adventure (US App Store)

## What do users think of Hyper Light Drifter?

Overall sentiment: positive

**Pros**

- 🔥 Gorgeous game
- 👍 Engaging gameplay
- 🎨 Beautiful art style
- 🎶 Excellent soundtrack
- 🤯 Challenging but fair
- 🕹️ Great controls (with controller)
- 💎 High-quality mobile port

**Cons**

- 🤖 Unclear controls/tutorials
- 🤕 Frustrating difficulty
- 🤔 Lack of story explanation
- 🤖 Unresponsive touch controls
- 🤕 Imprecise aiming/platforming
- 🤖 Unreliable dash ability

**Commonly reported bugs**

- Game crashes when fighting in the tower
- Background glitches and visual issues
- Inconsistent frame rate on some devices

**Most requested features**

- Add controller remapping
- Improve touch control responsiveness
- Provide more story context
- Adjust difficulty settings
- Add widescreen support for newer devices

## Recent user reviews (10 of 544)

All indexed reviews: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/hyper-light-drifter/id1453875289/reviews.md

### 5/5 — Perfect

*2026-08-21, version 1.1.7*

I cannot describe how amazing this game is.
Everything from the combat to the visual storytelling is perfect.
By far the best game I’ve played.

### 4/5 — Please bring proper support for MacBook

*2026-08-16, version 1.1.7*

This game is not only one of the best I’ve ever played, but it supports Apple features like Game Center achievements and cloud sync for saves. My only pet peeve is that it does not have proper support on Mac. This game would simply be perfect if they supported keyboard and full screen mode on Mac.

### 5/5 — Dead cells but if it was an open world and more fair

*2026-08-10, version 1.1.7*

The art style is great and the story and vibe feels nice, calm, and adventurous

### 5/5 — Came for the art stayed for the story

*2026-07-28, version 1.1.7*

Beautiful art style drew me in and did not disappoint! Love the gameplay and story as well !

### 5/5 — Beauty in its finest form

*2026-07-18, version 1.1.7*

Assisted by masterful pixel art, and a harmonious soundtrack by Disasterpeace, Hyper Light Drifter tells a short but emotionally grabbing story without using any words (aside from the tutorial), rather allowing the player to explore its unknown world and connect overtime with the characters and history.

One of the few games to make me cry at the ending, HLD will always hold a special place in my heart and remain as one of the most mesmerising games I have ever witnessed.

Gameplay wise, controls are smooth but the excessive buttons flooding the screen can result in clunky gameplay, which is compensated for by giving the player nearly twice their typical health.
This could be seen as lacklustre compared to the console/pc controls, but I find the mobile version to be well worth the price, especially if you’re up for an extra challenge!

### 5/5 — The first genuinely good game I’ve ever played

*2026-07-18, version 1.1.7*

Everything is amazing but it would be great if the alt drifter could have a clear goal or backstory. Overall 10/10

### 5/5 — Awe!!!

*2026-07-17, version 1.1.7*

Worth it . Quite fun during lectures section

### 5/5 — (2026)

*2026-07-14, version 1.1.7*

ความยาก:กลางๆ สำรวจ:10/10 ห้องลับด่านลับเยอะมากๆๆๆๆเหลือเกิน
หากว่าใครจบเนื้อเรื่องได้แล้วแต่ว่ายังเหลือด่านลับห้องลับโครตเยอะ(เยอะจริงๆ) โดยรวม 7/10

### 5/5 — Чик пук

*2026-07-13, version 1.1.7*

Заебончик

### 5/5 — 👍🔥🙌

*2026-07-13, version 1.1.7*

很好玩的遊戲，不用文字也能發展劇情，讓各個國家的人，都可以不受語言限制的遊玩🔥👍

## Frequently asked questions about Hyper Light Drifter

### What kind of game is Hyper Light Drifter?

Hyper Light Drifter is an action-adventure RPG inspired by 16-bit classics, featuring modernized mechanics. It emphasizes exploration of a beautiful, vast, and ruined world filled with dangers and lost technologies.

### What are the key gameplay features?

The game offers challenging combat against vicious enemies, exploration of a detailed world with branching paths and secrets, weapon upgrades, new skills to learn, and equipment to discover. It also features a hand-animated art style and an evocative soundtrack.

### How much does Hyper Light Drifter cost?

Hyper Light Drifter is a premium application, meaning it requires a one-time purchase to download and play. There are no in-app purchases or advertisements within the game.

### What devices is Hyper Light Drifter compatible with?

The game is available on iOS and offers optimized performance, including 120 fps gameplay on iPad Pro and 60 fps on iPhone and iPad. It is also compatible with MFi controllers for enhanced gameplay.

### What is the story of Hyper Light Drifter?

Players take on the role of a Drifter haunted by a mysterious illness, traveling through a savage land steeped in treasure and blood. The goal is to uncover forgotten knowledge, lost technologies, and broken histories in hopes of finding a cure.

## Version history (last 5 releases)

### 1.1.7 — 2021-10-30

Improved compatibility with 120 hz screen refresh rate on the new iPhone and iPad models.

### 1.1.6 — 2020-05-19

- Fixed a graphic glitch that may happen sometimes in the in backgrounds.

### 1.1.5 — 2020-05-11

- Improved full-screen experience in menus.
- Usual small bug fixes and performance improvements.

### 1.1.4 — 2020-02-26

- Improved compatibility with iPhone 6 devices.
- Minor bug fixing.

### 1.1.3 — 2019-12-19

- Fixed a bug that caused the videos not to work under certain circumstances.
- Fixed a bug that affected the music when the game was restarted.

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## More apps by Abylight S.L.

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All apps by Abylight S.L.: https://appshunter.io/developer/964465649

## Related topics

[hyper drifter](https://appshunter.io/ios/topics/hyper-drifter)

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*Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-12.*