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0 There are not many games that I would sit up until 2am playing solo but it was impossible to stop playing The Drifter. After checking out the demo, I was super excited to get my hands on the finished product. What’s even better news for you is The Drifter officially releases today on Steam!
Death, death and more death? Point and click me to the sign up sheet!
Gameplay
The gameplay is the same as I mentioned in the preview. You point and click, pick up items and solve puzzles using your environment. The main story takes what is has already given us and elevates it further. The story took a direction that I really wasn’t expecting which is why I enjoyed it so much.
However, I did say in my playthrough of the demo that it didn’t seem too hard. I take it back.
Whilst the difficulty isn’t exponentially higher than in the first chapter there are a few moments through this game where I feel like it would be easy to get lost and not make any progress. Most of the time it was just me being silly and thinking that certain clues were too obvious to be clues but there were genuine moments where The Drifter had me drifting through all the game notes to look for help. There is a lot of back forth, which is to be expected in a point and click game. However, particularly in chapter 4 and chapter 8, there is a lot of doing one thing, going somewhere else to do a thing, and then going back. It’s definitely not a bad thing, I just kept getting my wires crossed and my clues confused!
Story & Characters
The Drifter isn’t just a supernatural story about a man that suddenly starts to come back to life. It’s a story about loss and grief and the ways that people try to deal with it. The main story may seem like an adventure to understand why you’ve got this new supernatural ability but it is interwoven with side characters and secondary stories that culminate into something really impressive and pretty hard hitting.
The cast of the game are also really well rounded. No one is a copy of someone else and they have their own quirks that add elements to further enhance the overarching themes of the game. Hara is my favourite character, even when he’s supposed to be a serious detective, he has a couple of lines that just made me laugh. Even if you’re not a massive fan of point and click games, The Drifter keeps you captivated with a story that seems like fantasy on the surface but holds relevance to everyone as you get further into the game.
Graphics & Audio
I’m still amazed by how unsettling Powerhoof has managed to make 8-bit graphics. The background and location design is next level. You can see the love and craft that has gone into every frame on every section of the map. Nothing feels unfinished or rushed. Character and enemy designs are also really strong with the enemies in the game having such unsettling features that you recoil a bit when the first appear.
Similarly, the audio helps build up this tension and offer brief reprieve depending on where you are in the game. The voice acting also speaks for itself – no pun intended. The delivery of some the more humorous lines were so good that I was actually laughing, not just doing that quick exhale laugh people do.
Longevity
I loved every minute of the 8 hours that I sunk into this game. Ultimately you could probably get through it in a shorter length of time if you’re smarter than me. I was hooked from the start and still have a few achievements to collect of small side things that can happen. Is it a game that you can immediately restart? In my honest opinion, no. That being said, it is definitely a game that you can replay. I have left it installed on my library with the intention of going back and getting those last couple of achievements just to say I have them all.
Final Thoughts
The hype I had from playing the demo was definitely not let down in the full release. Powerhoof really surprised me with the direction in which they took this story and I truly loved playing it. Mick is a really interesting character and learning more about why he was a drifter was a unique experience that I’ve not really had in a point and click game.
I’m so glad I got the chance to sink my teeth into The Drifter and would recommend it to anyone that was already a fan of the genre or looking for a way to step into it.
It wouldn’t be fair to give The Drifter anything other than the Thumb Culture Platinum Award.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
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