Hyper Light Drifter Dev Reveals Its Next Project, Solar Ash Kingdom

I’m excited. With that said I don’t like the name at all lol. They just picked another three seemingly random words and put them together to sound like it’s cool. It sounds more like the name of a level than a full game. Anyone agree? Also I got Steven Universe vibes for some reason and I love that.

I REALLY hope this comes to switch. I loved HLD

hyper light rollerblader

Oh wow... really hope the world looks like that. Wish they make an HD remastered of HLD.

Glad to see on the EPIC store. Got Metro: Exodus (amazing game) on it to support them. Steam, Nintendo, SONY, Microsoft all need to stop with the 30% cut nonsense also.

The soundtrack is quite peculiar and beautiful.

Looks beautiful. I just hope the actual gameplay doesn't pan into a 2D-plane, but is an actual 3D environment.

I'm a bit sick of the shear volume of 2D indie titles at the moment (nothing against them in general though).

@gloom
I think that naming formula worked for Hyper Light Drifter, which just oozes cyberpunk cool. But Solar Ash Kingdom sounds kinda like anime nonsense, and nothing about that bright palette suggests "ash" to me.

@gloom I kinda agree - but the same can be said of the name 'Hyper Light Drifter' so maybe that's going to be their thing going forward. Here's betting the next one is: Astral Flex Matrix.

im to old for this game

Ok, this looks absolutely fantastic. I got chills with those last piano chords.

Hyper Light Drifter is easily one of my favorite games, and this looks like an even more ambitious continuation of its excellent storytelling and world building. This is already my most hyped upcoming game.

@FrowningCoach Really? - it doesn't look like a 'cool for kids' kind of game. It looks a bit more artistically mature.

@FrowningCoach I agree with @brunojenso. This is a game that seems to capture some of that early 3D charm. Not much was shown, but it was certainly appealing to me, a guy (too) quickly approaching his 30s.

As Hyper light Drifter is a wonder at my eye this game will be a wonder too. I have deep trust in this game studio and I'll buy this new game day one. I like so much colorful environment!!

Sweet!
Have to say, though... in an age where people already basically dehumanize game devs, is it really okay to refer to an indie studio as "it"? I mean, who refers to a rock band as "it"? And there are all of nine people for HLD and eleven for this one.

By contrast, BioWare has around 800 employees. At that point, it's somewhat understandable. You aren't referring to a team anymore, but a major studio company working under corporate expectations.

@brunojenso it is now safe to create the Heart Machine name generator

Dear god, it's... Exactly the same!

Are they contractually obligated to use the same number of syllables per title?

For a second I thought that was Greninja....

I’m confident it will be pretty good, but honestly I’m also sick of every indie 3D game using No Man’s Sky aesthetics. Give it a break.

@ELRinley Lol. You gotta be able to tell the difference between intentional degradation and correct use of language.

@Agramonte Epic are buying up exclusives left and right, which is just as anti-consumer as what the other companies are doing. Mandatory DRM, and hardly any features. No thank you. Steam may be a mess, and GOG may not have all the games, but that doesn't make the Epic Store the best option.

Anyway, trailer looks good, but I'd be lying if I said it wasn't for the music. This is their first 3D project, so I hope they get it ''right'' the first time. HLD was amazing, and if this is half as good, I'm satisfied. I just hope it comes to other stores/systems eventually...

If it's anything like Hyperlight drifter it will be amazing

If you’re gonna do limited color palette stay away from the red/teal look. So overdone now am I right?

@rushiosan not exactly accurate considering its the same aesthetic as hyper light drifter, which was in development at the same time as no man’s sky—and its really just a color scheme, not a similarity in design at all.

O_O j'adore

(words)

!

@FrowningCoach Dude you are never too old for a good game. And anyone who tried to tell you otherwise deserves a swift kick in the shins.

Day 1 buy on Switch if it happens. Hyper Light Drifter is a beautiful game both visually and mechanically, and this looks like more of that but in 3D.

Looks a treat but I can’t help for yearn for some of the lush pixelatations that made their first game so unique and engrossing.

Still- this new project should be a neat experience, I look forward to learning more about it as time presses on.

The first one hasn't gone Physical yet ....

I enjoyed the satisfying combat in Hyper light drifter, but beating the core game left me underwhelmed, as you have to do some insane feats to unlock the "real ending". I hate when games do this, give players the real ending for beating the main story!! Totally ruined the experience for me.

All I needed to hear were the words Hyper Light Drifter. I'm there day 1.

Sounds like a fresh new disasterpeace soundtrack possibly. I have sucha crush on all his stuff😍

It looks nice. Now should I try to fit Hyper light drifter in my backlog?

@jwfurness The music is one of my favorite aspects of Hyper Light Drifter. Really evokes the best of sci fi from the 60s, 70s and 80s.

@nofriendo Makes me want to play HLD even more! Just waiting on that inevitable physical version.

@Octane Not about one is better or not. They are stores, none of them care about us one way or the other.

I only need 2 "features" on PC to play Metro: Exodus. "Buy it" and "Auto Update it"... exactly what the eShop gives me on Switch. In return I play the game for 49.99 and the developer gets 88% of that for making it.

As a consumer - I am 100% for that. Steam can "compete" by giving game makers a better cut for their years of work. Nobody would be giving exclusives to EPIC if they did.

@Agramonte 88% of $50 is $44; and 70% of $60 is $42. If the $2 difference is a ''better cut for their years of work'', you may as well mail them a five dollar note, because that's more than double as effective

It all sounds very noble on paper, but in reality it doesn't make a difference for developers. It just means that Epic is handing out large sums of money for exclusivity, and they can afford it because of Fortnite. They're effectively buying themselves a competitive position in the market.

The move with Metro Exodus didn't sit well with me. Deep Silver is also partly to blame here; You don't just announce an exclusive deal mere weeks before the release, when pre-orders were already paid, and people were already looking forward to play it on their promised platform of choice.

@Octane retail/volume software $2 per unit is great - especially that nobody needs to keep it at $49 (Even saving 0.5c in processing fees over 2 quarters makes a difference). Actually it is obvious that developers do care about it at this point.

You also really like middle-men - now you advocating to pay the mail man a cut for them to get cash 😉

Anyone who had a pre-order on Steam got their game. Anyone who did not - could simply get it for $49 on EPIC. Just like you can get The Division 2 on UPlay or EPIC. Steam should not be a "requirement" for any game.

All that was Just another example of misguided loyalty. Basically 101 in marketing on how to create cash cows.

Looks interesting.
Heay, is that Shadow Lol!

...featuring Dharkon.

@Fazermint Didn't imply otherwise. The perceived problem isn't intentional degradation, but rather a perceived likelihood of unintentional dialectical dehumanization contributing to subconscious dehumanization of game developers.