|
|
Genre: Adventure Developer & Publisher: Powerhoof Released: July 17, 2025 Requirements: OS: Windows 10 or later Processor: X64 architecture with SSE2 instruction set support Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: DirectX 10, 11 or 12 capable GPU DirectX: Version 10 Storage: 4 GB available space
|
|
|
By flotsam Powerhoof Another piece of third person pixel art point-and-click, The Drifter has a more retro look than some other such games, but it doesn't detract from the goings-on. Indeed, while generally dark and occasionally gruesome, it delivers a heap of pulpy thrilling adventuring. You play Mick Carter, homeless and wandering from place to place. Having received a call from his sister about the death of his mother, he jumps a train to make his way back for the funeral. But a murder intervenes, one which, as the Steam page says, sucks him "headfirst into a lunatic web of shadowy corporations, murder, and the thousand-year obsession of a madman." Not to mention black-ops soldiers, something called a Mulindji, and a surprising twist or three. And death. Mick can ‘die,’ but will come back, and more than that he will know it has happened. Which makes for some interesting musings, as well as the mechanics of preventing it from happening again (and again). It also makes for an excellent sequence towards the end of the game where completely the opposite is true! If you do meet an ‘untimely’ end, you just get to try again so there is no need to have saved at a critical point. The game autosaves, including on exit, but you can also save at will (although not in the middle of various sequences), a welcome part of any adventure. It is point-and-click all the way, the mouse doing everything. Mick won’t run but double clicking an exit point will jump him there, and holding down the mouse will cause Mick to follow it, including as screens slide left or right. Or just point and click to have him move in the usual way. The curser will reveal information about environmental objects, as well as whether you can interact, look or talk with whatever it is pointed at. The talk icon when activated will pop up a row of pictograms bottom of screen indicating topics you might ask about. Not everything will be available for every character, and active topics will be indicated. Top of screen is the inventory, from which you can click items and then seek to use them in the game world or with each other. Revelations or insights are up there as well, a flashing ‘plus’ sign indicating something has been added. I tended to pay attention to those plus signs, as they could provide an indication of what to do next. The conundrums are mainly situational – use the right item/s, have the right conversation etc. – and whilst it isn’t a difficult game, and patience and persistence was often rewarded, there were times when I had little idea as to what that next thing might be. That said, in a game with so many conundrums interwoven into an intricate narrative, I would be surprised if I wasn’t stuck now and again. There were also some sequences, usually involving needing to do something (or a bunch of somethings) before something else happened, that could become frustrating. As I like to keep things moving along, there were times I had regard to a text walkthrough, which provided a ‘next move’ nudge. You however may be more pugnacious than me. Speaking of the narrative, Mick narrates much of what is going on, and I thought his surly laconic undertone added to the gritty nature of things. He is at the centre of everything, and is as complicated a character as the story he drives forward. I liked him, pitied him even, felt for what he had gone through and yet wouldn’t/couldn’t face. Grief, avoidance, denial; it’s a rich tapestry. It’s also a cracking good yarn. Well written, it went places I wasn’t expecting, supported by a well voiced ensemble of other characters. All of them also quintessentially Australian, which I particularly enjoyed. Indeed, there is an unashamedly Aussie grindhouse feel to the whole thing. An eclectic and varied soundtrack keeps pace, underpinning the sometimes quiet, sometimes frenetic nature of the on-screen events. The blockier pixel art than some other contemporary games is deceiving. The art direction, the animation, the lighting – all are top notch and help create a vibrant and as realistic a world as a pile of pixels can be. I reckon at least 10 hours awaits most players. There is some colourful language if that bothers you. I had a rollicking good time. A two-person studio based in Melbourne, on the strength of The Drifter I will be on the look out for the next Powerhoof production. I played on: OS: Windows 11, 64 Bit Processor: Intel i7-9700K 3.7GHz RAM: Corsair Dominator Platinum RGB DDR4 32GB Video card: AMD Radeon RX 580 8192MB
|
