10 Most Stylish Video Games Of The Last 10 Years
7. Hyper Light Drifter
Hyper Light Drifter is a perfect example of homage done right. Fusing early, top-down Zelda games with the dungeon crawling styles of newer titles (yet not a roguelike), is always a gamble to any indie studio.
HLD manages to, but to call it minimalist would be wrong. It's a packed world, with much to explore, but it doesn't tell you what to do. It tells a story with no narration, points you in the vaguest of directions and lets you find out the hard way.
But soon that hard way turns into "No way! Did you see that?!" when you get into the combat. It's a fairly simple mechanic: you have sword and gun, don't get smacked about too much or you'll die. Yet once you're in full swing, it becomes some of the most balletic and graceful action games outside of a big budget Platinum or Capcom title.
It's a pixel-art game done right, hitting that little nostalgia button that reminds you of the good ol' days of SNES/Mega Drive adventures. No dialogue, just a haunting soundtrack from Disasterpiece and your own wits to guide you.