The Game Census
Hyper Light Drifter cover art

Hyper Light Drifter

Heart Machine · 2016-03-31

SteamGOGPlayStation StoreEpic Games StoreMicrosoft Store

ActionAdventureIndieRPG

Modes: Single player, Multiplayer, Co-operative · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Mar 31, 2016 (Linux), Mar 31, 2016 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Jul 26, 2016 (Xbox One), Jul 26, 2016 (PlayStation 4), TBD (Wii U), TBD (PlayStation Vita)

Explore a beautiful, vast and ruined world riddled with dangers and lost technologies.

Hyper Light Drifter is a 2016 Action, Adventure, Indie and RPG game priced at $19.99, with an owner estimate of 1,000,000 .. 2,000,000 and a review sentiment of Very Positive (93% of 19182 reviews).

26
playing now
93%
positive of 19k reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
1,000,000–2,000,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
89/100
critic score (11 outlets, IGDB)
80/100
IGDB user rating (254 ratings)
3
Nexus mods (109 downloads)
4.70★
PlayStation Store rating (4,283 ratings)
84/100
opencritic · mighty · 85% recommend · from 59 critics
7.8h
to beat · rushed 5h · completionist 35h
gold
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$19.99
steam price (US)

26 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 11:00 UTC (census sample)

Hyper Light Drifter is an action role-playing game developed and published by Heart Machine. The Microsoft Windows, Linux and OS X versions were released in March 2016, and the PlayStation 4 and Xbox One versions in July 2016. A Special Edition port of the game, featuring additional content, was released by Abylight Studios for the Nintendo Switch in September 2018, for iOS devices in July 2019 and for Android devices in June 2024.

Trailer

Hyper Light Drifter trailer thumbnail

Hyper Light Drifter - Release Trailer

≈387,802 YouTube results for this game's trailer search

Health check

Healthy
  • · 26 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 779 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~97/week).
  • · Review velocity up 3% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 3% of 27,529 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-27

Estimated sales: 480k–1.2M copies

Review-multiple estimate from 19,182 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

Microsoft Store$4.99-75%
GOG$19.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $3.99 at GOG (2020-03-18) · bundled 5×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $19.99 · on sale 8 of 55 observed days · $16.00 above the all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
27527520182026Week of 2018-01-01: 237 positiveWeek of 2018-01-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2018-02-01: 118 positiveWeek of 2018-02-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2018-03-01: 72 positiveWeek of 2018-03-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2018-04-01: 70 positiveWeek of 2018-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-05-01: 221 positiveWeek of 2018-05-01: 18 negativeWeek of 2018-06-01: 159 positiveWeek of 2018-06-01: 12 negativeWeek of 2018-07-01: 151 positiveWeek of 2018-07-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2018-08-01: 66 positiveWeek of 2018-08-01: 15 negativeWeek of 2018-09-01: 60 positiveWeek of 2018-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2018-10-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2018-10-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2018-11-01: 275 positiveWeek of 2018-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2018-12-01: 76 positiveWeek of 2018-12-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2019-01-01: 82 positiveWeek of 2019-01-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2019-02-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2019-02-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-03-01: 56 positiveWeek of 2019-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-04-01: 50 positiveWeek of 2019-04-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-05-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2019-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2019-06-01: 144 positiveWeek of 2019-06-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2019-07-01: 149 positiveWeek of 2019-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-08-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2019-08-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2019-09-01: 23 positiveWeek of 2019-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2019-10-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2019-10-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-11-01: 117 positiveWeek of 2019-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2019-12-01: 121 positiveWeek of 2019-12-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2020-01-01: 94 positiveWeek of 2020-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2020-02-01: 73 positiveWeek of 2020-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-03-01: 114 positiveWeek of 2020-03-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-04-01: 131 positiveWeek of 2020-04-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2020-05-01: 111 positiveWeek of 2020-05-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2020-06-01: 107 positiveWeek of 2020-06-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2020-07-01: 137 positiveWeek of 2020-07-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2020-08-01: 88 positiveWeek of 2020-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-09-01: 74 positiveWeek of 2020-09-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2020-10-01: 73 positiveWeek of 2020-10-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2020-11-01: 80 positiveWeek of 2020-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2020-12-01: 103 positiveWeek of 2020-12-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2021-01-01: 104 positiveWeek of 2021-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2021-02-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2021-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2021-03-01: 61 positiveWeek of 2021-03-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2021-04-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 55 positiveWeek of 2021-05-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2021-06-01: 75 positiveWeek of 2021-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-07-01: 69 positiveWeek of 2021-07-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-08-01: 64 positiveWeek of 2021-08-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2021-09-01: 58 positiveWeek of 2021-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-10-01: 53 positiveWeek of 2021-10-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2021-11-01: 58 positiveWeek of 2021-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2021-12-01: 67 positiveWeek of 2021-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2022-01-01: 72 positiveWeek of 2022-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-02-01: 52 positiveWeek of 2022-02-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-03-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2022-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-04-01: 84 positiveWeek of 2022-04-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-05-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2022-05-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2022-06-01: 51 positiveWeek of 2022-06-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2022-07-01: 57 positiveWeek of 2022-07-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2022-08-01: 233 positiveWeek of 2022-08-01: 44 negativeWeek of 2022-09-01: 62 positiveWeek of 2022-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2022-10-01: 50 positiveWeek of 2022-10-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2022-11-01: 111 positiveWeek of 2022-11-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2022-12-01: 99 positiveWeek of 2022-12-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-01-01: 91 positiveWeek of 2023-01-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2023-02-01: 52 positiveWeek of 2023-02-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-03-01: 87 positiveWeek of 2023-03-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-04-01: 71 positiveWeek of 2023-04-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2023-05-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2023-05-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-06-01: 54 positiveWeek of 2023-06-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2023-07-01: 52 positiveWeek of 2023-07-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-08-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2023-08-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-09-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2023-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-10-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 50 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 52 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 48 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 45 positiveWeek of 2024-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-03-01: 38 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 83 positiveWeek of 2024-04-01: 19 negativeWeek of 2024-05-01: 67 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 64 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 95 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 16 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 58 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 46 positiveWeek of 2024-10-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-11-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 47 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 102 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 63 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 7 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 46 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 11 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 117 positiveWeek of 2025-04-01: 17 negativeWeek of 2025-05-01: 141 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 87 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 60 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 102 positiveWeek of 2025-08-01: 14 negativeWeek of 2025-09-01: 89 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-10-01: 39 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 49 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 55 positiveWeek of 2025-12-01: 9 negativeWeek of 2026-01-01: 54 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 8 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 42 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 44 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 43 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 177 positiveWeek of 2026-05-01: 20 negativeWeek of 2026-06-01: 132 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 10 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 162 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 13 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 99 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 19 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

114232026-09-14 20:00 — 52 players2026-09-16 04:00 — 27 players2026-09-17 12:00 — 23 players2026-09-18 19:00 — 92 players2026-09-20 03:00 — 61 players2026-09-21 11:00 — 58 players2026-09-22 18:00 — 80 players2026-09-24 02:00 — 56 players2026-09-25 09:00 — 44 players2026-09-26 17:00 — 103 players2026-09-28 00:00 — 88 players2026-09-29 08:00 — 35 players2026-09-30 15:00 — 69 players2026-10-01 23:00 — 62 players2026-10-03 06:00 — 63 players2026-10-04 14:00 — 84 players2026-10-05 22:00 — 86 players2026-10-07 05:00 — 36 players2026-10-08 13:00 — 61 players2026-10-09 20:00 — 76 players2026-10-11 04:00 — 46 players2026-10-12 12:00 — 37 players2026-10-13 19:00 — 63 players2026-10-14 11:00 — 26 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
1.1k2Mar 2016Aug 2026Mar 2016 — avg 2 · peak 6Jul 2016 — avg 220 · peak 648Nov 2016 — avg 139 · peak 474Mar 2017 — avg 244 · peak 1,181Jul 2017 — avg 305 · peak 779Nov 2017 — avg 107 · peak 271Mar 2018 — avg 76 · peak 146Jul 2018 — avg 127 · peak 377Nov 2018 — avg 65 · peak 151Mar 2019 — avg 51 · peak 118Jul 2019 — avg 41 · peak 78Nov 2019 — avg 38 · peak 105Mar 2020 — avg 47 · peak 101Jul 2020 — avg 84 · peak 199Nov 2020 — avg 40 · peak 78Mar 2021 — avg 37 · peak 74Jul 2021 — avg 39 · peak 80Nov 2021 — avg 33 · peak 70Mar 2022 — avg 29 · peak 60Jul 2022 — avg 34 · peak 68Nov 2022 — avg 44 · peak 131Mar 2023 — avg 52 · peak 181Jul 2023 — avg 32 · peak 61Nov 2023 — avg 24 · peak 51Mar 2024 — avg 25 · peak 53Jul 2024 — avg 52 · peak 137Nov 2024 — avg 22 · peak 49Mar 2025 — avg 27 · peak 114Jul 2025 — avg 34 · peak 67Nov 2025 — avg 28 · peak 55Mar 2026 — avg 22 · peak 52Jul 2026 — avg 75 · peak 180Aug 2026 — avg 65 · peak 133
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$19.99$4.992015-01-012026-10-142015-01-01 — best price $15.002016-03-31 — best price $17.992016-07-31 — best price $15.992016-11-01 — best price $19.992016-11-28 — best price $19.992017-02-10 — best price $11.992017-03-29 — best price $9.992017-09-07 — best price $9.992017-11-16 — best price $9.992018-01-04 — best price $19.992018-02-23 — best price $19.992018-05-28 — best price $19.992018-07-09 — best price $19.992018-12-17 — best price $19.992019-08-22 — best price $19.992019-12-19 — best price $9.992020-03-30 — best price $19.992020-07-09 — best price $19.992020-10-10 — best price $19.992020-12-08 — best price $19.992021-05-24 — best price $19.992021-10-15 — best price $19.992022-07-04 — best price $19.992022-12-22 — best price $9.992023-04-04 — best price $9.992024-04-10 — best price $7.992025-02-17 — best price $19.992026-05-18 — best price $19.992026-08-28 — best price $19.992026-09-03 — best price $19.992026-09-09 — best price $19.992026-09-15 — best price $19.992026-09-21 — best price $4.992026-09-27 — best price $19.992026-10-03 — best price $19.992026-10-09 — best price $19.992026-10-14 — best price $19.99
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Attention

1.1k1072026-05-29 — 181 pageviews2026-06-02 — 169 pageviews2026-06-06 — 170 pageviews2026-06-10 — 193 pageviews2026-06-14 — 197 pageviews2026-06-18 — 132 pageviews2026-06-22 — 155 pageviews2026-06-26 — 172 pageviews2026-06-30 — 179 pageviews2026-07-04 — 115 pageviews2026-07-08 — 149 pageviews2026-07-12 — 111 pageviews2026-07-16 — 115 pageviews2026-07-20 — 123 pageviews2026-07-24 — 122 pageviews2026-07-28 — 164 pageviews2026-08-01 — 153 pageviews2026-08-05 — 149 pageviews2026-08-09 — 206 pageviews2026-08-13 — 174 pageviews2026-08-17 — 148 pageviews2026-08-21 — 145 pageviews2026-08-25 — 117 pageviews2026-08-29 — 133 pageviews2026-09-02 — 116 pageviews2026-09-06 — 122 pageviews2026-09-10 — 124 pageviews2026-09-14 — 146 pageviews2026-09-18 — 458 pageviews2026-09-22 — 231 pageviews2026-09-26 — 135 pageviews2026-09-30 — 121 pageviews2026-10-04 — 149 pageviews2026-10-07 — 107 pageviews
Daily Wikipedia pageviews (attention proxy, census-recorded).

Completion

23
achievements tracked
48.7%
earned "Dummy"
5.4%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsmacOSLinuxFull controller supportSingle-playerMulti-playerPvPShared/Split Screen PvPCo-opShared/Split Screen Co-opSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam Trading CardsRemote Play on Phone1 DLC

6 supported languages: English, French, Italian, German, Spanish - Spain, Japanese

Post-launch support: 1 DLC released, first 2016-04-13 (Steam store data)

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)17,3613%23
PS4 (PlayStation)2,2525%23
PS4 (PlayStation)1,6385%23
Xbox One (Xbox)1,5222%23
PS4 (PlayStation)25912%23

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Where its players are

Share of Steam reviews by language (top languages measured) — a proxy for where the player base lives.

Player tags

2DRPGIndieActionColorfulTop-DownAdventureDifficultAtmosphericExploration

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Players also track

Legends of EisenwaldENDLESS Legend™ZigguratChasmChildren of MortaHollow KnightImmortal: UnchainedBorderlands 3

Similarity via IGDB.

Official site ↗Wikipedia ↗