History YMMV / HyperLightDrifter

** The extreme end of ShowDontTell story method, including peoples that talk in pictures only, makes going anywhere seems frustrating for some people.
** The ending. [[spoiler:[[TheHeroDies Many fans were very upset when it's revealed that]] [[ShaggyDogStory the Drifter dies despite all of his efforts in being cured]].]]

** A ton of them, thanks to minimalistic style of the game: The boss of the west is called Racoon king, the mysterious jackal is called Anubis due to its striking similarity to the egyptian god.
* FridgeLogic: The number four is a prominent theme in the game. There are four regions to explore, four diamond-shaped Modules that you need to deactivate in each of those regions (with four more being optional), you need to collect four Gearbits for every one unit of currency, four monoliths are found in each quadrant, and the Immortal Cell has four sides to it. The creator of ''Hyper Light Drifter'', Alex Preston, has a critical heart condition that could kill him at any time. How many chambers does a heart have?

* ThatOneSidequest: Getting one costume requires you to perform ''800'' chain dashes on a closed track. The timing and rhythm to pull this off is already incredibly difficult without having to worry about crashing into the walls. And while it's possible to cheat using a keyboard and mouse (the player character will always dash in the direction of the cursor, meaning if placed just right, will cause them to just dash back and fourth over a single point), you still have to deal with the monotony of pressing the dash button ''800 times'' with perfect rhythm.

* BreatherBoss: The Hermit can be this, depending on when you fight him. He’s slower than the Hanged Man or the Hierophant, his attacks are more visibly telegraphed thanks to his larger size, and he’s the only boss who can be stunned, letting you whale on him with impunity for a bit.

* FanNickname: While it's officially called the Jackal, there are some fans that call it "Anubis", after the jackal-headed god of Egyptian mythology.

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: One of, if not ''the'' most praised aspect of the game is its art style, with the animation and the pixel art for both the cutscenes and the in-game experience being ''very'' detailed and ''very'' well done. It's art can be described as the love child of ''Manga/NausicaaOfTheValleyOfTheWind'' and sci-fi FrancoBelgianComics, such as those of Creator/{{Moebius}}, and the music compliments it tremendously. It also helps that the game follows a similar school of thought for SceneryPorn and pixel art as ''Videogame/TitanSouls''.

* BrokenBase: The SurpriseDifficulty from the first boss onwards. Either it's a fun, fast-paced ''VideoGame/DarkSouls'' style challenge, or the severity of the DifficultySpike makes the game significantly less fun. There was also a hot debate with the game's FPS capped at 30 FPS. Further down the line, there was an update with a Newcomer mode and an experimental beta on 60 FPS, and the flames died down.
** The extreme end of ShowDontTell story method, including peoples that talk in pictures only, makes going anywhere seems frustrating for some people. This is in addition of the extreme difficulty.

* FridgeLogic: The number four is a prominent theme in the game. There are four regions to explore, four diamond-shaped Modules that you need to deactivate in each of those regions (with four more being optional), you need to collect four Gearbits for every one unit of currency, four monoliths are found in each quadrant, and the Immortal Cell has four sides to it. The creator of Hyper Light Drifter, Alex Preston, has a critical heart condition that could kill him at any time. How many chambers does a heart have?

* SugarWiki/AwesomeArt: One of, if not ''the'' most praised aspect of the game is its art style, with the animation and the pixel art for both the cutscenes and the in-game experience being ''very'' detailed and ''very'' well done. It also helps that the game follows a similar school of thought for SceneryPorn and pixel art as ''Videogame/TitanSouls''.

** The ending. [[spoiler:Many fans were very upset when it's revealed that the Drifter dies despite all of his efforts in being cured.]]

* FriendlyFandoms: With VideoGame/DeadCells and VideoGame/HollowKnight. There's even artwork floating around of the three protagonists spending time together.

** Chain-dashing. mostly for the fact that if you can't do it, you cannot get OneHundredPercentCompletion. Even one of the Modules can't be reached without it.

* FriendlyFandoms: With VideoGame/DeadCells and VideoGame/HollowKnight. There's artwork floating around of the three protagonists spending time together.

* AwesomeArt: One of, if not ''the'' most praised aspect of the game is its art style, with the animation and the pixel art for both the cutscenes and the in-game experience being ''very'' detailed and ''very'' well done. It also helps that the game follows a similar school of thought for SceneryPorn and pixel art as ''Videogame/TitanSouls''.

* ThatOneSidequest: Getting one costume requires you to perform ''800'' chain dashes on a closed track. The timing and rhythm to pull this off is already incredibly difficult without having to worry about crashing into the walls. And while it's possible to cheat using a keyboard and mouse (the player character will always dash in the direction of the cursor, meaning if placed just right, will cause them to just dash back and fourth over a single point), you still have to deal with the monotony of pressing the dash button ''800 times'' with perfect rhythm.

* BrokenBase: The SurpriseDifficulty from the first boss onwards. Either its a fun, fast-paced VideoGame/DarkSouls style challenge, or the severity of the DifficultySpike makes the game significantly less fun. There was also a hot debate with the game's FPS capped at 30 FPS. Further down the line, there was an update with a Newcomer mode and an experimental beta on 60 FPS, and the flames died down.

* BrokenBase: The SurpriseDifficulty from the first boss onwards. Either its a fun, fast-paced DarkSouls style challenge, or the severity of the DifficultySpike makes the game significantly less fun. There was also a hot debate with the game's FPS capped at 30 FPS. Further down the line, there was an update with a Newcomer mode and an experimental beta on 60 FPS, and the flames died down.

* AwesomeArt: One of the most praised aspects of the game is by far its art style, with both the animation and the pixel art for both the cutscenes and the in-game experience being ''very'' detailed and ''very'' well done. It also helps that the game follows a similar school of thought for SceneryPorn and pixel art as ''Videogame/TitanSouls''.

* AwesomeArt: The pixel art is absolutely beautiful both in and out of cutscenes, and the in-game animation is similarly top-notch.

* BrokenBase: The SurpriseDifficulty from the first boss onwards. Either its a fun, fast-paced DarkSouls style challenge, or the severity of the DifficultySpike makes the game significantly less fun. There was also a hot debate with the game's FPS capped at 30 FPS. But recently, there has been an update with a Newcomer mode and an experimental beta on 60 FPS, and the flames have died down.

* BrokenBase: The SurpriseDifficulty from the first boss onwards. Either its a fun, fast-paced DarkSouls style challenge, or the severity of the DifficultySpike makes the game significantly less fun.

* AmazingArt: The pixel art is absolutely beautiful both in and out of cutscenes, and the in-game animation is similarly top-notch.