by This game seems a cross between Bastion and Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. What luck – those are both great games! Except…Bastion has the epic combination of sublime narration and blissful soundtrack, while Superbrothers has some clever puzzles backed by fantastic sound and visuals. Conversely, HLD seems almost mediocre in all respects except the art. Combat is simple, the goal beyond killing things seems to be entirely item collection, and the story is minimalistic – none of those are necessarily bad by themselves, but a good game needs something to distinguish itself. It pains me to say it, but this feels like the indie equivalent of many AAA games – it looks pretty, but everything else is milk toast in order to offend the fewest people. It’s not bad, but there’s nothing motivating me to play it. I believe I’ve seen similar problems from other Kickstarted games where there’s a pull to please your backers – one which few games escape. Perhaps I would feel differently had I played its inspiration (I know – it’s gaming heresy that I haven’t – though… I’ve always been more a Chrono Trigger guy).