Review: Drifting Lands

The combination of genres and design ideas has been for years, probably for decades, one of the best ways to make a game that will attract the attention of the audience. This approach was also made by people from the Alkemi studio when they made Drifting Lands, a game that is basically " bullet hell Diablo". If the given genre item sounds illogical, stand up, a little longer explanation follows.

The storyline of Drifting Lands puts us in the orbit of a world that has suffered cataclysmic changes several centuries ago. The planet has been turned into a bunch of debris which, for some strange reason, did not begin to rejoin, and they did not even disperse the universe. People on this planet did what they did best - they adjusted and continued with traditional divisions and conflicts. The largest floating continents are controlled by the teeth of armed corporations. Trashmen, smugglers, and mercenaries survive on Arca, a floating van-ship of boats that survive outside the law, primarily because big players benefit from it. You are one of those mercenaries who will look for their happiness, wealth and fame in the clouds between floating islands.



The basic gameplay mechanics Drifting Lands is a classic shoot'em'up vertical scrolling to the right. Your boat is struggling with the waves of enemy aircraft and at the same time avoiding the rain of missiles. Instead of having numerous items and power-ups which the defeated opponents leave behind are reinforcing at the moment (and most often do not apply the next time you go into action), the situation here is different. In addition to crystals for energy regeneration and health scales, there may be credits behind the blown enemies, as well as various pieces of equipment that you will properly save during the mission to your ship's warehouse, and when you return to the hangar, you can embark on improving your dangerous machine. In the hangar, your boat has something like a recognizable character doll, typical of aRPG titles, with slots for specific pieces of equipment: a motor, an energy cell, a thief, a shield, a weapon, a helmet, a processor for shipboards and an armor.

While playing Drifting Lands, his author often draws your attention to the importance of having a specific experience with bullet hell titles. When starting the game, by clicking on one of the three save slots, you first choose between two weight modes. It's normal, everything works as designers have come up with, and forgiving, which is somewhat lighter and is intended for players primarily interested in the background story of Drifting Lands. After choosing a degree of difficulty, you choose which boat model you will start the game. Interceptor is the fastest, offensive-oriented boat for the most experienced players. Sentinel is at the other end of the spectrum, it is most shocking and noticeably slower, ideal for beginners who absorb more bullets than they avoid. In the end, there is a golden middle class in the form of the Marauder class. During the game, after collecting enough credit and unlocking enough heavy missions, you will be provided with upgraded versions of these ships, and you will be able to buy ships of the other two classes. However, for the first few hours of the game, you are limited to the boat you choose at the beginning.

The level design is what is likely to best share the potential audience of Drifting Lands. In the spirit of Diablo, DL has a random level design. More precisely, randomly generated waves of the opponent, as it is a shmup with horizontal scrolling without terrain. Certain players believe that the layout of the levels in these titles is sacred and that every wave should be learned in order to eliminate the opponents perfectly and perfectly escape their missiles. Drifting Lands has a different approach: each class of opponents has a unique design and several specific modes of movement. After a while, based on the looks of the opponent and the way they enter the screen, you can understand what is waiting for you and how to maneuver the screen. Also, there are clear indications that the enemies do not come from the front, but from the back, from the top and from the bottom.


The game constantly puts you in challenging situations by combining multiple types of opponents in one wave. Every five or ten levels await you conflict with a particularly challenging boss, where it is not only enough to learn his movements and fire modes, but also that you have succeeded in filling equipment of a certain quality.


My personal rate: 8 /10