Hyper Light Drifter TV Show In Development With Castlevania Producer

Indie studio Heart Machine, founded in 2013, received a great deal of acclaim after Hyper Light Drifter releases in 2016. The 2D action-RPG found its way to the Nintendo Switch two years later with a host of new content, and now studio founder Alx Preston has revealed a TV adaptation.

According to a report by Polygon, Hyper Light Drifter will receive a TV series from Castlevania producer, Adi Shankar. Preston told Polygon that he and Shankar are actively developing the TV adaptation. No writer has been confirmed, but Preston and Shankar are actively seeking writers to lead the project. There's also the matter of translating a semi-open world game to a TV show where there's no interactivity with the viewer.

"The difference between a series and a game is vast in a lot of ways. Hyper Light [Drifter] as a game was pretty atmospheric and kind of overbearing at times," Preston said. "For a series, the question is: how do you sustain and keep your attention on a non-interactive run? Does it get really, really dark and serious? Does it have some levity?"

Hyper Light Drifter the game lacks verbal, distinguishable dialogue, relying solely on world-building and environmental storytelling to tell its narrative. Preston wonders how he and Shankar will translate this to Hyper Light Drifter the TV show. "There's still a question of how much dialogue we really have, if any. Could it be a more silent series or would we have voice acting?" he said.

Shankar expressed his love for video games as a medium and stated that he enjoys translating works by passionate creators like Preston. "It's important for me not to just all of a sudden become the AAA junkie," Shankar said. "To just go like, 'OK, what are the biggest franchise, I'm going to jump on all of them.' That's not why I'm trying to do[with] this."

Earlier in March 2019, Heart Machine unveiled its next project, Solar Ash Kingdom. The game features a familiar, vibrant aesthetic, but in a 3D setting. The announcement trailer didn't divulge much information in the way of a release date or platforms, but it did conclude with the Epic Games Store tag, seemingly confirming the title will make its way to the Epic Games storefront when it launches.

Hyper Light Drifter is available now for Nintendo Switch, PC, PS4, Xbox One, Linux, and macOS.