Drifting : Weight of Feathers

The ultimate game in terms of eye candy and fancy stunts, Drifting: Weight of Feathers is a game that isn’t ashamed of showing its gorgeous protagonist doing increasingly more exaggerated stuns as the story progresses.

At first glance, it might seem like this is a game that’s all about its obvious fan service, but nothing could be farther from the truth. Granted, Faye, the game’s protagonist, is the very definition of the perfect femme-fatale, but that’s just the cherry on top of the impressively addictive gameplay that Drifting has to offer.

Zero-G Stunts

As we mentioned before, players take control of Faye, a wanted criminal and parkour enthusiast with an energy-based grappling hook. Using er gravity-defying parkour abilities, players will traverse a vast world full of oddities that will make excellent platforms for Faye to step on.

A combination of Bayonetta’s style with Warframe’s aerial combat, Drifting looks like a lost Platinum game that time forgot. We should also mention that Faye is clearly designed with fan service in mind – not that there’s anything wrong with that. Faye’s design might be a bit too much for some players, but her looks are the last thing you’ll be noticing once you start doing parkour on a whale’s back.

Faye’s grappling hook enables some interesting aerial skills that keep the combat fresh and varied. That said, combat is not the only thing players will have to keep in mind as there’s also quite a bit of puzzle-solving to see here.

Perhaps the best way to describe how the combat in Drifting works would be to describe it as a combination between Mirror’s Edge and Bayonetta, complete with the beautiful protagonist doing the stunts.

Outlandish and Stylish

There’s a clear commitment to Drifting’s fluid gameplay on display at all times. In fact, it seems like gameplay came first when it came to designing the game’s world, as there seems to be a clear lack of variety in most of the environments.

Most of the levels look a bit too similar, with a sadly uninteresting color palette that makes the game feel like a collection of stock assets put together into a solid action game.

Thankfully, the explosive gameplay and solid controls make the experience feel varied enough to keep you distracted from the lackluster environments. Perhaps that’s also part of the reason why Faye wears such distracting clothes, so you don’t notice the big, empty spaces you’ve been running around in for the last hour of gameplay.

It might sound a bit harsh, considering the game’s an indie title, but we’ve seen beautiful indie games that push the boundaries of environment design in recent years. Perhaps a more appealing color palette or even a more grounded setting would have helped make the game look better than it does now.

There’s no denying that Drifting: Weight of Feathers is destined to become a hidden gem for PC gamers: a game that puts gameplay over everything else, delivering a fun and addictive experience that’s great for die-hard players looking for a challenge.

Pros

• Faye’s design is absolutely gorgeous
• Solid controls and excellent gameplay
• You can parkour on a whale

Cons

• Levels feel barren and look dated
• Faye’s model clashes with the rest of the game’s art style