The Drifter Review
The Drifter is a pulpy sci-fi tale and one of the year’s best adventure games.
The Drifter. Powerhoof
Powerhoof’s The Drifter is a pulpy sci-fi point-and-click adventure about a man forced to face the past. It combines a thrilling, character-driven story with beautiful, grimy, pixelated graphics in a game that feels both like a classic and something new. After following its announcements and then playing the demo, I was beyond excited to dive into The Drifter, and it turned out to be something truly special.
Mick Carter, a drifter, hitches a ride in a boxcar to return home for the first time in years to attend his mother’s funeral. After witnessing the brutal murder of a crazed vagrant by heavily armed operatives, he’s pursued by them and drowned, when he discovers that death leads him to jump a few seconds back in time, giving him a chance to change his actions. Framed for murder, he is being chased by the police as well as the operatives and… something else. He must clear his name and save himself.
The Drifter. Powerhoof
The story and dialogue are excellent and sharply written. The characters are multidimensional, and Mick’s emotional journey is complex. His growth and ultimate transformation feel earned. While there are a few light moments, the story leans more into drama and horror, with a satisfyingly gritty tone. All of the dialogue is voiced by actors who deliver nuanced, convincing performances. This is the best part of the game; if The Drifter were a movie, I would have reviewed it as one of the best so far this year. Games that are cinematic at this level of quality are rare, and I’m a sucker for pulpy sci-fi noir.
I played the game with a controller, and The Drifter offers a novel user interface (UI) that accommodates the playstyle well for a point-and-click game. You control Mick’s walking directly with the left joystick. When you stop, moving the right joystick causes a ring to appear around his feet, with nodes representing interactive objects nearby. Hovering over a node with the right stick and pressing the right trigger activates the interaction, whether it’s examining or using. If you have an item equipped, you’ll use that item during the interaction. A separate menu opens with another button, revealing a UI that allows you to combine items. If multiple topics of conversation are available when talking to an NPC, a row of icons representing the topics allows you to choose what to ask. Similar icons represent goals in an objectives UI that you can view at any time. My only quibble with the UI is that text describing things you can’t interact with appears at the top of the screen, which isn’t where my eye would naturally gravitate; I would have preferred the text to be at the bottom.
The Drifter. Powerhoof
Puzzles never left me stumped for long, though I sometimes relied on trial and error to proceed. The death mechanic was sometimes frustrating because it acts as a time limit. You only have a couple of interaction attempts you can do before that time runs out; you’re killed and must try again, running through the entire sequence. After enough deaths, the game might offer a hint, which I appreciate was never a direct answer.
The graphics are beautifully rendered, low-res pixel art in the vein of LucasArts classics such as Monkey Island or Indiana Jones and the Fate of Atlantis. Colors are bright, and the proportions of the environment are sometimes expressionistically exaggerated, but the play of light and shadow creates a mood that suits the dark tone. The in-game cutscene animations are amazing—a significant contributor to the thrill of the story. All of this is complemented by the game’s dark, synth-heavy soundtrack.
The Drifter. Powerhoof
I finished The Drifter in around 8 hours, earning 12 out of 18 achievements. The game was well worth the wait, a true triumph in the adventure genre that also shows off Powerhoof’s mature toolset, PowerQuest. I don’t necessarily want a sequel, but I’m hopeful that the studio develops more adventures. As great as Crawl is, The Drifter is the studio’s best game yet.
The Drifter is available now on PC (Steam / GOG) and will be released on Nintendo Switch later this year.
Overall Score: 9/10
Played on: Steam Deck
