The Drifter Preview - An Innocent Witness
I’ve always been a huge fan of point-and-click games. I never played the original Monkey Island, but I’ve played a large handful of games inspired by it and the genre has always been an interesting one. I love the way that the genre can take so many different forms and this time, The Drifter, from Developer Powerhoof and Dave Lloyd is a pulp adventure thriller that is shaping up to be truly unique.
The Drifter is a point-and-click thriller game where you play as a drifter named Mick Carter who has been moving from job to job not staying in one place for too long. After witnessing a violent murder, he is suddenly pursued by hi-tech soldiers and thrown in a reservoir to drown. In some kind of miracle of a moment, Mick is thrust back into his body seconds before his death. Unfortunately, he is now being framed for the killing he witnessed.
The demo that I played for the game had me play through the first chapter of the game and it introduces players to Mick’s horrifying story. You’ll meet a few different characters and learn how to interact with the world around you, picking up items and using them to help Mick with various tasks. You’ll be able to keep track of your main goals through a system in the game so you won’t lose track of what you’re meant to be doing or the information you’ve managed to collect. This is something I truly appreciate as someone with terrible short term memory who tends to lose track of things during point-and-clicks.
What I really liked about The Drifter was Mick’s penchant for narration. He’s like a seasoned story teller as he narrates all of the events of what’s happening. And this sometimes gives players a little bit of a hint for what to do next as he comments on different items or scenarios. I also liked the way that the game allows you to see all the items in your inventory at one time so you can be reminded of what you’ve got on hand and how you might use it to help Mick make progress.
I absolutely loved what I played of The Drifter and can’t wait to play the full game. The demo teases what seems to be a really intriguing and heart-pounding story, not to mention it looks absolutely gorgeous and the performances from the voice actors are phenomenal.
The Drifter is set to launch on PC on July 17th. You can wishlist the game on Steam now to stay up to date on any announcements.