Watch On
Point ‘n’ click adventurers eat well in 2025: every week there’s at least a couple of interesting ones released on Steam, like last week’s Kathy Rain 2, or the week before that, Neon Hearts City. Despite my wishlist bulging with these things, I’m especially excited about The Drifter.
Developed by Powerhoof, the studio responsible for Crawl and Peridium, The Drifter is a gritty, seedy take on the works of “King, Crichton and Carpenter”, leavened with the ocker ruthlessness of Ozploitation cinema (don’t know what that is? Start here).
The protagonist suffers severe bad luck: he’s a directionness itinerant who happens to witness a grizzly murder. Being the sole witness, he’s naturally hunted down and killed by the “hi-tech” executioners. Pretty bad, yes, but at least he’s dead and his suffering is over. Alas! He is then brought back to life and framed for the original murder.
The pixel art perfectly captures the miserable world of the protagonist. It’s murky, chunky, depressive, and as fascinated with urban blight as Escape From New York or Bad Boy Bubby. And what would a narrative adventure inspired by ’70s and ’80s pulp be if it didn’t swerve awkwardly into conspiratorial paranoia?
“Follow Mick as he’s sucked headfirst into a lunatic web of shadowy corporations, murder, and the thousand-year obsession of a madman,” reads the Steam description.
The Drifter promises to be “quick and lean”. Powerhoof insists that “you’ll never be wandering around lost or confused”, which is a sacred point ‘n’ click experience that, understandably, newer players don’t love so much. It also has two controller schemes: one is a fairly conventional point-at-this, click-on-it scenario, but there’s also a twin-stick approach that makes a lot of sense if you try it out.
Which you can: there’s a demo on Steam right now, ahead of The Drifter’s full release on July 18.
