Point-and-click adventure games have come a long way since the old days of microwaving hamsters in Maniac Mansion. The genre has branched into various subgenres, such as cinematic adventure experiences like The Walking Dead game series, and, in some ways, walking sims can also be considered a variation. No matter what, there’s always a desire for story-driven experiences. However, point-and-click gameplay is somewhat outdated due to its trial-and-error nature, which can be confusing at times. A lot of the time, the genre is known for demanding absurd leaps of logic to progress, but once in a while, a game comes around and makes a huge leap forward. Could The Drifter be this next step forward for the genre?
Mick Carter has a problem. He’s a filthy, haggard, drunken vagrant who has spent years wandering from place to place, taking odd jobs to avoid his past. His story begins on a freight train ride back to his neglected hometown in a fictional Australian town, returning for his mother’s funeral after a long absence. What started as a simple trip to a visit to a graveyard to pay respects to his dead mum spirals into a surrealist conspiracy.
Mick is thrust into a nightmarish situation far beyond anything he could have imagined. He witnesses brutal murders carried out by mysterious, high-tech soldiers and becomes a target himself. He’s pursued by monsters, framed for killings, and with only his pee-stained trousers and snot-encrusted jacket, he will need to use his wits learned from years on the streets. The story is rich with diabolically placed foreshadowing and mysteries that feed into each other that it’s impossible to describe the story any further without spoiling it. The Drifter is undeniably original and unique; absolutely worth experiencing completely blind.
A crucial story element that ties into the gameplay is that after dying, Mick wakes up alive again, just moments before death, with scattered memories and a growing sense that something strange is at play. Throughout the game’s nine chapters, Mick must navigate a dangerous conspiracy while grappling with his own troubled history. The story mixes gritty noirish narration with sci-fi horror twists and a tense psychological edge, diving into themes like identity, trauma, regret, and the burden of past decisions. Mick’s path pushes him to mend broken relationships, dodge relentless killers, and peel back the layers of a deeper, obsessive scheme that’s been in motion far longer than he knows.
The Drifter‘s x-factor must be attributed to its pitch-perfect sense of timing and pacing. The story constantly hammers fresh ideas and revelations and new mysteries one after another, keeping intrigue high and tension so unbearable that it feels like being on the verge of a heart attack. Each chapter teases out answers, only to end with new questions that beg to be solved, pulling players into the irresistible cycle of playing just one more chapter to see what unfolds.
The tone is decidedly very John Carpenter-esque. The lighting mimics the style seen in films like Escape from New York, The Thing, and Halloween. Everything is lit high contrast and leans on saturated colours, deep inky blacks, glistening wet surfaces and striking rim lighting; it’s awesome. Despite being deliberately designed with chunky pixel art, just enough detail shines through. Even the music has the same bespoke, gritty, and dark groans evocative of John Carpenter’s style.
The Drifter looks and sounds great, yet it also plays incredibly. The developer came up with a unique twin-stick control setup, where the left stick directly moves Mick, the right stick smoothly highlights points of interest, and the right trigger acts as a smart selector that adapts to the context. There’s no need to change cursors or choose verbs; at most, Mick might need to combine a couple of items.
The game design keeps the puzzles logical. There’s no rubber chicken and pulley logic here. Puzzles are mainly based on inventory and are well balanced, encouraging smart thinking without depending on pixel hunting or frustrating trial and error. Solutions usually feel fair and clever, rewarding observation and experimentation.
Dialogue in the game utilises a focused and evolving topic system, where new lines of inquiry are unlocked as you gather information. Mick keeps a mental notebook of clues and mysteries, allowing you to reference and utilise this information when interacting with NPCs. This approach helps track the conspiracy without overwhelming the player.
The game emphasises momentum rather than leisurely exploration in sprawling locales, with chapters feeling fast paced, quickly propelling Mick from one intense situation to another. The death and respawn mechanics create urgency and high stakes, introducing time-loop elements in certain sequences that encourage replaying key moments with newfound knowledge, all while taking a toll on poor Mick’s crumbling psyche.
With flawless pacing and poignant voice acting, paired with a captivating story full of intrigue, The Drifter goes above and beyond all expectations. The novel twin-stick control scheme makes playing with a controller surprisingly comfortable, a first for a point-and-click adventure game, while purists can still enjoy mouse mode using the Nintendo Switch 2 Joy-Con. The art is beautiful and stylish, the music appropriately brooding; The Drifter might be the most polished and expertly crafted adventure game of all time.
