Hyper Light Drifter

To me, Hyper Light Drifter is what Zelda should always have been. I know this is a provocative thing to say, but Zelda, while having laid the template for so much, and so well, fails spectacularly on two things: currency, and combat. Combat in Zelda is more a matter of what equipment you have and less of skill. As for currency, the less said about those green emeralds the better. Platformers have you collect things for the sake of collecting things, it's true. But it's different for an action adventure game: there's so much you can do with the mechanics of money in a video game. Hyper Light Drifter has Zelda's exploration, puzzle solving (albeit very slight) but where it truly excels is the feeling it gives you after landing a rightly timed slash of the sword followed by two quick shots with your laser pistol. There's nothing quite like it in video gaming history. The pixel art is also beautiful.