Mick Carter isn’t having a good day. Waking on a train to his hometown, his drifter companion is suddenly shot and killed, and that’s not even the worst of it. After a brief scramble to escape glowing-eyed goons, who might actually be monsters in disguise, Carter is eventually killed himself. Only to reawaken moments before, with the knowledge that he’s trapped in a horrific time loop, created by some hideous technology.
So, The Drifter begins your quest to uncover a sprawling conspiracy that takes you through Mick’s home town, dredging ancient history and deeper conflicts as the plot hooks rove deeper.
Between sharp, breathy voice acting, a tightly-written narrative, and well-designed puzzles, this game will have you desperately clawing onwards, searching for the bright light at the end of the tunnel. It’s the sort of game you’ll devour, given the chance, buoyed by such a grimy, richly-textured sense of personality and flair.
A minimalist approach serves The Drifter well
By design, developer Powerhoof has taken a somewhat minimalist approach here, with a pixel art style of limited colour palette. But between sleek, fluid animations and clever use of lighting and contrast, the adventure feels much grander. In fact, the style typifies Powerhoof’s approach to maximising resources.
Simple pixel art is transformed by a focus on darker colours and sharp contrasts, becoming creepy and gothic with twisting vines that frame the landscape. Bright sunsets are rendered in blocky colours that paint the landscape in vivid shades, creating a sense of vastness in blank spaces.
The Drifter is a wildly ambitious noir sci-fi story that makes the most of its station, injecting meaning into every key frame, into every puzzle. It’s proof positive that story scope is never limited by team size, just the vision of your ambition, and the talent backing its delivery.
One of smartest choices here is in defying expectations. The Drifter opens as one thing, and as plot threads unravel, it becomes something entirely other, in a way that feels earned, thanks to clever writing and a plot that unfolds with a defined logic to each stage. Clues to the game’s winding conclusion are scattered throughout, with asides in narrative to push you along the right track, before Mick’s world is fire-blasted to bits.
Strong voice acting buoys the action
Another clever choice here is the casting of Adrian Vaughan as Mick Carter, as he lends a gravitas and spirit to the script that elevates every encounter.
In low, gravelly monologues, Mick Carter charts a course of the strange and stranger, with each new development grounded by Vaughan’s bristly tones. When required, his vocal strain ramps the pacing up, and gives depth to each sudden movement, each heart-pounding combat encounter. Mick’s voice becomes taut and clipped, or confident and angry when required.
It draws a string between you, as the player, and him as the unfortunate, down-on-his-luck protagonist. It makes you care so deeply about him, despite his grating nature and tendency to wander, eyes-open, into death after death.
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With a tale of mystery guiding every choice you make in The Drifter, characters naturally become the most important part of the plot. To understand Mick’s particular conundrum – that he seemingly can’t die, even when his choices lead him to death – you’ll need to spend time with everyone you meet, sharing conversations and revelations as you uncover each new puzzle piece. But with each character brimming with personality – beyond Mick, you’ll meet other members of his family, as well as a detective, and a writer, who become embroiled in the action – the action glides along.
Powerhoof has also nailed the pacing here, balancing a need for minimalist exposition with a deftly-paced unravelling of the game’s central mystery. You won’t leap to conclusions, but rather earn them, as you take on various item-based puzzles and conversations, and begin to visualise the threads between each clue.
In an early puzzle, you’ll encounter a monster in a caved-in cemetery, but you won’t understand its true nature, or the consequences of your actions, until the later stages of the game. You won’t understand Mick’s role, or what’s really happening to him, until much too late. That’s the beauty of the game. It’s in how it protects its rich secrets, and when and where you finally uncover your answers.
A refreshing new chapter in Australian fiction
As an Australian reviewer, another refreshing element of The Drifter is just how Australian it all is, even beyond the sharp accents buoying the plot. While we have a richness of Australian fiction and culture, there are certain touchpoints that persist through the ages, and continue to define our pop culture sphere. Mad Max is the most obvious, and the most prominent in Hollywood circles. Of course, there’s also tales like Crocodile Dundee, The Castle, and even Wolf Creek. In the world of video games, we have Untitled Goose Game, Unpacking, and Hollow Knight.
But it’s rare that modern stories make an impact on the zeitgeist, or that they arrive with such a gripping feeling of originality. Playing The Drifter, I was struck by a sense of its enormity, and just how rich it felt, as a gritty Australian story. I found myself thinking about its wider potential, and what more could come of it.
While this game is, so far, planned to be a standalone release, and the nature of video games means it may stay that way, The Drifter certainly sets itself up for more. It’s an adventure that’s dramatically buoyed by its biggest ideas, which leap off the screen at each new turn. When you think you know where The Drifter is going, it turns everything on its head, and barrels towards the next revelation at speed. It takes talented hands to make a game like that – one that feels so fresh, original, and exciting.
The Drifter deserves all of your attention. It certainly earns a space within the Australian pop culture zeitgeist. I hope we’re talking about it for years to come.
Five stars: ★★★★★
The Drifter
Platform(s):Â PC
Developer:Â Powerhoof
Publisher:Â Powerhoof
Release Date:Â 17 July 2025
A PC copy of The Drifter was provided by the publisher and played on a Steam Deck for the purposes of this review.
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Developer
Publisher:
Powerhoof
