Hyper Scape review: The future is just okay

Hyper Scape Hero Source: Windows Cardinal / Zackery Cuevas

In the increasingly crowded multiplayer marketplace where battle royale games seem similar a dime a dozen, a game must introduce new features or redefine the genre to stand out. Ubisoft'southward Hyper Scape attempts to practise just that. First revealed during the Ubisoft Frontward virtual consequence on July 12, 2022, Hyper Scape is a fast-paced battle royale that drops players into the virtual streets of Neo Arcadia to compete for supremacy in a game chosen Crown Rush.

I was excited to dive into Hyper Scape, and it felt immediately familiar to me. For the uninitiated, a battle royale is when multiple players enter an arena, scavenge for weapons, and effort to outlast each other to be the last homo standing. Every bit players duke it out, they're forced closer together, and the expanse around them gets smaller. On its surface, Hyper Scape is reminiscent of its contemporaries, only the unique gameplay mechanics that set it apart also hold information technology back from being a genuinely neat experience.

The time to come could exist brighter

Hyper Scape

Bottom Line: Hyper Scape does a lot of things correct and introduces new gimmicks, merely in its current state, the core gameplay isn't equally fun as it needs to be. The polish and potential are undeniable, but it fails to capture the spirit of what makes other games in this genre shine.

Pros:

Fast and smooth gameplay
Innovative social tools
Upgradable weapons ready it apart from other battle royales

Cons:

Wonky weapon residuum lead to unfair fights
Generic character designs
Floaty, weightless combat

What I love about Hyper Scape

Hyperscape Screenshot Palace Source: Windows Cardinal / Zackery Cuevas

Hyper Scape has the same general concept as most battle royales, only what sets it autonomously is the power to mix and lucifer your graphic symbol's abilities during gameplay using 11 dissimilar skills, or "hacks." These hacks range from wellness regen and temporary invulnerability to bouncing around the map in a behemothic ball.

Coming across another skill of the aforementioned kind volition allow you to fuse the 2, upgrading your hacks on the fly and improve their stats. The same applies to the weapons you'll find. Instead of being ranked by rarity, every bit they are in other boxing royale games, the guns e'er kickoff with the same base stats. Information technology'southward up to you to discover matching pairs in the wild to increase impairment and clip size.

Category	Hyper Scape
Title	Hyper Scape
Developer	Ubisoft Montreal
Publisher	Ubisoft
Genre	Battle Royale
Platforms	PC, PlayStation, Xbox
Game Size	12.92GB
Players	Multiplayer
Xbox Game Pass	No
Launch Toll	Free to download

Luckily, hunting for loot is a breeze thanks to the game's emphasis on mobility. The game has a huge focus on speed and vertical move, and It felt adept to run and jump through Neo Arcadia's neon-lit districts thank you to streets littered with bounce pads, mobility enhancing hacks, and a trusty double jump. All of this makes it super like shooting fish in a barrel and fun to scale buildings and hop across rooftops while hunting down your next target.

All of that agility comes in handy when the map starts to decay and button players closer together. The decay begins most immediately and keeps the pace of the matches loftier, forcing players to exist on the motility constantly. As a outcome, games beginning and end very quickly, much faster than Phone call of Duty: Warzone or Apex Legends. The decaying districts are also a welcome change from the generic tempest cloud that seems to be passing through every battle royale game.

Speed, stealth, and Hyper Space Crowncast

Hyper Scape Echo Source: Windows Central / Zackery Cuevas

That sense of speed applies to role player death as well. During a squad game, when a role player dies, they return as an echo and haunt the battleground. Expressionless players can tag weapons and enemies for their teammates until they're brought back using a restore betoken that's dropped when an opposing player dies.

It's an excellent addition that keeps players active, unlike other games in the genre that have you spectate until you're revived, or the match ends. Trust me; nothing kills momentum faster than dying early in a lucifer and having to wait fifteen minutes until your teammates can tag you back in.

It's clear that Ubisoft is positioning Hyper Scape to be an incredibly social experience, one to be watched as well equally played.

If your trigger finger isn't exactly up to snuff, you'll exist happy to learn that yous don't necessarily take to kill anyone to win a game of Hyper Scape. When the match starts to narrow down to the last player, a crown will spawn. If you agree onto information technology for a fix amount of time, you win the game. This alternate path to victory led straight into chaos. Players who grab the crown can spam their abilities to continue their distance, leading to tense and frustrating games of true cat and mouse in the closing seconds of a game.

Outside of its gameplay, Hyper Scape as well offers an innovative Twitch extension called Hyper Scape Crowncast. Crowncast allows Twitch viewers to collaborate with streamers past voting for events that affect the gameplay in real-fourth dimension, in add-on to a slew of other bells and whistles that encourage interaction between Twitch streamers and their viewers. It's clear that Ubisoft is positioning Hyper Scape to exist an incredibly social experience, i to exist watched every bit well equally played.

What I didn't love near Hyper Scape

Hyper Scape Map Decay Source: Windows Central / Zackery Cuevas

Not every new feature introduced by Hyper Scape sticks the landing. Despite how cool upgrading on the fly is, in that location's a glaring ability disparity in the available weapons. Some guns have a ridiculously depression damage output; it felt like I was walking into battle with a h2o gun instead of a futuristic death dealer.

There's a sure amount of luck that goes into finding weapons from match to match. Frequently, I found myself not wanting to engage in combat until I was fully upgraded or constitute a suped-upward shotgun or sniper. I wouldn't stand a adventure otherwise.

I was oftentimes avoiding fights instead of running into them similar every bit would in other battle royale games.

In other battle royales, in that location is a certain amount of skill that could turn the tide of battle even when you're stranded with nothing but a default weapon. That's not the instance hither. The hacks don't fare much differently, either. Being able to reveal enemy locations is useful, but it's nowhere near as helpful as the health regen or invisibility.

Aside from weapon balance, the biggest problem with the game is that the gunplay itself isn't satisfying, and I plant myself missing the weight of combat that you'd notice in other shooters. At times, Hyper Scape felt floaty, and the guns never seem to pack the punch you'd expect them to. These issues just made fighting not that much fun. Often, I was avoiding fights instead of running into them as I would in other battle royale games, and this is a direct contrast to the fast-paced nature of the rest of the game.

The future looks...similar

Hyper Scape Fighting out of a decaying area Source: Windows Central / Zackery Cuevas

Visually, Hyper Scape's urban sci-fi environments are pleasant to look at just start to feel strikingly similar every bit you fight through each district. It's missing the varied geography and conditions furnishings that differentiate locations in other shooters.

Also disappointing are the surprisingly dull grapheme designs of the champions. You would think that if you were spending all of your time in virtual reality, you'd wear something cooler than the generic jumpsuit anybody seems to fancy. In that location are cosmetics for buy and unlockable champions via an in-game battle pass, simply I didn't find anything that particularly popped out at me.

I like the Set up Player 1-Esque properties, only it's non as intriguing every bit other games in the genre.

There's too a story detailed in memory shards subconscious on the battleground. They are released calendar week to calendar week, and finding them further expands on the lore. In short, thanks to a slew of horrible decisions made over thirty years, humanity finds itself crammed into overcrowded megacities, living in tiny apartments in a dystopian mural, brutalist compages, and all. Humankind's only solace is the Hyper Scape, but in that location'south, of form, something darker lying underneath. Then, run-of-the-manufactory story-telling.

I like the Ready Player One-Esque properties, but it's not equally intriguing as other games in the genre. It'south a minor nitpick, as lore tends to take a dorsum seat in games like these, but information technology doesn't do the game any favors either.

With all that said, this is a live game, and Season One of Hyper Scape incorporated feedback Ubisoft received from its contempo open beta. Information technology also introduced a new weapon and a new hack, so in that location'due south no doubtfulness that these bug tin be addressed over time. Ubisoft has saved games from the clutches of mediocrity before (Rainbow Six: Siege, anyone?)

Is Hyper Scape worth the download?

Hyper Scape Dropping into Neo Arcadia Source: Windows Central / Zackery Cuevas

Whether Hyper Scape's innovations help information technology stand out in the crowd remains to be seen, but I didn't detest the fourth dimension I spent in its game globe — I was just somewhat bored. But while the gunplay was frustrating, something is intriguing nearly the game'southward untapped potential, and its social features that should delight Twitch streamers and viewers looking for some interactivity in their streams.

The game besides includes cantankerous-progression, and Ubisoft has promised cross-play with consoles in a futurity update. Overall, I found myself manner more than interested in how this game will evolve instead of playing it in its electric current country.

Ubisoft promises Hyper Scape volition shape "the hereafter of boxing royale," merely every bit it stands, it's not as fun as information technology could exist. Wonky weapon balancing and floaty combat steal the game'south momentum and stop it from being a stand out in its genre.

Underwhelming

Hyper Scape

The future is awfully boilerplate.

Hyper Scape has enormous promise and some absurd gimmicks, but its core gameplay pales in comparing to its more popular cousins. If Ubisoft tin address some of its problems, they might be able to craft a game worthy of your time.

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