Hiveswap Act I

Commissioned by Aleph Null

Probably impending doom. Or aliens.

…ok, look. this is going to be a short one. im sorry, but i don’t really have much to say about hiveswap thus far. its not that the game isnt interesting or good, it cerXly is both (though i could have done without the whole “haha you think the hint menu is actually going to give you hints to our moon logic? click everything or die, n00b!” thing). i can cerXly see the themes the game is interested in Xploring from the nature of friendship vs people youre close to because youre stuck with them to the role of pacifism within a revolution to having empathy towards all animals (Xcept for pigeons, who will either die horribly or abandon you to your doom). the characters are delightful from the sibling banter between joey and jude to xefros puckishness in even the most dire of circumstances to the implied history of those who dont appear in the game be it the disappeared dad who joey, our Xtremely adorable and likeable protagonist (like wow, joey just wants everyone to be happy [Xcept her brother from the way i played it, but even then, it was more out of sibling banter than outright maliciousness]), clearly has some issues with to the drunk babysitter who is the closest thing the siblings have to a caring adult. the music is amazing feeling like its straight out of earthbound; be it the orchestral soundtrack that sets the mood of the fall on/of earth before Xitioning into the alien chiptune of alternia that captures the sci-fi and dystopic aurra of the world. and the game is a laugh riot (i had some difficulty picking which image to use for this article because they kept being so funny. i almost picked the one with the xenomorph cat and the one that took the piss out of the genre itself, but i ultimately chose the thematically apt one. though i will say that the first half is funnier than the second).

the problem is that… well, it’s act one. its very much setting up things to be Xplored in later acts of the game; be it the aforementioned themes, the mysteries surrounding the characters, or even the revolution that is going to be the main driving force of the plot (as opposed to the story, which will probably be a mix of character arcs and thematic interests). and dont get me wrong, it does these things extremely well. the problem is that its kind of difficult to write a non-“these are the facts about this game” style review when working with an act one. i highly recommend playing the game, especially if you’re into point and click adventures. hell, im not all that into the genre and i still had a lot of fun with it (though again, dick move with the “help” button. either have it or dont), and ill probably play acts ii and iii. but the games not at the point where i can write anything interesting about it… yet.  

X:)

Hiveswap is a game developed by What Pumpkin Games, Inc. and can be purchased on Steam and Humble Bundle