Hyper Scape by Ubisoft is here and wants to shake up the Battle Royale genre. To do this, it relies on revamped successful ideas, Twitch integration, and a lot of speed. But is it fun? MeinMMO author and Battle Royale fan Jürgen Horn took a look at it.
What is Hyper Scape actually? Hyper Scape comes from Ubisoft and aims to celebrate successes in the Battle Royale genre. The game features fast-paced action in a virtual metropolis and recently started its beta. I didn’t want to miss out on the new game and played a few rounds of Hyper Scape.
Ready Player One meets Tron
This was my first impression: At first, I had little idea about the game and logged in with joy. I was greeted by a trippy, neon-colored cyberspace aesthetic reminiscent of the classic Tron.
Apparently, Hyper Scape is set against the backdrop of a major online phenomenon in the 2050s. It seems to be similar to the book/movie “Ready Player One” where people live a miserable existence in shabby containers.
But in the virtual reality world “Hyper Scape”, they can unleash themselves freely, and it seems that Battle Royale is the most fun for the people of the future. There they can blow each other’s virtual heads off in a virtual city reminiscent of Paris. Some preferences just never change…
Like Apex Legends, where everyone plays Octane
This was the first round: As soon as I finished the tutorial, it was time to go. I immediately noticed positively that Hyper Scape takes the theme of “VR world” very seriously. Instead of clicking through menus, I walk around as an avatar in the virtual world and enter portals that take me to the shop, the cosmetics menu, the news portal, or directly into the game.
This is how fast Hyper Scape plays: Once in the game, we run and look for loot. Games are usually played in teams of three. Like in Apex Legends, you can jump over obstacles and pull yourself up walls if you can’t make it over a barrier or onto a roof in one jump. Therefore, it all feels like a huge parkour course with weapons in cyberspace.
Also cool: When you jump, you can perform a double jump by default. This also reminds me of the speedy BR shooter Apex Legends, because there the super fast hero Octane could also perform double jumps with his jump pad.
But in Apex he is by far the fastest character in the game. In Hyper Scape, movement at Octane-level is standard and EVERY player can double jump. Launch pads are scattered all over the game, catapulting us onto the roofs and balconies of Neo Arcadia.
This is how uncomplicated the game is: We don’t lack loot. Weapons are lying around in every corner, and if I find the same gun multiple times, it just gets upgraded. So there are no weapons with different rarity grades or upgrades that only fit certain guns.
This makes the gameplay smoother and easier. Also, every gun uses the same ammunition, whether it’s a pistol or a plasma cannon. This shifts the focus further onto pure gameplay. Here, I can just shoot as I please and fully concentrate on the action. Inventory management is minimized.
Oops, why am I dead?
This is how the first fight ended: Shortly after, we came across opponents in a futuristic cathedral, and immediately the bullets started flying. As everyone runs like a raccoon on speed, while skills with even more movement power are in play, I get mercilessly eliminated. It happens so fast that I can barely return fire. Something crashes next to me, there’s a flash, the screen turns red for a moment. I’m dead!
But at least my teammates are better and blow up the opponents. I can also see how all the skills, called hacks, work. One of the enemies suddenly transforms into a large ball that bounces around. Another player suddenly builds a wall as a barrier, and yet another lands after a giant jump and creates a shockwave that throws everything in the landing area away.
Together with the really fast-shooting and deadly weapons, this creates a lively atmosphere. The gameplay sometimes resembles the wild arena shooters Quake or Unreal Tournament, where jumping around was also more common than staying on the ground.
Hyper Scape is truly a lightning-fast action-firework that requires good reflexes. It is definitely not a game that caters to fans of cozy, tactical gameplay.
This is how Hyper Scape solves one of the main problems of the BR genre
The coolest respawns in the genre: I can experience all this up close because even after my death, I still remain there. Instead of flying out of the game after dying, I stay permanently as a digital ghost, a so-called “Echo”, in the game world. As long as someone from my team is alive, I can stay in the game and, among other things, scout the area and give my teammates tips.
But it gets even better. Since my buddies have taken out all the opponents, they leave behind yellow triangles on the ground instead of corpses. These points can be used by any Echo ghost to respawn. I just need to activate the point and wait there until my friends bring me back to the game after a short loading time.
This is how Hyper Scape revitalizes the mid-game: As long as my remaining friends take out enough opponents, dead teammates can return time and again, even late in the game. In my opinion, this solves one of the worst problems in the BR genre.
Because while the early and late games usually see a lot of action, where many players meet, the phases of mid-game are often quite dull. Many players drop out early in the round, and you often wander through the wilderness for minutes without anything happening. Especially Fortnite has had this problem repeatedly.
In Hyper Scape, however, dead players constantly come back into the game and mix in unexpectedly. So if you found the respawns with Gulag and buying back in Warzone super, you will love Hyper Scape’s even more effective method.
Anyway, there are always plenty of players until the end, and it never really gets boring! I can say this because I got quite far despite poor performance, as my lovely teammates seemed to resurrect me about 5 times. In the end, however, we still got unlucky, and I didn’t even manage a single kill with all that running around. The game is just too fast for me.
Conclusion – Hyper Scape is unfortunately awesome, but too fast for me
Hyper Scape and I is a tragedy in many upcoming acts. Because I love the game with all my heart. It is wonderfully uncomplicated and lets me jump right into the game without having to worry about ammunition or upgrades.
It has skills, but everyone can have them, and you don’t have to pick a specific hero. The available heroes are just accessories, but they have cool stories and are wonderfully diverse. You can play as a single mother or a young woman with a headscarf, among others. And then it seems that the game has a dark cyberspace story a la Tron. And yes, I also love the whole damned cyberspace neon aesthetic. It really appeals to me.
But to experience all this, I have to play Hyper Scape, and I come up against my limits. Because Hyper Scape is just damn too fast for me. At almost 40 years old, I’m simply too old for this shit! That’s kind of sad since I still enjoy it. Apex Legends was already pushing my limits. And Hyper Scape takes it up a notch.
Therefore, I fear that in the long run, I will switch to less fast-paced games and that Hyper Scape won’t get the love and attention it deserves. But who knows, maybe I’m just out of practice, and if I dig deep enough, I’ll eventually get it right with Hyper Scape. I certainly don’t want to play boring retiree BR games for the rest of my life. By the way, I’m not alone with my problems. Even 27-year-old top streamers are scared of the speed of Hyper Scape!
