Did you also find it interesting as a child to imagine what it would be like to spend the night in a gigantic toy store and do whatever you want? Or did you want to see your childhood room from the perspective of your action figures? A 2-year-old shooter on Steam is going viral right now because it makes that possible!
Which game is it about? Hypercharge: Unboxed is a shooter that brings you back to various places from your childhood as an action figure. One example is a toy store, another is a child’s room.
The shooter allows cooperative play in teams or PvP and is developed by a small studio called Digital Cybercherries, which consists of only five employees.
Hypercharge: Unboxed was already released in 2020 on Steam but received new attention on Twitter in recent days. A post about the game even gained over 360,000 “likes”.
From the Toy Store to the Child’s Room
What is the game about? In Hypercharge: Unboxed, you take on the role – or rather the plastic – of a toy action figure. You can even visually customize it in different ways and create your own toy hero in a sense.
With the action figure you embody, you then dive into various toy battles. One of them you experience in online as well as local offline coop. There you play with up to four players against the AI and protect your mission objective: the Hypercore.
In the process, you earn XP and unlock skins to customize your action figure and weapon. You also earn turrets, traps, and walls that you use to build your defensive position on one of 10 different maps.
The maps are various places where you can find toys. These include not only a toy store and a child’s room but also a family’s garden and the kitchen where the child once again left its action figures lying around.
Nostalgia and Childhood Memories in a Shooter
What makes Hypercharge: Unboxed special? When we look at the reviews of Hypercharge: Unboxed on Steam, it seems that the shooter becomes a special experience precisely for that reason, as it looks in the trailer.
Anyone who enjoyed playing with action figures as a child, liked the “Toy Story” movies, or enjoyed going to toy stores with their parents might appreciate the design of Hypercharge.
Overall, the shooter impresses with the nostalgic feeling of childhood memories and the associated charm of toy stores and messy children’s rooms.
The game feels like a trip to the past. But instead of a single-player experience, you dive into action-packed multiplayer or co-op battles with your friends.
“Feels like a nearly perfect game that definitely captures the fun of childhood”
What do the players say? Hypercharge: Unboxed has only 1,908 reviews on Steam as of July 5, 2022, but 91% of them are positive. This is reflected in the players’ comments:
- mossiprose via Steam: “It’s great. I enjoy it every time I play. My kids like it too. It’s fun.”
- Mercenary542 via Steam: “Pretty nice little game. Reminds me of games like the ‘Green Plastic Army Men’ series by 3DO.”
- Bats via Steam: “I played the demo and was so impressed that I had to buy the game! So much heart has been put into this game. The graphics are unbelievable and evoke a lot of nostalgic memories of playing with action figures as a child.”
- Prof. Blowhole via Steam: “A fun game to play with friends when feeling nostalgic about childhood. It really gives you the feeling of being a toy shooting at other toys.”
- Taycat via Steam: “Hypercharge feels like a nearly perfect game that definitely captures the fun of childhood when playing with toys and action figures.”
360,000 Likes in Under a Day
How great is the interest in the shooter on Twitter? In a thread on Twitter discussing Hypercharge: Unboxed and the developers, numerous positive impressions can be read. This thread gained nearly 360,000 “likes” and 43,000 retweets just 20 hours after it was posted (via twitter.com).
Twitter user MyNameIsLukeSR also shared a compilation of the developers with various clips of the shooter under the thread and garnered 7,800 “likes”.
Is the game also coming to consoles? Currently, Hypercharge: Unboxed is only available on PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as on the Nintendo Switch.
The developers are already working on an Xbox version. Following that, a PlayStation version is expected, but a date or exact timeline is not known.
Do you think Hypercharge: Unboxed looks interesting, or is it not for you?
If you are currently looking for a new shooter, feel free to check out our list of the best shooters of 2022.
The 15 best multiplayer shooters of 2022 for PC, Switch, PS4, PS5, and Xbox
