HYPERPARASITE
Taking down ’80s enemies from the inside
The indie scene churns roguelikes out at such a pace, any game craving a slice of this genre pie must do something unique to grab people’s attention. From the outset, HyperParasite doesn’t look like it will, yet again taking place on the all-toofamiliar neon-lit city streets, where you fight through legions of enemies against a pulsing synth soundtrack. Y0u’ll eventually forgive the generic set dressing, though, thanks to this twin-stick shooter’s clever namesake.
You are the alien parasite, body-snatching your way to different abilities and getting stronger all the time. It’s a cool gameplay hook, but one with a major central flaw.
Set within an alternate ’80s New York where seemingly no contemporary pop culture reference is safe, HyperParasite isn’t left wanting a surprise factor. This is mostly because the layout for all five acts you need to blast through is randomised at the beginning of each run, always forcing you to adapt and shake up your approach. You can rarely predict which enemies will spawn in each room, which in HyperParasite’s case means the ways you attack are also ever-changing.
There are 60 characters for you to control in total, ranging from simple trolleyequipped homeless people to a paranormal investigator who definitely isn’t ripping off Ghostbusters’ Peter Venkman. There’s even a werewolf. A lot of the fun you have comes from the variety of oddball characters, combining with a noticeably tongue-in-cheek attitude to ensure you keep coming back for more.
SWAP SHOP
Rather than let you inhabit characters freely as they are introduced in each new stage, you first have to wait until one of them drops a brain for you to collect and bring back safely to the in-game shop. Here you can purchase temporary parasite buffs, jump into a different host body if you have one stored, and spend money on new character types to inhabit – with the most powerful among them understandably costing more.
In theory it’s a good way for the developer to handle progression. In practice, however, the odds are always stacked against you because you can’t unlock characters in your preferred order. Losing your host forces you to fight in a parasite form, which would be an understandable compromise were it not hugely underpowered and fragile. Suddenly the main source of fun morphs into one of frustration. We get that roguelikes are meant to pose a proper challenge, but with its current progression set-up HyperParasite relies too much on luck and asks an awful lot of player patience.
Despite this one glaring drawback, HyperParasite remains an inventive roguelike twin-stick shooter that will raise a smile as regularly as your blood pressure.
VERDICT
“YOU ARE THE ALIEN PARASITE, BODY-SNATCHING YOUR WAY TO NEW ABILITIES.”
Body-swapping for new powers never gets dull. HyperParasite is a creative roguelike with major progression issues, but heaps of derisive charm and tight twinstick shooting. Aaron Potter