Hyperbolica

Travel through a minimalist world of confusion and wonder in CodeParade’s Hyperbolica, an indie game whose main goal will be to perplex the player with its impossible landscapes and liminal wonders.

Hyperbolic features some complex puzzle mechanics that are made deliberately to confuse the player. Part of the charm behind the game’s outlandish setting is that you’ll never be prepared for what lies ahead, forcing you to improvise and come up with new and ingenious ways to solve seemingly nonsensical puzzles on the go.

Non-Euclidean Shenanigans

To understand what’s going on in Hyperbolica, we’d have to first unravel its enigmatic level design. The developers describe the game as taking place in a non-Euclidean curved space. This means that, unlike the flat spaces of Euclidean geometry, players will have to think fast if they hope to understand the curved world of Hyperbolica.

Before you think that this is a game about physics puzzles à la Portal, we have to say that Hyperbolica is more about the experience than the challenge. Sure, there are puzzles to be found, and they must be solved in order to progress through the game, but these challenges always feel like they’re complementary to the whole experience, rather than being the backbone of it.

What this means is that Hyperbolica is much more about exploring an impossible world rather than keep thinking of solutions to complicated puzzles at every step of the way. Speaking of which, traveling in a giant circle can become dizzying for new players, especially for those who haven’t had the pleasure of playing Katamari Damacy before.

Art and Design

Though it seems like the developers took a lot of time thinking about the laws and physics of Hyperbolica’s world, there’s no denying that the game’s art style is what takes the cake here.

It’s not easy to convey the space where Hyperbolica takes place; thankfully, the game’s art style perfectly encapsulates the whole concept of it taking place in an alternate, non-Euclidean dimension. The end result is a game that looks like it came straight out of a 1980s poster or from some vaporwave album cover.

Fans of fashionable games like Neon Drive will no doubt appreciate Hyperbolica’s commitment to style. There’s also a lot of charm put into the designs of the game’s robotic inhabitants, which serve as a nice distraction from the otherwise uncomfortably liminal landscapes.

There’s much to discover in this game, and the fact that traversing the world itself can be a challenge is a nice added bonus. In most games, moving from Point A to Point B is as easy as holding the joystick forward, but in the wacky world of Hyperbolica, moving around can be a wonderfully mesmerizing experience where all sense of direction is lost.

It might be a bit basic for some puzzle lovers out there, but there’s no denying that there’s a lot to see in the world of Hyperbolica. As it seems now, the game serves as the ideal foundation for future titles to expand upon the concepts of hyperbolic spaces and non-Euclidean geometry.

Pros

• Excellent level design
• Surreal landscapes make the game’s world feel rather unique
• Great assortment of puzzles and places to explore

Cons

• Some of the puzzles rely a bit too much on the game’s unique geometry