Body movin’

HyperParasite might have one of the best logos I have seen in a long time. I only bring this up because it is what drew me to the game initially. It draws inspiration from 80s neon-themed nostalgia that I grew up with. Then I dug into the description and it sparked my interest immediately. This is a game with one concept in mind and it works. The perspective lends itself to the game play and it manages to pull off what it sets out to do, but the question is, is that enough?

The idea is that you play a creature from space that is your prototypical blob with tentacles, and need to snatch a body toprogress through the game. Each person you possess has different traits and characteristics, so choosing which one to take over is crucial. Yeah, this is the plot of some cheesy 80s movie, but that only adds to the charm. That also means that yes, this is a roguelike game where I am expected to die over and over, and die I did.

MSRP: $14.99
Platforms: XB1 (reviewed), PS4, Switch, PC
Price I’d Pay: $9.99

Everything is simple here; possess bodies, kill everyone around and move to the next area. The hook of course being that death resets the progress and I am starting over with a new strategy. It is a tried and true formula that has been overdone in recent years. What makes the loop work is that each person you possess is entirely different. They have larger health pools and attacks which adds to the strategy. The hook is that in order to take over their body, you have to first defeat them and collect their brain.

I loved that each character brought something new to the table. This made collecting their abilities almost a game in itself. Playing as the blob is useless, as his attacks are paltry and health pool minimal. Pretty much one hit and he is done. This is a game of repetition, so each run brought new abilities and characters, but also a chance to learn the layouts and enemies. If like me you are burnt out on these types of games, HyperParasite does little to change that view. This is still a game of constant restarting, which can be frustrating.

Once I finally willed my way into the second level the repetition starts anew. All the enemies in the second level are unique, which is nice for collecting, but also means that all previously gained abilities are null and void. It can be cumbersome and tiring to constantly die and have to incrementally progress through the game.

I liked the perspective and the neon aesthetic really drew me into the world. I just wish these types of games were more linear and progression was not so slowly paced. I feel like I play the same sections over and over until I simply didn’t want to play anymore. These types of elements work for some titles, but the fact that nearly every game I jump into lately has a “rogue” element almost turns me off immediately. Sometimes I just want to play a game that goes from point A to point B without having to repeat the same process over and over and over again.

HyperParasite has a wonderful look and feel, but is marred by its “rogue” elements. It doesn’t do anything to push the genre forward and feels like yet another game that I would likely never finish due to tedium.

Review copy of game provided by publisher.