HyperRogue

 PC
User Score
7.9

Generally favorable reviews- based on 11 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 11
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 11
  3. Negative: 1 out of 11

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  1. SpriteGuard
    Jun 9, 2017
    10
    This game is my benchmark for what I consider a 10/10. The main highlights are: an engaged developer, unique challenges that are interesting and very difficult, and a good balance between depth and clarity.

    The game has received many updates since its release, and the amount of content has increased by an order of magnitude. The developer responds very quickly to requests and bug    This game is my benchmark for what I consider a 10/10. The main highlights are: an engaged developer, unique challenges that are interesting and very difficult, and a good balance between depth and clarity.

    The game has received many updates since its release, and the amount of content has increased by an order of magnitude. The developer responds very quickly to requests and bug reports, and is active in the community.

    The game has matured into a fairly rich open-world experience with a lot of options. Many of these are highlighted with some of the most interesting (and difficult) achievements I have seen. On top of that, it's the only roguelike where I've really felt like it was fun to just mess around trying stuff out. I've ridden dragons, lead armies, built structures, captured pets, hunted rare creatures, and turned into a giant plant monster. A lot of the main quests are fun too, my favorite is rescuing baby tortoises from dragons.

    All of those things required quite a bit of planning, nothing in this game is easy. It's one of the hardest games I have ever played, but it is entirely fair. There is very little randomness, and none of it will blindside you. It's all done with a system that is very transparent, with few enough moving parts that it's usually clear what all of your options are. This allows for a long planning horizon while leaving room for a lot of very hard challenges.

    The core mechanic of hyperbolic geometry has a lot of interesting implications, and the game does a lot of stuff that just wouldn't be possible without it. Many of the hardest challenges involve navigating in a world where directions don't work the way you are used to. Beyond that, the geometry informs the way the world works, so that it feels like a world that "grew up" in a hyperbolic universe, and adapted to its quirks.

    Because of this, it's also a great way to learn about hyperbolic geometry. A lot of lands show off one or more of the ways in which hyperbolic geometry differs from what we're used to, and finishing some quests requires learning how to reason about it. As counter-intuitive as it is, it is rigorous and can be reasoned about once you learn how.

    It's a game that has given me hundreds of hours of fun, taught me new things about both mathematics and game design, and connected me with a really delightful community.    … Expand
  2. Nudibranch
    Apr 2, 2017
    9
    HyperRogue is a turn-based game in which you explore a randomly-generated world featuring many different lands. Each land has its own set of special mechanics and monsters, getting increasingly deadly as you collect its treasure. Gathering treasure and killing monsters will open up new lands and cause various magical orbs to spawn, but there is very little permanent character progression.HyperRogue is a turn-based game in which you explore a randomly-generated world featuring many different lands. Each land has its own set of special mechanics and monsters, getting increasingly deadly as you collect its treasure. Gathering treasure and killing monsters will open up new lands and cause various magical orbs to spawn, but there is very little permanent character progression. Your character cannot survive being hit, and the same holds true for most monsters. Thankfully you are prevented from making suicidal moves, with the game only ending when you are in a "checkmate" position.

    One of the things that sets HyperRogue apart from other puzzle games and roguelikes is that it takes place on a hyperbolic plane. Without getting into the math behind this, it has many interesting effects on gameplay. It is incredibly unlikely to ever revisit a precise location without exactly retracing your movements. The most efficient way for a group of creatures to move is in single file, making it possible to deal with multiple enemies in open spaces. These and other aspects of the unusual geometry are used for many clever puzzles and mind-bending areas.

    There are around 50 different lands, with each one feeling quite distinct, from the initial land with melt-able ice walls and heat-seeking dogs, to a land where dormant monsters form the floor above a chasm, to a temple constructed from an infinite sequence of concentric "rings". The rules of each land are generally well-explained or easy to pick up from observation, so there's very little nonsense separating a new player from the fun and challenge of the game. Aside from the main game mode, there are many extra challenges and options available. So far I've gotten a solid 60 hours of entertainment from HyperRogue, which is quite a good value for the $5 it cost on PC.

    HyperRogue does have its share of minor annoyances. It's necessary to unlock the more advanced lands each game, which can get somewhat tiresome after many playthoughs. This issue is compounded by the fact that you are required to show a certain level of mastery before a land becomes available to play individually; basically you can get easy practice with advanced lands once you've proved you don't need it. The handling of "stalemate" situations where there are no legal moves, but the character isn't dead, leaves something to be desired. After a large number of turns additional monsters will begin to spawn, which means you have to click something like 100 times to wait in place if you want to continue or properly end the game.

    HyperRogue is great puzzle game and the most fun I've had with a computer game in a long time. It's very easy to get into, and there is a free version available, so anyone with an interest in puzzle games or roguelikes should check it out.    … Expand
  3. sidav
    Mar 25, 2017
    9
    Easy to learn, hard to master, impossible to understand. HyperRogue definitely is the one of the best puzzle games I've ever played. I especially love its exploration and "adapt-to-survive" aspects as well as psychedelically unusual setting. Some other games are trying to give us the "Woo, I'm on another planet!" feeling, but HyperRogue takes a step further and gives the feel of exploringEasy to learn, hard to master, impossible to understand. HyperRogue definitely is the one of the best puzzle games I've ever played. I especially love its exploration and "adapt-to-survive" aspects as well as psychedelically unusual setting. Some other games are trying to give us the "Woo, I'm on another planet!" feeling, but HyperRogue takes a step further and gives the feel of exploring other universes with different laws of space.
    Pros:
    + Unique idea of the game.
    + Very huge variety of different lands, rules and nuances.
    + Very good difficulty curve, which gives you both the time to learn the game and the possibility to control its progression (the more treasure you have earned from the land, the more difficult that land will be).
    + Mobile version with handy controls.
    + Despite I always play roguelike games in ASCII only, the HyperRogue is an exception. Sprites there are nice and readable, and that Escher tiling is something you want to see.
    + Gives me an interest in math.
    Cons:
    - I have to lower the graphics settings in the mobile version to get decent FPS.
    - I think, this game is somewhat not for everyone.
    - You can't save your game anywhere - you can save only when you've got an Orb of Safety! That "orb saving" approach comes from technical purposes, I guess, but it's still the only reason for me to give the game only 9 out of 10 score, because you can't always find the Orb easily.

    You still think that Lobachevsky's geometry is something incomprehensible? Yes it is. But with this game you'll love it.    … Expand