Posted on: June 30, 2019

gbarules2999

Games: 442 Reviews: 5

Funny, Brilliant, Well Written, Clever

This game does a number of things impossibly well: 1) A hilarious and accurate recreation of what it was like to use the internet in the mid-to-late 90's. The color pallete, the graphical capabilities, even the slowness of the loading and the sluggish interface. Just the general vibe of the hypnospace is so accurate to the early internet it's really incredible - the way people type, the early lingo, the way people/companies aren't really even sure how to use this thing yet, and the "anything goes" feeling of what's cool and what's not. 2) Incredibly dense worldbuilding. The Hypnospace Outlaw team has made an entire alternative history with alternative sports, politicians, mascots, products, and even food. In this world, mix melted butter and ice cream and eat it. Or even taking the premise at face value, where people browse the internet in their sleep. 3) A great cast of characters. The archetypes were just completely spot on, but nothing is ONLY played for laughs, even if it might be mined for comedy at first. 4) Surprisingly engaging game mechanics. The game's long-term structure feels like a open-ended Metroidvania - you'll get money you need to buy certain plot related items, or special programs, or you'll just know things about the characters for specific barriers. You can even sequence break if you're careful. Most of this comes from things you notice and have to simply remember. By the end I had several pages of notes on a small notebook from this game alone. All in all, I LOVED this game. I was completely addicted to it for a day and a night, and it was an extremely well done game. It gave me nostalgia and reminded me of days on the internet I had completely forgotten, and it gave me an exciting mystery to solve. This is the kind of game that makes me use superlatives like they're going out of style, because BY GOD this is a brilliant vision of some very talented people.

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Posted on: November 7, 2020

dnovraD

Verified owner

Games: Reviews: 74

A respectful tribute to a bygone era.

Hypnospace manages to encapsulate the late 1990s culture in a respectful way. The way it is presented, though the mere lens of a simple browser in an alternate reality helps keep much of the references from being forced into your face. Everything but obnoxious flash media ads are there. The autoplaying music, the obnoxious layouts, fake music scenes, crusty jpegs. And yet I want to find out more about the people in Hypnospace. Playing it made me think about YIIK; how insulting that entire experience was; unfun in verbosity, obnoxious in presentation, and pointless in ending. How it tried to be a game about the same era, and got everything wrong; as if told by a fourth hand account. Hypnospace is very much firsthand. One could argue to the degree of "having had to have been there", but I feel it presents much so in a way that you can understand the greater context without needing to have ever used dialup. There's two major flaws with Hypnospace. You can easily rush the story to the conclusion even accidentally at points, and much of the deeper content is cryptic in access. All and all, what I want is more; which it seems for the time being the developer will be providing. :)

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Posted on: July 13, 2019

IchBinAsuka

Verified owner

Games: 78 Reviews: 1

Alternate History 1999... same GIFs!

I began playing this game initially because the aesthetic and concept intrigued me. Browsing a alternate history 1999 internet? Seems like a fun premise. However through playing I was entranced by how engaging it began working as a story telling medium! I was on the edge of my seat doing doing deep reads into a whole mess of topics and I know more about Coolpunk than I ever thought I would need to know! The interface is intuitive and easy. It's a computer! Remember, its 1999, there's no tabs either! Get ready to get lost in bizarre holes of information throughout your experience! Graphically the game looks splendid, there is a lot of care put in to keep everything consistent, down to the MIDI files playing and the framerate of the GIFs on everybody's pages. Music production is, pleasantly, wonderful to listen to even outside of the context of the weird pages. If you grew up browsing the net during this era and want to be surprised by a funny and engaging story, this game will NOT disappoint.

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Posted on: November 26, 2019

mistergiantrobot

Verified owner

Games: 34 Reviews: 1

A Mystery inside the Wayback Machine

When I saw this game I immediately knew it was for me. The jank, the horrible image compression, the small community infighting. It was everything I wanted from this type of game. But I was not ready for how interesting this game was. Don't be fooled, this is an amazing mystery game. A lot of mystery games try to capture the feel of putting clues together. The thrill of chasing down a culprit. But few put you in the researcher role: combing through pages just to find that one line of text that opens it all up. This game is so, so good at that. You'll discover links between characters you hadn't seen before. Build a timeline of events. All while exploring a shockingly well crafted recreation of what it was like on the internet. (But fun, as opposed to slow and frustrating.) If you enjoy the aesthetic, get this game. But if you want a unique mystery game, definitely get this game.

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Posted on: March 18, 2019

Duhya

Verified owner

Games: 63 Reviews: 1

volunteer internet moderator sim 2000

One of the most interesting games i've played. If you've seen gameplay and like what you see I wouldn't pass up on this. It can be very funny, but it definately has a dark side so don't expect a farce comedy game. Particularly the users who run the webpages are written very well, and have real and serious problems. I haven't finished the game, but I've spent a good 5 hours playing it, and I think I can't be more than 1/3 through the game, so it's not a game that can be beat in a couple hours(depending on how beefy your brain is.) The game achieves what it sets out to near perfectly.

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