The battle royale genre has been dominating gaming for quite a few years now. But for every hugely successful mainstay, half a dozen flops are released. Can Hyper Scape, Ubisoft’s take on the genre, upset the established order? Are gamers willing to drop games like Apex Legends, Warzone, or Fortnite in favor of Hyper Scape? You know what, scratch that, Fortnite isn’t going anywhere; could Hyper Scape beat Apex Legends and/or Warzone? Here’s our take on it.
Hyper Scape vs. Apex Legends
Hyper Scape entered the saturated battle royale genre yesterday. It is clear that developer Ubisoft enjoyed Apex Legends. Apart from a similar sci-fi setting, Hyper Scape features a focus on fluid movement. But instead of ziplining and climbing, Ubisoft’s battle royale has double (and even triple) jumping, along with jump pads scattered around the map. Furthermore, the game features a semi-mobile reviving system, dynamic pings, and special abilities (called Hacks), .
Contrary to Apex Legends, the abilities aren’t character specific though. So instead of picking a character at the start of a game and being bound to their abilities, Hyper Scape lets you loot abilities on the fly. This feature opens up the possibility of changing abilities mid-game.
Hyper Scape vs. Warzone
The game was also partially inspired by Warzone. Specifically, the weapon system is really interesting. Hyper Scape features an almost non-existent weapon system that makes looting as simple as picking up a gun you like. No additional attachments and no ammo management specific to one gun.
Instead, whenever you come across an identical weapon, you can fuse it with your current gun, upgrading it. Depending on the gun, this means higher damage and/or a higher magazine capacity. Like we said in our Warzone review; the reception of such a concept really differs from person to person.
Hyper Scape alos completely removed other in-depth features like backpack management, shields, and even healing. You just regenerate health after a while, similar to Warzone. Lastly, Ubisoft’s new game also tries to keep players engaged, even after death. Instead of a gulag, defeated players get to walk around the game world in Echo form. This ghost-like state gives you the ability to scout ahead, ping loot, and point out enemies. You revive players by killing enemies. When a foe is killed, they ‘drop’ a respawn beacon where your Echo’d friend can respawn.
Is it innovative enough?
While this is in no way meant to be a review, it is interesting to look at the design choices Ubisoft has for Hyper Scape. It picks and chooses which features from major competitor it re-uses, creating a unique new game. But it is very much catered towards a different audience than most other BR’s. Hyper Scape is all about action and mostly cuts out the looting part. Additionally, it’s artstyle (not unlike Valorant) enables the game to be played on virtually any half-decent gaming rig.
How to play and release date
So could Hyper Scape beat genre defining games like Warzone and Apex Legends? Only time will tell. It’s especially hard to tell given the fact that the game is still in beta. To get a beta key you have to get lucky and receive a Twitch drop. Ubisoft explains in detail how to get a chance to receive a beta key here.
Hyper Scape is slated to release in the summer of 2020. The closed beta runs through to the 7th of July.
Image courtesy of: Ubisoft