Hyper Scape battle royale first impressions

Seemingly out of the blue, Ubisoft Montreal released its first entry into the battle royale genre. Hyper Scape, a fast-paced FPS, is now available to a lucky group of players who either gained access through Twitch Drops or by email registration.

This Technical Test will only last for less than a week though, so time with the game is limited. Luckily, we were able to gain access and played a few hours of the high-speed battle royale. Here are our first impressions of Hyper Scape.

Changing the landscape of battle royales

In this day and age, developers need to be truly innovative when releasing a battle royale. Since there is so much competition on the market, a game needs to truly stand out to be taken seriously and develop a fan base. Fortnite did this with the building mechanic, Warzone implemented the Gulag and Buy Stations, Apex Legends has its lineup of characters, etc.

On the surface, Hyper Scape may resemble an ordinary battle royale. There are weapons, eliminations, a Battle Pass, and other aspects that players come to expect with this genre. However, if we dig a little deeper, Hyper Scape really stands out from the rest of the pack. This starts as soon as you launch the game when an A.I. robot takes you through the game’s basics.

Once you begin to learn how everything works, you really start to see this isn’t the run-of-the-mill battle royale. Ubisoft was able to improve on many genre-defining mechanics and put its own spin on it. For example, Hyper Scape has the Hub, which can be compared to Fortnite’s lobby screens. However, in Hyper Scape, you can move around a small area and enter different doors for different menus. While not a huge change, it’s a nice touch.

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Of course, there are much bigger changes in Hyper Scape from a standard battle royale. Perhaps the biggest of these is the way the weapon system works. Instead of utilizing the rarity system like a plethora of other BRs use, the game allows you to upgrade your weapons.

This is done by fusing your current weapon with an identical one on the ground. For example, if you find a Ripper while already holding one, you hold the interact button to fuse it and gain another rarity plus more ammo. This eliminates the need to find higher-rarity weapons by sheer luck.

Hyper Scape also altered the way one team wins an actual match. While you can still simply eliminate the whole lobby for the victory, you can also hold the Crown for 40 seconds to secure a win. If you possess the Crown, which spawns later in the game, you’ll be hunted by other teams. However, if you can hold them off for 40 seconds, you win the game.

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In order to hold enemies off, however, you may need to utilize the game’s many abilities. These spawn like regular weapons on the ground and are quite powerful. They are upgraded the same way as weapons and are some of the most enjoyable items in the game. There’s the Ball ability, which quite literally turns you into a ball for a time. Also, there’s the Slam ability, which skyrockets you into the air and allows you to deal damage to anyone below you.

How does Twitch integration work?

One of the main selling points for Hyper Scape is the new Twitch integration. Ubisoft is allowing Twitch streamers and their chat to have a major impact on any given match. Sporadically during a game, a pop-up will appear on a streamer’s screen. This is only visible to the chat and allows them to pick a random in-game event. They’re given three choices and whichever one wins is the event that will occur next. Some events include Infinite Ammo, Extra Jump, Reveal, and Low Gravity.

Though other games like The Darwin Project have tried this mechanic, this game really improves upon it. The in-game events aren’t too game-changing but still provide the players in the match with an obstacle to overcome. Of course, sometimes a Twitch streamer will have an advantage over the others in the match but it’s not anything drastic. Ubisoft also has plans to expand this integration, so fingers crossed the developers don’t go too overboard with it.

All in all, Hyper Scape delivers on the innovation front while still being an enjoyable experience. The movement is outstanding, the weapons are fun and rewarding to use, and the different spins on battle royale staples are refreshing. Time will tell if yet another battle royale will grow a fan base but for right now, Hyper Scape is certainly a title to look out for.

That is it for our Hyper Scape preview, check out GGRecon for all the gaming news and guides you need.