You could easily get lost in HYPNOS’ Namless City, and perhaps that’s the goal. As Choron, you’re pursuing a dream of a faceless, red-headed boy. No, it’s not that type of game, but the elusive young whippersnapper occupies your thoughts, and it’s a thread you can’t help but pull at. As clear as day as that objective is, the experience is continually dream-like and awe-inspiring, but arguably sleep-inducing, albeit for different reasons.
Redlock Studio’s Early Access title is a first-person exploration. Those are broad terms, as it mixes up elements of walking simulation, basic platforming, and ominous visual novel dialogues with multiple paths. While those three concoctions are far from enticing, the experience is very different to similar titles. Sure, walking simulators look better than most titles, and while HYPNOS excels on the visual front, it’s not strictly its technical prowess, but it’s world-building.
As a Lovecraft fan, notably from a gaming perspective, I can’t justify this being a Lovecraftian experience. It doesn’t instil cosmic horror, though it is of Gaiman-like proportions, as if you’re discovering a new realm in the world of The Sandman. The scenery, labyrinths, and characters you engage with are stunning. Areas are themed, though not one section looks like a cut-and-paste Backrooms-influenced design, and instead, real dream-like environments, on the cusp of being totally alien. Honestly, this truly is a beautiful game and would be an immersive highlight, but there are reasons why you suddenly wake up from that dream.
Technically, HYPNOS is very demanding. I initially started this on my tablet, having found a way to travel lighter and using GameNative. That was a bad idea, as was going through the Steam Deck. It was a stuttering mess. To pre-empt any further lag, I played this on my Ryzen 9 laptop that, despite the mini ROG whirlwinds of doom insinuating clearance for take-off, it handles everything thrown at it, typically in Ultra/Epic settings. Not the case here, and long story short, I went to medium settings 1080p and still had an FPS of about 30-ish.
Looking at what’s happening on screen would make you wonder why the struggle, as this isn’t a fast-paced action game. However, the vast dream-like worlds that you can look off into the distance, seemingly forever falling when stepping off a ledge, and the overall textures on offer make this quite demanding. You can, of course, run around and jump, and this doesn’t cause further slowdown, but the overall vibes are a bit disconnected. Personally, I love ambiguity, and the story makes up for it with some interesting interactions with NPCs who are often poetic in their speech and are represented by gorgeous digital watercolours.
I personally don’t like first-person experiences without any NPCs, or they’re represented by mannequins, which seems to be the norm for indie horrors. In HYPNOS, you approach NPCs from afar, and they really look the part. Enigmatic, dark, ominous… everything invites exploration and another riddle on how to make sense of it all. If you wish to decipher it. Sometimes, it’s best to leave that ambiguity as it creates more engagement and triggers the old synapses a few hours after playing it. Visually, it’s practically faultless, but as an overall experience, it neither encourages me to spend hours in this believable dreamscape nor offers the patience to tweak my visual settings to make it enjoyable. Currently in Early Access, this is already resonating with a number of liminal space fans. If that’s you, this offers far more depth than its counterparts.
