Hypogea — Vaulting for Freedom [Review]

Who knew that even robots made for war and industry don’t like to live in vast underground rusty metallic tunnels—left to rot after the end of humanity. I can’t say I blame the poor things, since while these massive subterranean constructions look wondrous and are very atmospheric—they have an air of decay to them, as they’re all that’s left of a bygone era. With that, welcome to the review of Hypogea, which is a moody third-person platformer set underground, with no voice-acting, and no enemies—except the water that will rust your bolts within seconds if you miss that crucial jump!

Seeking the surface
The story starts with you waking up on a grimy concrete floor after being rescued by a fellow subsurface robot looking for freedom. The two of you soon team up, because as it is, your rescuer has been injured—giving you the role of number one pathfinder. Meaning, you get a damn useful stick, for catching ledges and pole-vaulting towards a less filthy world.

There isn’t much to the story, narrative-wise, but often less is more, which is the case for Hypogea. Right from the beginning, you just know that you must escape this gigantic hole of despair. While the game never spells anything out, you can figure out what happened here before you woke up—in the form of finding out-of-reach “recollections” and artifacts that tell the story of the past.

It works well, as the atmosphere and melancholic tone of the environment tell the tale perfectly in tranquil silence. No non-stop yapping in your ear, constantly telling you what to do and what happens in front of your eyes, and thank the lord for that. I don’t mind having a comrade interjecting from time to time, but modern game development sensibilities say it must happen every four seconds—and it’s a pure curse for the mind!

Jump, robot, JUMP!
With the help of your stick (of leaping), you will pole-jump your way to salvation. The gameplay isn’t overly advanced, but what’s here is top-notch 3D platforming with a minimum of ledge magnetism that is popular among modern games nowadays. This means that all the jumps are more or less skill-based, actually requiring input from you to succeed. Learning to catch ledges is a must! The maps are large, with tucked away secrets for you to find, with the incentive being knowledge about this beautiful, but doomed world.

The closer you get to the surface, the tougher the challenges become, but it’s not something overly demanding that will lead to the classic gamer™ desk-smashing and hair-pulling. However, there are a few puzzles that require some deeper thinking than just throwing yourself to another platform. Overall, the pacing is great, but unfortunately that also means that the game will be over pretty fast. It took me around three hours to complete Hypogea, but, at least, I never felt bored or got stuck. The only segment I didn’t like that much was the machines that sent you flying—it just felt off compared to the other, more down to earth platforming.

Grimy look
As expected, the terrain looks industrial, with rusted metal and grey rocks filling your vision for the majority of the time, but there is no denying that it looks the part. What makes the visuals stand out is the vastness of it. The underground areas are so incredibly large, making one feel like an ant, crawling around on some kind of maddening megastructure. The graphics also remind me about Half-Life 2, since it has the same realistic stained industrial look to it. The music to accompany you is gloomy, which adds to the melancholic feeling of moving around in a dead space that still retains its sense of awe. In short: the presentation is good.

Conclusion
Hypogea might be short, too short, but luckily, the price matches the length (under ten euro), so there are silver linings. The game is cheap, after all, and it never outstays its welcome, by, let’s say adding increasingly bizarre traversal obstacles before you hit the end—fifty fatiguing hours in. Regardless of length, Hypogea is a cozy and atmospheric 3D-platformer with an awe-inspiring world to navigate in a very enjoyable way—with a minimum of annoying platforming aspects. I highly recommend Hypogea, especially if you yearn for a 3D-platformer with freedom and player-skill at its base.

Thanks for reading.

– Thomas

PS. I want to say thanks to JarlFrank for recommending me the game.