Review | Hyposphere: Rebirth

Review | Hyposphere: Rebirth

Are you looking for a fun Marble arcade game? Or are you looking to relive some glory playing a game that feels like it’s made for speedrunners? Or are you looking for some really tricky shots to balance? Then you have come to the right place! I had the joy to review Hyposphere: Rebirth, created by Poor Cat. So buckle up; here is my Hyposphere: Rebirth review for Xbox Series X

We played Hyposphere: Rebirth for 4.2 hours on the Xbox Series X.

What we liked!

  • Platformer Vibe: What is there not to like? You play as a little marble that has to get from point A to point B without falling off. So this Is a classic platformer! The twist here is that you got to do it eighter as complete as possible, or you have to do it as fast as possible! This really brought out a competitive vibe and made me replay a fair bit of levels to beat my own time!
  • Speedrunning perfection!: To continue with the speedrunning, Hyposphere seems all tuned to it! You can progress through levels in a careful and planned way, or you can accelerate your marbles as fast as you can and skip specific paths with huge and risky jumps! This made my aim for the end gate almost every time, and I must say that I made some bizarre focus sounds IRL while trying to score those marbles.
  • Sounds: Hyposphere is genuinely full of unique soundtracks while you play through the game. But this won’t last (forever). While you race through your levels, you won’t feel like you are rehearing specific tunes too often! This is because you will be mostly focused on the gameplay and the map itself. Sound is used in a smart way to express and add feeling to the levels. Not too much to say here, besides a wise selection.
  • Graphics: If you have the luxury to play on recent hardware, you will notice the efforts made by Poor cat and Atum Software on how to make a simple marble game stand out. The game looks and feels “WOW.” Which is to say, it is set in a space-like environment, and the elements look shiny enough that it made me appreciate the effort.

Somewhere between

  • New game Plus mode:  Hyposphere has this mode after completing the 100 handcrafted levels called “New Game Plus.” But to be fair, I don’t get why this would be a “new game.” It feels like you redo the same levels from the default list, but just in a different order. If it wouldn’t give you 100G in Xbox Achievements, I would genuinely question why this would be here.

What we disliked

  • Coin achievements: The downside of this achievement is too prevalent. If you enjoy the game, and you are rushing through it to enjoy the speedrunning vibe, you will never get to 2000 Coins in a run. And I was only pointed out that I needed 2000 Coins for achievement after I ended my run. I would have to replay the entire 100 levels and stay on the platforms to collect extra coins. So passed on this one.
  • Camera angles:  Without a doubt, the biggest downside of Hyposphere must be the camera. You can’t angle it at a 90-degree angle. You can max change your point of view for 15 degrees. Which just doesn’t feel enough. Yes, it makes specific maps a tad harder, but what’s the end? I instead change my pov with a slow-moving camera then have to think about moving sideways. If you overshoot your marble, but you are high in the sky, you have to estimate how far back you have to move. This, again, adds a layer of complex gameplay that can be enjoyable for some people, but it felt like a downside to me.

CONCLUSION

87%

So, in short, if you are looking for quite a few hours of intense fun and parkour, then you can’t go wrong with buying Hyposphere: Rebirth for only 6 dollars (as of the time of writing). it’s less than a pizza, and the experience will literally stick with you for a long while! Even though I haven’t touched the game in a while now, I still vividly remember every moment of it. There is even a short gameplay trailer on the Xbox store page for you to check out. Let us know on socials what you think about the game!
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