Explore the weird web, or dive into a retro shooter
2019’sHypnospace Outlawsent players into the sleepy internet, where dreams played out like ’90s internet web pages. Today, publisher No More Robots announced two new games in the same universe: a spiritual sequel toHypnospace OutlawcalledDreamsettler, plus another new game with a little more action.
The first,Dreamsettler, looks to be a clear follow-up toHypnospace Outlaw. This one sees developer Tendershoot head into the early ’00s internet, where players take on the role of a Sleepnet Private Investigator. Explore pages, download apps, build playlists, and attach files.
Dreamsettlerlooks to be much of the same concoction of surreal nostalgia, moving the timeline forward to 2003 in the process. Today’s stream showed off some cool desktop options that will make users of the ’00s-era internet feel like they’ve fallen back through time.
For a different kind of nostalgia, there’sSlayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengeance of the Slayerfrom Big Z Studios Inc. It’s a retro-revival FPS, a.k.a. boomer shooter, made byHypnospace Outlawcharacter Zane Lofton. It’s aDoom-alike, with bobbing head, crunchy graphics, and maps where you may “blow up everything.”
It definitely has the look and feel of aDoomWAD, which I think is the general idea. Either way, theHypnospaceuniverse continues to dive deep into the nostalgia hole.
Both games have Steam pages up, withSlayers Xtargeting a release date “soon” whileDreamsettlerhas nothing set as of yet. They’re definitely both a bit out there. But the originalHypnospacewas a wild, wacky dive into internet history with a side of detective work. I’d be hard-pressed to not be intrigued in what the developers do with the ‘net of the 2000s.
