Hyper Scape Preview

I know what you’re thinking: yet another battle royale game, and you may be right for feeling that way because the market for these games is getting quite saturated. For me, I enjoy seeing all the different takes on the genre, even if it can start to feel familiar, but Hyper Scape feels rather unique despite taking some similarities from those that came before (whether they were successful or not).

Richard Shivdarsan

Hyper Scape is the new fast-paced battle royale (BR) game (currently in open beta) from Ubisoft Montreal that takes that BR formula we all have come to be accustomed to and turns it into an arena shooter similar to an Unreal Tournament game. Like Apex Legends, Hyper Scape is a squad of three, along with a solo mode, with about half a dozen in-game avatars to choose from which don’t change anything from the actual gameplay other than appearance and voice lines. There is no customization for them other than the skins you unlock from leveling up the battle pass (which is free for now) along with weapons skins and sprays.

In Hyper Scape, there is no circle closing on you every few minutes. Instead, they use a feature seen from the – now shutdown – BR game Radical Heights where they close off zones in the map. When a zone closes, all weapons, items and even buildings disappear leaving an empty area to see any other players that may still be in it. Hyper Scape’s end game is trying something new as well. Instead of just being the last one standing, there is another way to win: holding the crown. Once you hit around 10 squads left, the crown will spawn and if you and your team can hold that crown for 45 seconds then you’ll win the game. The catch is once you pick up the crown, your location is revealed to every other player remaining until the timer is up.

As you start a game of Hyper Scape, you are put in a lobby with 100 other people until the match begins, which takes a little longer than I would like especially when going from game to game. As the timer counts down to zero you are put into a pod-like ship and can fly to any destination you want or follow the ping one of your teammates has set. Unlike other BR games, you can choose to land anywhere on the map and aren’t restricted to what area the bus/plane is flying above since there isn’t one.