Developer: ActaLogic
Publisher: ActaLogic
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Hypernova: Escape from Hadea – Review
When your world is on the brink of destruction, it is up to you to save it. Colonize the nearby moon Haya. Set up the star bridge and guide your people safely to a new home. But don’t get too comfy, you only have until the hypernova destroys everything. So you best hurry up before it is too late.
Story
Your sun is dying and is on the brink of causing a hypernova. As a result, your civilization has almost been wiped out and your planet Hadea is dying. But not all is completely lost. One mothership remains and has been sent to the nearby moon Haya, to start a colony. Your objective is to rebuild your civilization and construct the Star Bridge. This will allow you to escape the dying sun and start a new life in a new galaxy. But a lot must be done before the Star Bridge can be constructed: you need people, technology and a lot of resources. You’ll find plenty of resources on Haya and there is lots to explore. But don’t wander around for too long, time is of the essence and your people are counting on you. 
Graphics
The developers chose for a heavily stylized art style and it just looks amazing. Textures look great, there is a lot of variation in building models and the environment is stunning. Going for a more stylized approach feels like a must for Hypernova: Escape from Hadea. It’s hard to go for a more realistic art style when you are basing your game on nothing but science fiction. You could argue that games like StarCraft II were able to approach a more realistic look when compared to Hypernova, but the cartoonish vibe you get while playing Hypernova is one of the game’s biggest charms.
The stylized graphics will also make it so that the game will age well in the long run. There is however something that might be an eyesore for some people. The game largely uses only three colors: green, purple and blue. It’s entirely possible that when you have colonized the entire moon and have gotten rid of the purple fog, you might start to hate the color green. Literally every building is 90% green. The art assets and texture details are great, but the color variation could be improved upon.
Sound
Sound-wise Hypernova: Escape from Hadea has done a great job. The music is woven in well to the vibrant and lush environment and the sound effects are well-made. Another great and rather humorous addition to the game are the voice-overs. While on your journey, you’ll be accompanied by your advisor who will guide through the entire game. Your advisor’s greatest quality: his thick Jamaican accent.
Gameplay
Hypernova: Escape from Hadea is a singleplayer RTS tower defense game with some small elements of city building. You’ll start the game with a single mothership which is conveniently equipped with a state of the art 3D printer. This will allow you to build your first few buildings in order to get your colony started. Before you start building structures it is advised by your favourite Jamaican companion that you construct some mines to gather resources for your buildings.
Buildings are divided into three categories. You start off with a few buildings that improve population growth and increase overall capacity. You’ll also be able to build your first technology building that will open the research tree. Once the research tree has been unlocked you start unlocking other buildings. Because, while setting up your colony buildings, your population has increased and it has not gone unnoticed you might want to look at the defense turrets. They will help defend your colony. The inhabitants of Hadea aren’t too happy with your arrival and they are putting up a fight. At this point it is essential to have set up basic defenses . They’ll come at you in waves. At first, they won’t be difficult to handle but their strength increases wave after wave. The only way to stop them is to track down their spawn location and put an end to them once and for all.
Besides defending your colony from local threats you’ll have to worry about a few other things. First off: resource management. Even though resource deposits are infinite, they still need to replenish over time when depleted, and most of the time they are very spread. There are two different tiers of resources. The low tier ones are used for buildings and technology advancements. The high tier ones will be spent on the construction of the Star Bridge. Secondly, you’ll have to worry about space and energy management. All buildings require energy to function and your mothership with its limited range is your only source of energy. So you have to invent some sort of energy beacons. The very last thing you have to worry about is that you need to purify the air in order to build inside the purple fog that engulfs the moon.
Build up your colony, gather resources and defend the colony from local threats. Your final objective? Construct the Star Bridge and save your people. Sadly that’s all there is to it, just that single win one condition. There are no alternate paths for you to take, so you are basically playing through the same campaign over and over again. The only thing to really beat is your previous best attempt. The game could be a lot more, it would be a massive hit if it had a multiplayer feature but sadly it doesn’t.
Conclusion
Hypernova: Escape from Hadea is a fun singleplayer RTS tower defense game. The graphics, although stylized, look amazing. Music is amazing and the voice acting is just so hilarious you really wouldn’t want to play without it. Sadly, the game is singleplayer only and there isn’t much re-playability either. Right now the game is priced at 21.99 EUR and 24.99 USD on Steam, which is quite a bit considering the amount of content it currently offers. But all of this could change, since the game regularly receives updates, so it might be very worth it in the near future.
Hypernova: Escape from Hadea - Review,
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