We Love It's Guide to…
As 1994 teen Joey is swept to a hostile alien world, explore hand-drawn rooms, solve point-and-click puzzles, and meet its rebels.
Released 14 Sep 2017
Escape a Monster-Filled Home
Explore Alien Homes
Uncover Item-Combo Jokes
A hand-drawn tribute to hilarious '90s adventure games (with none of the accompanying frustration). Play as Joey Claire, a puzzle-solving teen snatched out of her time (1994) and place (Earth) and stranded on a hostile alien planet on the brink of rebellion.
Developed by What Pumpkin Games, Inc. · Published by What Pumpkin Games, Inc.
Joey Claire’s life in 1994 takes a strange turn when alien creatures invade her home and she ends up stranded on a hostile planet. Her younger brother Jude and the alien Xefros Tritoh are part of a story that mixes danger, mystery, and offbeat humor.
Explore illustrated rooms, inspect objects, collect items, and use them to solve puzzles that open the way forward. Trying unexpected item combinations can also trigger custom dialogue, jokes, or extra details about the world.
This first act advances through character conversations, environmental exploration, and puzzle-solving, introducing the alien setting and its social tensions along the way. Hand-drawn animations and a varied soundtrack accompany the story, which is one installment in a larger series.
Players often enjoy the game’s expressive art and animated scenes, humorous writing, memorable characters, and soundtrack. Some also like exploring objects and testing item combinations for extra dialogue. Reactions to the puzzles and text vary: some find the puzzles approachable and the detail rewarding, while others find solutions unclear or the amount of reading tiring. Many reviews also note that the act is short.
Monsters in the yard. Monsters in the house. Monsters in the hall, beating on your door. Your brother's trapped in his treehouse, so he’s not gonna be much help. You're going to have to get yourself out of this. But where did they come from? How are you supposed to deal with this? Well, certainly not by cowering in your room. That's for, uh, cowards.
First things first. You need to open the door.
A LOVE LETTER TO '90s ADVENTURE GAMES
...without the accompanying frustration. As fun and well-paced as you generously remember them being. No dream-logic solutions, no hearing the same “those items don’t work together” message over and over. HIVESWAP has unique responses for everything you can try. Spend hours trying everything on everything, if you want to -- but not because you have to. Learn about the characters by exploring their homes! But like, in a good way! No audio logs split up and scattered around -- GUARANTEED.
HAND-ANIMATED IN TWO DIMENSIONS
Strange homes to explore, every room brimming with secrets. The world of HIVESWAP is beautiful and alive, from its hyper-detailed environments to its gorgeous fully-rendered animations. Come take a look!
MUSIC TO MAKE YOU WEEP
An eclectic, ambitious, genre-spanning soundtrack, featuring contributions from Undertale’s Toby Fox and, regrettably, at least one third-wave ska song. Also featuring at least one pseudo-revolutionary garage rock duo, with regrets of their own.
WORLDS TO SEE, TEENS TO BE
Play as JOEY CLAIRE, EXTRAORDINAIRE, a teen trapped in her room *and* in 1994. Play as JUDE HARLEY, BIZARRELY, her kid brother, trapped in his treehouse. Play as XEFROS TRITOH, ALIEN REBEL, wait. Aliens?
JUST GETTING STARTED
HIVESWAP: ACT 1 is the first of a four-part series set in Andrew Hussie’s Homestuck universe, with a companion game, Hauntswitch, to follow. Continue your save from chapter to chapter, then from game to game, to carry your story, choices, friendships and frenemies across them all--then do it again! Once released, HIVESWAP and Hauntswitch will be playable in either order. Haven’t read Homestuck? That’s fine! This game is set in 1994! Homestuck hasn’t even been invented yet!
And then...
the adventure continues in ACT 2.
| Platforms | Windows, macOS, Linux |
|---|---|
| Achievements | 44 |
| Age ratings |
|
| Controller required | No |
| Demo | LudoNarraCon demo |
| DLC / extras | 1 listed on Steam |
| Website | Official website |
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