HIVESWAP: ACT 2

I played Hiveswap: Act 1 so long ago I don’t remember it well. Fortunately, Act 2 gives me a recap to jog my memories. Hiveswap is a point and click game set in the Homestuck universe. I don’t know Homestuck or any of the expanded stories from there. So what drew me towards the game in the first place? Mainly the graphics. The artstyle is cartoony and colorful with cute character designs. Hey, what can I say?

Find it on Steam, here.

Hiveswap: Act 2 picks up with our main characters, Joey and Xefros trying to get to a weeklong party where they can meet up with other members of a resistance. Joey is a girl from Earth that accidentally got transported through an alien portal to the world of Alternia, inhabited by trolls. Xefros is kind of a meek, loser troll that is stronger than he gives himself credit for. And what are they resisting? A tyrannical empire bent on conquering the galaxy.

Gameplay is pretty simple point and click stuff. There is no button to highlight interactable spots, so you’ll have to search for cursor changes yourself. You can swap between Joey and Xefros to solve certain puzzles. They’ll also have different responses to examining things.

The puzzles for the game are pretty simple, though. Most of the time, it’s just you talking to various people until they help you. The game also isn’t that long. There is a segment that can drag on for a while, though I enjoyed it. It can feel like a genre shift from the rest of the game.

The primary setting of the second game is a cool train. I always enjoy a nice train setting. It is the train taking you to the party. Unfortunately, it is going the long way, and you need to get here fast. So you need to get through the train to redirect it to the fast track. Along the way, you’ll meet lots of varied trolls. Even the background characters without any interaction have fun and unique designs. Everyone has a charming look.

The tone of the game is goofy and irreverent. No one talks with proper grammar, especially the trolls who put in emotions into text, like XD or talk in cringy internet speak like replacing e with 33. h33y th33r33, how’s it going? It gives everyone character, though it does slow down the rate you read.

While the surface of the game is full of 2000’s era internet humor, there is a lot of worldbuilding going on in the background. It’s not important to the current goal of the characters, but the fleshing out of the world of Alternia and the trolls that inhabit it really makes the game charming and engaging. Despite the colorful nature of the game, the world of Alternia is pretty crappy overall. All the adults have been taken offworld to be part of the Empire’s war machine, so it is ruled over by kids, at least until they get too old and conscripted. Death is common and treated casually. They have troll terms for different things such as legislacerator for lawyer.

Trolls have a caste system based on their blood color. Each of the castes have different tendencies, specialities, and abilities. The low blood trolls are seen as toys and amusement by the higher bloods. The dynamics between everyone are pretty interesting.

A particularly fun part of troll biology is their dating scene. Not really important to the story, but each troll has 4 quadrants to fill with important people leading to 5 other people for one emotionally fulfilled troll. One quadrant is the matesprit, which is like the person you like. Then there’s the kismesis, who is the one you dislike. There is the moirail, which is a person that tempers your more overwhelming tendencies. Then there is the last quadrant, which is really complicated, includes 2 people and vacscillating between them or something. The last quadrant is too complex for the simple lesson.

To give an example in terms of Naruto, Hinata would be the matesprit. Sasuke would be the kismesis.Lastly, the moirial would be… Shikamaru. And the last quadrant is too complicated.

Now that I’ve given you the lowdown on the troll dating scene, perhaps you are interested in getting into the world of Hiveswap. Find Act 2 on Steam, here. Note that this is not the end of the story. There is an Act 3 coming, along with Hauntswitch, which takes place concurrently with the previous acts. Development of the games seems really slow, though. Even 4 years after the release of Act 2, there has been little news on Act 3.