HYLICS (2015)

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what an unfortunate release date hylics has: october 2nd 2015, just seventeen days after the release of undertale. it is an unfortunate competition they two unwittingly found themselves competing in, though only one even aware of it at all. the public can really only handle one type of hyper fixation on a release of its genre/medium at a time as far as discussions go, and undertale was a ridiculously long lasting one--hylics didn't stand a chance. yet it is interesting to see both in the context of what toby fox has previously said on his making of undertale: he thought of it simply being a Cool Little Indie RPG destined to obscurity to all but Cool Little Indie RPG Playing People. this didn't happen, and it was instead hylics' fate to sit on the same trophy shelf as barkley: gaiden and space funeral.

but none of this is a bad thing as long as every devs' bills were paid. as far as art goes, there's a space for both. hylics certainly wields a unique aesthetic unlike just about anything else bar the few other claymation focused video games. it's that clay aesthetic meshed with the mspaint binary brush that creates very interesting, captivating environments and designs. the world only gets weirder with those that inhabit it, both you, spontaneous bathtaker and couch sitter that you are, and the enemies, npcs, and companions scattered around. you look weird--they talk weird. the sort of incomprehensible waxing of incomprehensible poetry happens quite a lot throughout hylics, and it serves to complement the times in which the game loosens its shoulders a bit and plays a joke completely straight.

hylics has a good sense of humor, and it's got an even better combat system. just that it works, really, and is more mechanically stimulating than space-bar-to-win off or the forgettably standard system of aforementioned space funeral, or the complete absence of any system at all like a la ib. you've got an array of spells that can be expanded on the more and more you... watch television, and there's a number of strategies you can pursue to take on enemies (or i assume, anyway. there's a lot of spells. i just kind of used the sleep one a lot). the actual pacing from enemies beating you down to you beating them down to then a good middle ground of eventual but distinguished progress until finally becoming a beat down champion is... really, really good! so good that the game doesn't drag its heels even once, the moment to moment happening at just the pace you want it at.

that said, not all of my thoughts are glowing. while the writing is a balancing act of mostly gibberish and occasional surrealistic zings, it's also all not really too interesting. there's never any sense of stakes or even a "thing" that hooks you. the cast of hylics sort of do things arbitrarily until it's the end. maybe that fits the overall feel of the world, but it's also kind of boring in itself and leaves you feeling nothing much post ending. i don't know, it was just a general sort of "well, i guess that's it then." compare and contrast with, say, barkley and the absolutely insane buildup to its conclusion, and said conclusion being delivered via pure chaos. meanwhile, hylics is... again, just arbitrarily over. perhaps the most offensive part of the game is its real lack of character from the characters! as in, no one in your party says a damn thing once they join your crew. actually, there's one moment very early on in which a character DOES... and then never again. that sucks, man. paper mario: ttyd had this shit figured out. barkley had it figured out. final fantasy games older than any of these had it figured out, jesus. have them talk.

hylics is definitely captivating besides the missteps in writing. my eyes glazed over at the top steam review going "lololol drugs" because hylics is genuinely just bursting with creativity of its own right and really doesn't deserve to be dude weeded. it's smartly designed, appropriately paced, and you feel like you got something cool out of it even if the finish line only comes and goes.