Hiveswap xefros
![hiveswap xefros hiveswap xefros](https://i.ytimg.com/vi/0LFg8TsWvaU/maxresdefault.jpg)
The characterisation and dialogue are strong enough to keep the game entertaining throughout some protracted trial-and-error sequences. There are some genuinely laugh-out-loud character interactions, a good deal of humour coming from the game’s awareness of how absurdly complex and self referential the Homestuck lore is. There’s a huge range of trolls to interact with along the way, all uniquely designed, and often presenting tons of quirky personality with small amounts of text.
![hiveswap xefros hiveswap xefros](https://www.destructoid.com/ul/457881-hiveswap.jpg)
Where HIVESWAP really shines is the dialogue, which is good because there’s quite a lot of it to say the least. The point n’ click parts of the game are perfectly serviceable – they’re never overly complex or puzzling, and if you get stuck, it’s usually because you’ve missed something blindingly obvious – but they’re really just window dressing. You want to do yourself a massive favour? Read all of Marvus’ dialogue in Snoop Dogg’s voice. They’ve even managed to sum up troll romance without giving me a migraine, and that’s basically magic. They’re an odd couple, but it really works, and their dynamic allows the game to explain complicated bits of background information anew without going over it ad nauseam for long term fans of Homestuck. Joey’s vivacity would be entirely offputting without Xefros’ self-deprecating restraint, and without Joey’s driving energy, Xefros would probably be living in a perpetual panic attack at the first obstacle. It’s unlikely that HIVESWAP would be as interesting without both Joey and Xefros at center stage. They both have different ways of interacting with the world around them – Xefros has mild telekinetic abilities, and Joey can… dance at stuff, I guess – along with different flavour text for objects depending on who you’re currently controlling. The two play off of each other nicely – Joey is blatantly unaware of Alternia’s many confusing social norms, causing her to blunder into awkward situations constantly, and Xefros is forced to overcome his cowardice to help her out. HIVESWAP is ostensibly a point n’ click adventure, following the heroine Joey as she navigates the colourful and terrifying environs of Alternia, aided by the wimpy but charming Xefros – a “lowblooded” troll who is all too aware of his place at the bottom of the ladder. It’s a fairly simple premise, right? Xefros speaks for all of us. HIVESWAP takes place in a parallel dimension, which shares Homestuck‘s established world but isn’t constrained by what’s already happened in the comic, instead telling a new story which sees a human girl transported to the alien world of Alternia, populated by trolls forced into a brutal caste system based on the colour of their blood. Homestuck is absurdly long and complex, featuring a revolving cast of regular characters, over 800,000 words, and a multi-media approach to storytelling that uses static images, gifs and flash animation. HIVESWAP is the crowd-funded game adaptation of Homestuck, an MS Paint Adventures webcomic created by Andrew Hussie in 2009. I’m coming into this review as somebody who’s basically just dipped their toes into Andrew Hussie’s mad brain-child thanks to a recommendation from my partner, so what I’m really looking to discern here is how effectively the source material translates into the gaming medium, and whether it makes any sense to anybody who hasn’t been exposed to it before. So… what is it? I’ll offer as brief a primer as I can, based on my barely functional working knowledge of the Homestuck lore. Over three years later, fans finally have the second part of the story, and the strange legacy of “ Homestuck: The Video Game” continues. A huge chunk of that money vanished in suspicious circumstances (through no fault of the people running the campaign, but that’s a whole ‘nother rabbit hole), along with much of the original vision for the game.
![hiveswap xefros hiveswap xefros](http://img1.reactor.cc/pics/post/full/Xefros-Tritoh-Hiveswap-MS-Paint-Adventures-фэндомы-5181283.png)
HIVESWAP‘s first act was released in 2017, years after an extremely successful Kickstarter campaign that raised almost two and a half million dollars.