Hylics (video game)

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Hylics
Hylics cover.jpg
Developer(s)Mason Lindroth
Publisher(s)Mason Lindroth
EngineRPG Maker VX Ace
Platform(s)Windows
ReleaseOctober 2, 2015
Mode(s)Single-player

Hylics is a role-playing video game developed and published by Mason Lindroth. It was released for Windows on October 2, 2015, on Steam.[1] The game uses claymation graphics to depict a surreal world.

Plot[]

The player character is Wayne, a humanoid being with yellow skin and crescent-shaped horns. Most of the game's NPCs speak using random text generation, in a manner described as a deliberately misleading red herring, albeit consistent with the setting, with the player's goals being represented through environmental design instead.[2] The world and characters are alluded to be posthuman in nature and the goal of the game is to defeat the king of the moon, whose name is Gibby.

Gameplay[]

Hylics plays like a traditional JRPG despite its surreal setting. Hit points are replaced with "flesh", while magic points are replaced with "will". Battles are shown from a first-person perspective, with the character's hands being shown performing attacks.[2] Wayne loses all his flesh when defeated, but does not die, rather warping to an "afterlife" from which they can travel back to a previous area.[2] Battle items are also unusual, such as being able to attack with a frozen burrito.[3]

Development[]

The game was developed using the RPG Maker VX Ace engine and took a year to develop.[4]

Reception[]

Emily Gera of Rock, Paper, Shotgun described the game as "like a scene from Bosch by way of Videodrome".[3] Chris Priestman of Kill Screen called the game's animation "wonderful" and stated that "to play a Mason Lindroth game is to delight in all that is possible within the material world and to learn how wonderful creation and destruction can be."[2] Jordan Devore of Destructoid said that Hylics was "the trippiest RPG I've ever seen".[5]

Sequel[]

A sequel with higher resolution graphics was announced to be developed after the release of the first game. Hylics 2 was finally released on June 22, 2020, featuring a quest to stop Gibby's minions from reconstituting their master.[6]

References[]

  1. ^ "Hylics". Metacritic. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  2. ^ a b c d "The material world of Mason Lindroth - Kill Screen". Kill Screen. 2015-07-27. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  3. ^ a b Gera, Emily (2015-08-08). "Hylics Is Basically Videodrome: The Game". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  4. ^ "Hylics Might Be One Of The Strangest Yet Beautiful RPGs You'll See - Siliconera". Siliconera. 2015-08-23. Retrieved 2021-10-08.
  5. ^ "Hylics is the trippiest RPG I've ever seen". destructoid. Retrieved 2018-01-28.
  6. ^ Davenport, James (22 June 2020). "Hylics 2 feels like a long-lost RPG from the 1970s". PC Gamer.
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