Hyphen Review

It’s not all that often that a puzzle game comes along with a novel concept. They tend to be re-hashes or re-imaginings of older games or attempt to build on what has been successful in the past. Hyphen manages to bridge the gap between difficulty and playability, all the while spinning endlessly from atop an original idea.

The basic premise is that the player controls a glowing green… Hyphen. This bar of kryptonite never stops rotating and the challenge presented to the player is to move it to the end of the level without touching anything on the way. Sounds simple enough but trust me when I say that this game is difficult with a capital AHHHHH!

Timing is everything in Hyphen and precision is paramount. If the radioactive rod touches the side of the level, an obstacle or is hit by a laser, it will turn red, warning the player that it is in contact with something. Being red for more than a second or two results in the fluorescent stick exploding and the player being sent back to the beginning of the level or last checkpoint. The checkpoint system works really well and serves as a player controlled difficulty level to some degree. At the start of each stage, a number of checkpoints are available for deployment. At any time during the level, the player can drop a checkpoint and continue from there when they die instead of being thrown back to the start. Upon completion of a level, the player is rated from one to five stars depending on whether the par time was met, the number of deaths and the number of checkpoints used. This system gives the game massive replayability as even after beating all 36 levels you’ll definitely still want to revisit earlier ones to try for that elusive 5 star rating.

To begin with, the gameplay feels a little tricky and becoming a competent line-pilot takes a little time and effort. Once mastered though, there is immense satisfaction to be had from negotiating particularly difficult sections of levels with perfect timing and grace. On several occasions I found myself just waiting and thinking before tackling a devastating looking series of obstructions, letting the luminous stick rotate in place while I considered just exactly how I was going to get past.

Controlling the strip of green light is simple enough whether you’re using a gamepad or a keyboard. Directions move around and a quick press of a button or the spacebar will place a check point marker. Holding shift will allow you to move more slowly but doesn’t affect the rate of rotation. There are a few pick-ups and puzzles scattered around the levels. Sometimes you’ll have to collect a key to open up the next section or grab a power-up to make you smaller or reverse your direction of rotation. Nothing spectacular really, but these things do help to break up the levels and sometimes even add an element of exploration to proceedings.  

Hyphen’s visuals are simplistic but effective. The stages are all crafted from neon lines and shapes which form channels and mazes filled with obstacles, tight squeezes and turrets all waiting to be navigated or avoided. The visual style is near perfect for this type of game, never distracting or confusing, the bright colours and simple geometry of the level design compliments the gameplay and adds to the overall high quality feel of the game.

The electronic soundtrack is one that Tron himself would be proud of. It’s energetic without being in the way and more importantly, is well written and sounds really good. The soundtrack loops as a whole as opposed to there being individual tracks for each level. Thankfully, this means that you’re never stuck listening to the same tune over and over again as you try and retry to complete a level.

Hyphen succeeds in almost all aspects, from its originality and near flawless execution to its longevity and well-paced learning curve, it is a really excellent puzzle game that any fan of the genre would be doing themselves an injustice by passing up. The only thing really missing are leaderboards but hopefully, if the game is successful with its Steam Greenlight campaign, they will be added in the future.