The Switch has been blessed with a multitude of great games of all sizes and sizes since launch, although there are a couple of genres which were lacking until relatively recently. Racers, for example - especially more realistic ones - were thin on the ground for a while, and the console wasn't blessed with an abundance of quality First-Person Shooters, either. Thankfully, that is gradually changing over time, although UK-based indie dev Digital Cybercherries reckons that there's still plenty of space for expansion in Switch's inventory of FPS games. When you look at the wealth of incredible options on other consoles, it's hard to disagree.
In HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed you are a child's plaything, but one that does battle side-by-side with your best pals. It's a local (or online) co-op FPS with a shot of tower defence and a dash of old-school retro splitscreen action which puts you in the tiny shoes of customisable G.I. Joe-a-likes as they defend against hordes of evil toys from across the other side of the kitchen (or other household area).
The Switch trailer caught our eye just after the game was first revealed in a montage during the Indie World Showcase last August, and it has been in Early Access on Steam for a couple of years. It's coming to Switch on 31st January, so we recently caught up with the team (Public Relations and Marketing Manager Joe Henson, Lead Programmer and Game Designer Dec Doyle and Lead Audio Engineer and Game Designer Ulrich Gollick) to find out more...
For anyone unfamiliar with Digital Cybercherries or Hypercharge: Unboxed, can you give us a little history about the studio and tell us about the game?
Henson: Hypercharge: Unboxed is a cooperative First-person shooter about living toys. You must work together with your friends to protect the HYPER-CORE. If it’s destroyed, you can bid farewell to your human friends. They’ll forget about you. It’ll be like you never existed. For the future of toy-kind, do not fail!
The game now has progression, balance, unlockables, new enemies, new weapons along with attachments, new levels, and a much more satisfying gameplay loop [compared to its Early Access launch]
We want the player to truly feel like a small toy. The environments are very authentic and detailed, they offer a sense of immersion. And when you're playing from the perspective of a pint-sized action figure, we’ve made sure it feels extremely accurate. The game focuses on realism. I know that may sound silly – 'You’re a toy that is alive, how is that realistic?' – but hear me out. We’ve all had imaginary battles with our toys as kids. And what was so interesting about them? They seemed so darn real. It was as if you were right there, amid it all. Lining your army men up, holding your toy plane and nose diving it into battle… You are in the mind of your younger self re-enacting your imaginary battles. Overall, being able to play as a small plastic soldier is fantastic. It opens a box of fun possibilities, and Hypercharge: Unboxed gives the player a lot of freedom when in-game.
Digital Cybercherries was founded in 2015. We’re a group of very close friends who share the same passion; we believe players are an integral part to the creation of the games we make. We always listen to feedback and value what the fans have to say. Oh, and we hate Pay-to-Win and Loot-boxes. You will never find that type of stuff in any of our games.
How did the project take off initially? What inspirations did you look to when developing Hypercharge: Unboxed (video games or otherwise)?
Henson: The development of Hypercharge: Unboxed started in 2015. We finally released an alpha version of the game via Steam Early Access in 2017, and it currently holds a 90% Very Positive rating. Most of us on the team are 90s babies, growing up with epic movies such as Small Soldiers and Toy Story. This gave us inspiration to create something that packs a ton of nostalgia. We loved the idea of being a small plastic toy, where the environment is much bigger than you. There’s a constant fear of danger. So, we thought, why not create a game where you can work together, but also battle against each other.
The game has been available in Early Access on Steam for around two-and-a-half years. Has it changed much over that time? If so, how?
We have always developed with a mindset that focuses on optimisation, which helped make the process [of porting to Switch] a more feasible challenge
Henson: Very much so. Hypercharge: Unboxed has been built with our hands, but from the vision of our players. Since its initial Early Access release, we've had a huge redesign of the game. Pretty much all core mechanics including; gameplay AI, physics, wave spawning, level layouts, and balance were re-designed or re-built to be more robust and scalable, as this allowed us to take the game into a new direction. Or rather, the community’s direction. The game now has progression, balance, unlockables, new enemies, new weapons along with attachments, new levels, and a much more satisfying gameplay loop that has players wanting to return to each map with new tactics to try and tackle the new scaling dynamic difficulty.
You’ve chosen to bring the game to Switch ahead of other consoles – what was your thinking behind that decision?
Doyle: We chose to bring the game first to Switch because we felt like the platform could do with a few more fun couch co-op/multiplayer first-person shooters, almost everyone on the team already owns a Switch and we all love shooters, and basically once we had the game running on the Switch we knew we had to share this with other Switch gamers who are just as FPS-starved as we are.
How have you found working with Switch? What have been the most challenging areas of development?
Gollick: From a technical standpoint, we had to be very careful in that everything was on par with the PC version. Those who have worked with the Switch before probably know what we mean. For example, we made sure the audio was optimised to the maximum, without there being any noticeable changes. We have always developed with a mindset that focuses on optimisation, which helped make the process a more feasible challenge. Overall, we’re extremely happy that nothing is missing [and we didn't have] to downgrade any of the audio elements. This means we can still offer a very clean and cool soundscape and experience for the players.
Will there be any differences between the game on PC and the Switch version? Will the Switch version feature motion aiming?
Doyle: We hope to keep the differences between the platforms to a minimal for the main base game, but there may be extra content for the Switch either on or close to launch. The Switch version does allow for use of Motion Controller aiming.
As well as online and local co-op play, 4-player split screen is also available on Switch, although only when the console is docked – which means it won’t work on Switch Lite. Is this a technical limitation or due to the diminished screen real estate of having four players on the same portable screen?
Doyle: The Handheld version CAN run up to 4 players, but players may be warned that the screen real estate does make it difficult, and that even though it will run, it will use a lot of processing power and battery to do so. We initially did not allow this, but after some last-minute optimisation before release, we managed to make it work in Handheld.
Lovely. Anything else about the game you'd like to mention?
Henson: Once Hypercharge: Unboxed is released, we will monitor player feedback and work closely with the community to improve the game. Any bugs you may encounter, we will do our best to squash them right away. We are also going to implement a fully working tutorial soon after launch.
Finally, if you had to pick your favourite 4-player split screen retro game – Nintendo or otherwise - what would it be and why?
The team: Favourite 4 player split-screen retro? GoldenEye, easy. It’s a classic and we’ve had many awesome memories from it!
Our thanks to the team - you can catch them on Twitter or Discord. Hypercharge: Unboxed is releasing on 31st January on the Switch eShop, with pre-purchase available from 13th Jan with 10% off its $19.99 launch price. Let us know below what you think and keep your eyes peeled for our verdict later in the month.
Comments 44
"Oh, and we hate Pay-to-Win and Loot-boxes. You will never find that type of stuff in any of our games."
This is what I like to see, you have a day 1 purchase from me!
I watched a lot of footage on steam and the game looks good, there was just no one online apparently or something. I think they just didn't ha e servers so it's pure p2p. I can't remember.
Will be voiced by Tommy Lee Jones? Ahh, Small Soldiers, good times.
For some reason I cannot remember which game but there is a series of multiplayer maps of a PC game that has this same concept. You play as toys and try to kill other players and it looks very similar to this. You played in different rooms in a house like bedrooms, kitchen etc. Perhaps they were aware of these maps when they designed this game.
@Zidentia unreal 2004 had some levels that remind me of this game. Prob my fav FPS of all time
I'm not much of a FPS player so not sure if I'm interested in this one, but at the very least it passes the first major hurdle of including gyro aiming. That means I can at least consider it.
@Zidentia last game I played like that was Toy Soldiers: War Chest on PS4. I liked it.
@BenAV Hi there! We're the developers of Hypercharge: Unboxed. The game already has Gyro support. Any other questions please let me know.
^Joe
@Donutman
You could be right. It was a long time ago but they were great levels.
Not much of a success on steam:
https://store.steampowered.com/app/523660/HYPERCHARGE_Unboxed/
Hopefully it will be a blast on NS. I would love to play it with a healthy community.
This looks like alot of fun!!! Def gonna buy this one. Thanks for bringing it to the switch.
@Kalmaro Thanks for checking out our game! It means a lot. Whilst we're in Early Access, the player base on Steam is low, but that's because we are much more committed in making sure it is super polished, rather than rushing it out to a bigger audience for the sake of it. We take on-board all feedback and are building the game with our fans.
^Joe
Thank you Nintendo Life for the opportunity. It means a great deal to us.
@D_Cybercherries I was saying that I can consider the game because I already know it does contain gyro support (from the article). Thanks though.
@tgchan Hi! I think it depends on your perception of success. In terms of numbers, (player base) we won't lie; they are of course very low. But concerning the quality of the game, and our commitment to listening to feedback since its launch on and throughout Early Access, we believe it's a huge success.
We are not the type of developers to rush out something. We love interacting with our community and enjoy building the game with them. Early Access has allowed us to do just exactly that. Once we leave Early Access, we will focus much more on marketing the game and pushing it out to a wider range of players. I hope this information helps.
^Joe
@BenAV Haha, my bad!
@D_Cybercherries Thanks Joe! I'm hoping the game has plenty of success. I'm assuming you guys DO have servers and the tike I watched, no one was online at the time.
Will peer to peer online play be an option?
@The-Chosen-one Thank you for the kind words!
^Joe
@h15c0r3r Hi there. Thank you, . The game has a PvP. (Deathmatch and Team deathmatch) as well as PvE.
^Joe
@Lordplops We do have an awesome voice actor! But Tommy Lee Jones was slightly out of our budget.
^Joe
@D_Cybercherries all the best to you guys then~!! Hopefully we will have a chance to meet on the toy-battlefield
First time i ever played big scale level designs like this were in Unreal Tournament 1999 on PC.
There were loads of these levels made back then, but with inferior gfx 20 year later of course.
The huge kitchens, bedrooms etc. were nice for sniping online.
@Donutman Unreal Tournament 1999 also had levels like this, and i played them alot online with a sniper rifle.
@D_Cybercherries guys, i just had to make an account so i can sincerely thank you. In Brazil we played Army Men on N64 for many years, and to see a game that surpasses it makes me so happy... I really am looking forward to play this with my son when it launches on switch!
Congratulations on the awesome work and i hope it sells tons of copies!
My brother was impressed, and he’s not always impressed!
I've been watching some gameplay of the PC version, this looks fantastic! I'll be there day 1.
This sorta reminds me of that Toy Commander game they had on the Dreamcast, one of my all time favorite video games.
@D_Cybercherries The game looks like a lot fun ! I'm definitely looking forward for its release so I can play it with my brother ^^
Still, may I ask about resolution and framerate ? How does it run on the switch ?
I love the settings and graphics. My only problem is that I don't like arena FPS games as much as more linear ones, with a story and solo gameplay...
I love how this reminds me of older army men games!
@D_Cybercherries Just want to say, my buddies and I adore your game on PC. Day one on Switch.
@D_Cybercherries Does this game have any single player content? and do you need Nintendo Online to play it?
Makes me miss Army Men: Sarge's Heroes 2 on the N64.
@Zidentia Ratz Instagib? https://store.steampowered.com/app/338170/Ratz_Instagib/
Though this being instagib
@Ventilator I had unreal tournament on Dreamcast. Played with the Sega keyboard and mouse also.
Ah the good ol N64 days days, when a Nintendo console was an FPS powerhouse.
This one's on my radar now.
"Oh, and we hate Pay-to-Win and Loot-boxes. You will never find that type of stuff in any of our games."
The heroes this town deserves.(Still not extremely upset over free-to-play games as long as you avoid gambling habits) and as for the game itself? Been on my wish list for weeks! Absolutely buying it once released.
@F-ZeroX
No, I think the Unreal MP was it.
@D_Cybercherries
Physical edition?
I love articles like this and appreciate the time developers will take to do them. I likely would have overlooked this title had I not read this. But damn if it doesn’t look like a lot of fun. I’m in.
I am not sure I want to be "a child's plaything". I just want to be a toy. Can I play as Richard Pryor?
@CartoonDan Yeah, that’s my question too. I don’t care about multiplayer so if there’s some good single-player content I’m down. If not, pass. I’m kinda over all the games coming out with co-op as a focus, 100% my opinion though.
Looks great, definite purchase for me.
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