Hyper Maze Arcade Review

Some puzzle games call for fast reflexes, others require immense amounts of brainpower. What makes Hyper Maze Arcade so thrilling is that it constantly demands both at the same time. It’s a gaming endurance test for body and mind.

You know those Zelda puzzles where you have to slide blocks around on ice to open up the path? The puzzle is making sure the blocks land in the right spots since they don’t stop moving on the slippery surface until they hit something. Hyper Maze Arcade's procedurally-generated mazes are just giant infinite versions of those kinds of puzzles. To navigate a square through the vertical maze, players swipe it in different directions. The square will automatically move past minor obstacles and round corners on its own. But once it reaches a major turning point players have to make the next decision.

But while these semi-automated controls sound easy enough, in reality they’re just there to keep the game from becoming even more uncompromisingly difficult than it already is. Players always have to keep moving to avoid the killer laser pursuing them at all times, faster and faster. But they also have to carefully observe the path ahead, because one wrong turn can lead to instant death. Even in the early slower parts of the maze it’s incredibly easy to immediately sabotage yourself - maybe too easy. Success requires rapidly processing and reacting to an ongoing stream of information on a transcendental level akin to seeing the code behind the Matrix. Fortunately, there are some power-ups like autopilot and path highlighting, and although gathering the energy needed to fuel them leads to farming for trinkets in mostly dead-end alleys, currency carries over into later runs.

Meanwhile, Hyper Maze Arcade's presentation matches the intensity of its gameplay. The neon geometric 3D visuals and pulsing techno music look and sound like a rave happening inside a computer. Once players progress far enough, the map starts twisting and turning in a really enrapturing way. And for players that survive long enough to unlock the minimal mode, they can look at the maze from a brand new perspective.

As silly as it sounds, Hyper Maze Arcade is the definition of a hardcore puzzle game. This one is for getting pumped up, not for winding down.