RIP Hyper Scape

Released in 2018, "Hyper Scape" was poised as Ubisoft's big foray into the world of battle royale games. Differing from its contemporaries with its cyberpunk-like aesthetic, unique power-ups, and fast-paced gunplay, "Hyper Scape" was an ambitious project for Ubisoft. The end result — a game that invited livestream audiences to have a say in how matches played out — was mixed at best.

While the game did ultimately cultivate a dedicated following and receive plaudits for its graphics, many players criticized "Hyper Scape" for feeling boring or even rushed, while others said that giving some control to viewers on Twitch could actively ruin one's experience with the product. Criticism was also consistently levied towards the game's selection of weapons and the lack of meaningful balance between them. In addition to these complaints, "Hyper Scape" failed to attract a large playerbase and was forced to trim down its lobby limits from 100 players to 60. And even then, there were still problems – to put it simply, "Hyper Scape" just didn't catch on with fans. After so many setbacks and issues, it seems that the gaming community will finally have to say a permanent goodbye to "Hyper Scape."

On Jan. 27, Ubisoft announced in a blog post that it has initiated plans to bring "Hyper Scape" to a close. "We have made the difficult decision to end development of Hyper Scape and shut the game down as of April 28th," the post said. "We set out to create a vertical, close-quarters, and fast-paced shooter experience and we are extremely grateful to our community for joining us on our journey. We will be taking key learnings from this game into future products." As of Jan. 28, the game has already been unlisted from digital marketplaces in preparation for said shutdown.

While the death of "Hyper Scape" is hardly surprising to most gamers, longtime fans of the first-person shooter battle royale game have expressed disappointment that the game hasn't been given its due over the years. One user on Reddit expressed sadness about the idea of seeing the game's tightknit community being fractured in the future, while another called the decision "inevitable." 

Some members of the community have even tried to organize a date for one final hurrah before the game is ultimately closed. "We have to honor what this game did for a lot of us," Reddit user u/JelikxTTV said. "Let's all have one last memory together with this beautiful game."

RIP, "Hyper Scape." We hardly got to know ya.