itch.io

TL;DR: A wonderful mix between RTS and a Twinstick shooter. Very rich lore for a gamejam game, wonderful art style. Gameplay feels a bit lacking, but I have hopes the dev will continue working on it.
I like it, keep an eye on it.

//ATTENTION//

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First off, before I continue, I should say that from what I understand, the developer wants to continue working on this game; as such, this review might become outdated at some point, and the issues stated in it might be patched out. Now onto the review:
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Hive Commando is quite an interesting game.  A mix between a real-time strategy game and a twinstick shooter that has honestly been done quite well, even if it is rough around the edges.
First off, the shooting: while it feels overall good, there is a bug that has annoyed me quite a bit, that being how if you stand near a top wall, the projectile will collide with said wall and get destroyed. This has been quite an annoyance to me when falling back from a room, as I would try to shoot back, only to have my shots eaten by the walls, forcing me to stick to the lower wall of the corridor to shoot back, and making it harder to dodge incoming fire. There is another issue I had with the shooting, but I will get into that a bit later. 
Second, the RTS mode. It has been quite well executed in this game, and I had a lot of fun using the little bugs to crush my enemies. But as with the shooting, I had a few issues with the RTS mode too; the biggest one was that there was no real way to heal up your little bugs. They do not have any sort of regen, nor do you have access to any healing sources to get them fixed up. I get they are supposed to be disposable, but at the same time, the Starcraft tryhard in me suffers every time I lose a unit.

Now we can talk about the elephant in the room, the very small amount of content found in this game. The game has a total of 4 levels, with 2 units you can use, 2 different types of enemies (3 if you count the workers in the tutorial), and 5 cutscenes(lewds included). There is really not much here, but I will say that what is there is enjoyable, and I do believe that the time I spent playing this was time well spent. And I do understand that this is a gamejam game and that they are made in a short amount of time, but the small amount of content is still noticeable and kinda just leaves you wanting more.

Something that I had zero issue with is the art style of the game. I adore how the characters and units are drawn; they are all so cute and adorable, I just want to hug them. And as I said in my review of the dev's other game, Cold Vessel, I simply find it appealing and very pleasant to look at. Something about how everything is drawn makes me happy.
For the sound design, I think the developer has done quite a good job with it. I quite enjoy all the fleshy sounds, and the little ding the eyebots make when they explode is very pleasant and makes me want to blow up even more of them. The only thing I found odd sound-wise is that the metal doors in the levels do not have any sounds, while the ship/tutorial fleshy doors have sounds.

Story/lore-wise, this game has quite a bit for how small it is. I have enjoyed talking to each character and listening to every word they had to say.  will not go into details as I do not wish to spoil anyone too much. This story is very unique, and I really enjoy this universe that the developer is making, and I really hope they continue to make more inside of it and continue to develop it further. I will not go into details as I do not wish to give spoilers (Game is already small, if I spoil it, there is nothing for you to discover!).

Overall, this game has been fun, and I recommend you play it.
7/10
Love the concept
Love the story
Content is a bit lacking

I will be keeping an eye on the development of this game and on future projects that the developer will make, as so far, both of their games have been wonderful, and they seem quite talented.

TL;DR I had come to this game with the mindset that it would be a nice little thing that I could enjoy until my cooking is done, and maybe I would also get to see some nice art/smut. Instead, I got way too invested in the story and ended up burning my chicken.
I loved it.


I will be honest and say that I came across this game after coming across the developer's newest game, "Hive Commando," and getting quite captivated by its surprising amount of lore for a /gamejam/ game. At first, I took it as it was, a nice little game made for a game jam. The gameplay was fun, super simple, and easy to understand, yet complex enough to feel rewarding. Difficulty wise, it's quite easy, I have beaten it on my first attempt, so don't except darksouls. Oh, and not to forget about the art, it is absolutely wonderful and, at least to me, super pleasing to the eyes; something about it just makes me happy, and I wish to keep looking at it. Overall, a great time was had! 

But after getting both endings, I am frankly left with questions that I wish would be answered. Now, some of you would say, "My man, there are 3 scenes and some dialogue, how can you get invested in that?" and to that I tell you that it's not the quantity that matters, but the quality! I will tell you, reader. I have played triple-A games with massive budgets, countless writers, and months, if not years, of development time that have not gotten me as invested in their story as this little 20-minute game has. Call me crazy for looking too deep, but I have been left thinking about these two characters for god dam hours after playing this game, and they will most likely continue to live rent free in my head for at least 2 more weeks, if not even more.

I would love to see a follow up to this, but after reading through the comments and seeing how the developer has moved on to Hive Commando, I do not have high hopes that it will happen any time soon.
//SPOILERS FOR THE END AND TINY SPOILER FOR HIVE COMMANDO FROM HERE ON// 
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At least we know that Yuni won this fight due to her appearance in Hive Commando, but I am curious what has happened to our black and red fellow after he was left behind after the fight.
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//NO MORE SPOILERS//

And now to end this silly rant of mine, with a score.
9/10
Fun gameplay
Interesting characters
Wish there was more