Premier 1990s internet simulator Hypnospace Outlaw took the indie scene by storm in 2019 thanks to its nostalgic interpretation of long-forgotten web surfing trends. The team at developer Tendershoot and Publisher No More Robots hope to replicate that era via Dreamsettler, a newly announced follow-up that takes on the same premise as the original. This announcement is coupled with Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer, a first-person shooter spin-off (with a purposeful typo in the title) that looks like it came out decades ago.
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In Dream Settler, players will take on the role of a private detective in the sleep-based internet simulation in order to explore personal pages and public-facing websites somewhat like the original Hypnospace Outlaw. It’s clear from the reveal trailer that the game will also feature parodies and references in the same vein as Hypnospace‘s knocks on Pokémon and Bonzai Buddy.
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Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer, the other game in the announcement, is a boomer shooter (read: Doom clone) developed in-universe by Zane Lofton, one of the breakout characters from Hypnospace Outlaw. The game will take the same vibes as Zane’s homepage, which was full of the type of edge you might expect from the worst student in a room full of middle schoolers. It looks to be a fairly typical Duke Nukem or Doom-esque shooter, but its Steam page also suggests that it will continue some parts of Hypnospace Outlaw‘s story.
Neither Slayers X nor Dreamsettler got a definite release date today, but both are up on Steam. There will also be betas for both in the near future. Hypnospace Outlaw eventually got a console port (including a physical version on Switch), and one can only assume that these new games will release there in the future, as well. Either way, the new titles are an exciting prospect for people who remember the age of early social media and web forums with fondness.