HIVESWAP is a hand-drawn point & click adventure game where you play as Joey Claire, a puzzle-solving teen snatched out of the comfort of her own home and left stranded on a hostile alien planet on the brink of a rebellion. In ACT 2, you continue on your journey with the troll named Xefros, trying to find your way to a party held by a friend of his moirail, Dammek. You get to meet dozens of unique and memorable characters, some of which are more helpful than others, as you navigate through this volatile alien culture.
Most of the game in act 2 is happening on a train ride to the party. You have to go through different train carriages that hold different trolls of the Hemospectrum, the Rust and Bronze bloods, the Gold and Olive bloods, the Jade and Teal bloods, the Blue and Indigo bloods and the Purple bloods. Each carriage gives you different puzzles/quests to solve and how to move forward in your journey to the front of the train.
In my honest opinion, this act was quite good and didn't leave me unhappy. I played through act 1 and act 2 almost back to back, and I noticed a lot of differences. Where act 1 was more of an actual point & click, with puzzles to solve and items to interact with, act 2 gives you more of a dialogue based game that reminds you of a visual novel. There is almost no point & click puzzles to solve, until near the end, and most of the problems you need to figure out is by talking to multiple characters.
On the positive side, the more dialogue based gameplay can be very impressive, since as you progress you find more new characters who have many different things to say to you, each time you talk to them. Every one of them weighs in, helpfully or not, on every part of every puzzle. Huge amounts of dialogue to be read.
On the flip side however, this more dialogue based gameplay can end up quite brainless and boring, as you keep talking to characters over and over and over again. Some people might like that, but many will not find it fun.
In the end, the amount waited for this act, and the fact that they strayed farther away from the point & click aspect, I don't think I can recommend this part of the game. I did enjoy it, and there were lots of twists that I didn't see them coming, but it's just isn't worth it. Considering also that you'll probably have to wait for the next chapter... forever. I am not unhappy with the game, I just can't recommend it forwards.
Most of the game in act 2 is happening on a train ride to the party. You have to go through different train carriages that hold different trolls of the Hemospectrum, the Rust and Bronze bloods, the Gold and Olive bloods, the Jade and Teal bloods, the Blue and Indigo bloods and the Purple bloods. Each carriage gives you different puzzles/quests to solve and how to move forward in your journey to the front of the train.
In my honest opinion, this act was quite good and didn't leave me unhappy. I played through act 1 and act 2 almost back to back, and I noticed a lot of differences. Where act 1 was more of an actual point & click, with puzzles to solve and items to interact with, act 2 gives you more of a dialogue based game that reminds you of a visual novel. There is almost no point & click puzzles to solve, until near the end, and most of the problems you need to figure out is by talking to multiple characters.
On the positive side, the more dialogue based gameplay can be very impressive, since as you progress you find more new characters who have many different things to say to you, each time you talk to them. Every one of them weighs in, helpfully or not, on every part of every puzzle. Huge amounts of dialogue to be read.
On the flip side however, this more dialogue based gameplay can end up quite brainless and boring, as you keep talking to characters over and over and over again. Some people might like that, but many will not find it fun.
In the end, the amount waited for this act, and the fact that they strayed farther away from the point & click aspect, I don't think I can recommend this part of the game. I did enjoy it, and there were lots of twists that I didn't see them coming, but it's just isn't worth it. Considering also that you'll probably have to wait for the next chapter... forever. I am not unhappy with the game, I just can't recommend it forwards.