5/5 ★ – eatpotatochip's review of Hypnospace Outlaw.

Hypnospace Outlaw is a fun little detective game with a neat interface for gameplay - but let me explain the setting first. In the alternate history of this game’s setting, in 1999, a few companies invented a way for people to use computers in their sleep by using special headsets, which let them be productive and have fun 24/7. One of them, Hypnospace, meant for casual audiences ranging from teens to seniors, has its own dedicated subscription-based internet, and users can log on to different parts of the NET and make their own blogs. With an online community comes a need for online policing for various serious offences, ranging from bullying to content infringement, and you play a volunteer Hypnospace enforcer that must go through all those blogs to enforce those community rules. What follows is a great, charming little game that’s a detective yarn (you investigate various offences and look for clues to lead you to offences) as well as a loving parody, making good-natured fun of the creativity and excesses of the early Internet, with scrolling text, stylized but barely legible titles, and an abundance of personality. As you go through the game, you find a nice, touching story with well-written fully realized characters bursting with personalities, even if (or especially because) you basically see their unbridled creativity burst through these pages. All in all, it’s a great 10-hour experience I highly recommend.