The best score attack games are often the simplest, and Hypno Halo is one of the simplest games I’ve ever played. Don’t underestimate simplicity for boring or disengaging. Hypno Halo is deceptively built around evoking a flow state of music, lights, and reflexes. If it gets under your skin, you’ll be driven utterly mad by it.
Hypno Halo is all about pressing the right button to match the coloured circle that glides in from the outer edges of the screen and will quickly float into the distance like a closed concentric circle. If it closes off, it is game over. If you make a mistake and press the wrong button either twice in a row or once if you don’t have a combo running, it is also game over. That’s it. That’s the game. I told you it was simple!
The main game has 300 levels, ranging from 10 seconds to around 60 seconds, and the levels are carved into blocks of 50. At the start of the game, you’ll have three coloured rings mapped out to three buttons on your d-pad or keyboard. In the early levels of that 50 level chunk, you’ll move at a slower pace, as Hypno Halo helps you get used to the concept of the game. Then, as the levels get longer, the halo rings start to appear and move faster, and spin around like a hypnotherapist’s dream, all whilst matching the dance and techno music pulsating with you. As the game gets faster, you’ll have more on screen, start to panic, and make a mistake. Reach the 50th level and clear it, Hypno Halo adds a new button and colour into the mix. You’ll move from 3 to 4, and continue every 50th level up to having 8 coloured halos to juggle from level 251 onwards. It is wild.
In the main game, whenever you crash out of a level, you can restart from that specific level. This means the cost of failure is relatively low. Hypno Halo’s harshest challenges await in the challenge menu, as they expect perfection for long periods of time. The hedonistic design is both a blessing and a curse because I found myself hitting zen flow state moments of feeling at one with the lights, beats, and reaction times required. As soon as you muck up, you realise just how out of step you have become, and will scramble to get back on terms with the halos. This leads to some incredibly satisfying saves or some panicked crash and burns.
Hypno Halo is not for anyone suffering from epilepsy. Whilst you can change the colours of all 8 halo rings, you will need some colour perception to play this game. I’d also argue its RRP is slightly high for the game that’s on offer. It’s one note approach is fantastic if it grabs you, but if you aren’t invested after ten minutes, know that nothing fundamentally changes, and this won’t be a game for you. Thankfully, Hypno Halo is a game for me. It is a testament to minimalism and gameplay mechanic focus to an extreme degree. It is also incredibly artistic. We need a visualiser mode, pretty please. Until then, I hope you get driven as mad as I have been by this hidden gem.
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