Hypnospace Outlaw's investigative puzzles transport you back in time to the 90s internet

If time travel never becomes a reality, Hypnospace Outlaw might be the closest thing we ever get. Plenty of games lean heavily on nostalgia, evoking feelings of days gone by, yet I've never quite been as thoroughly transported as I was when booting up HypnOS for the first time. As soon as I locked eyes with the X button in the top right-hand corner of the in-game dialogue boxes (an angry-looking blocky beast rather than the slim, minimalist one we have now), I knew I was in the 90s.  And that's partly why Hypnospace Outlaw has a stronger immersive quality than most nostalgia-inducing games. Not only does it have the look of the 90s internet, but since you physically interact with it, it feels like it too. This isn't the old web with the benefit of a modern router. It's still clunky, ugly, and slow. And while that sounds like an insult, it's mighty impressive. The cursor trails alone give me Windows 98 flashbacks. ... [MORE]