DLCHIVESWAP: ACT 1 Original SoundtrackLoading store offers
HIVESWAP: ACT 1
HIVESWAP: ACT 1 is a single-player adventure of hand-drawn locations, puzzles and a story that takes Joey from 1994 to a hostile alien planet. At its currently recorded low, it costs ≈ $0.44 at 
Kinguin, which may suit you if you want a solo point-and-click story. Exploration and puzzle-solving are at its core, rather than co-op play. At $7.99 from Kinguin, HIVESWAP: ACT 1 is a chance to take on Joey’s hand-drawn puzzle adventure solo.
KinguinHIVESWAP: Act 1 Steam CD KeyAll-time low ~ $1.00across Steam & third-party storesat the recorded all-time low
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Price History
Past 36 months · Updated dailyHistorical Low~ $0.802026-07Current Low Across Stores~ $7.99Kinguinvs. Historical Low+899%
Prices cover Steam and 39 authorized stores; only legitimate offers are counted. The chart shows weekly market-wide lows and Steam's official price across the past 36 months.
01About HIVESWAP: ACT 1
Joey Claire is trapped in her room in 1994 while monsters gather outside. Explore unusual homes, examine objects and solve puzzles in this hand-drawn point-and-click adventure, as the story leads onto a hostile alien planet. Steam player rating: 94% from 3,126 reviews. Supported interface language: English. Released September 14, 2017.
Credits
Composer
Toby Fox · James Roach
Developer
What Pumpkin Games, Inc.
Publisher
What Pumpkin Games, Inc.
Lowest recorded in 36 months
$0.802026-07-30 · KinguinBase game · same records as the chart above; USD history, not a regional Steam low.Language support
| Language | Interface | Subtitles | Audio |
|---|---|---|---|
| English | Yes | Yes | Yes |
Steam PC edition data · 2026-11-11
02Before you buy
Adventure and puzzles
Joey solves puzzles in a hand-drawn point-and-click adventure inspired by 1990s games. The story is set in 1994 and takes her to a hostile alien planet.
Language
The Steam listing identifies English as supported, with full English audio and subtitles. Controller support is unspecified.
03Frequently asked questions
What is the story about?
It follows Joey Claire, a teenager stranded on a hostile alien planet in 1994.
What kind of game is HIVESWAP: ACT 1?
Explore hand-drawn 2D environments and solve puzzles in a point-and-click adventure.
Is this a standalone story?
It is the first of a four-part series set in the Homestuck universe.
Popular Steam reviews
Native-language selection · 10 reviewsSelected helpful reviews in this language show both recommendations and criticisms. This selection does not represent the overall positive rating; opinions reflect the version reviewed.
RecommendedSteam player
Homestuck has ruined my life.Show moreShow less
1.9 hours at review723 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I prefer games properly credit those that work on them and not fire entire studios at the drop of a hat. I also prefer them not to threaten legal action against former employees or media that speak out against itShow moreShow less
2.9 hours at review222 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Fandom: Wake UpShow moreShow less
4.7 hours at review391 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I'm torn on this one. I really really REALLY want to love the game, but in the current way I can't recommend it to anyone. Would I really care about it if I would not be familiar with homestuck fandom? I doubt it. It lacks the substance, lacks the proper character development and generally lacks the charm that homestuck had. I'm not saying it is bad, it is just not what I expected. Worst, it reminds me of exactly the same problems that Armikrog had. PROS: Yes, it is really, really well drawn. CONS: 1. First of all, it feels dated and unfinished. The game was in production for 5 years and you can feel it. Manual save system for 2h game looks archaic. Menu elements looks half-assed. The game is buggy. It's rough around the edges. Art quality is inconsistent. Map layout is bizzare. A lot of game elements can be accessed from a very specific angle even if they visible on other screens. For example, in the 2nd act security terminal is visible but you can't access it *UNLESS* you realize that you have to change the view. There is an option to swap characters, but there is no gameplay mechanic to utilize it. Why is it there? Combat/ability system looks unfinished. Once again, it feels like a forced addition that can be entirely cut from the game or be replaced by the scripted scene. I can't exactly say what feels wrong about it, but it feels wrong. Also, those abilities can be probably used, like, two times in the entire game? Why coudn't they just add another option to the popup menu and call it a day? Those are minor complaints, but they are important, because they form the overall game impression, and generally break immersion for me. 2. It has a soul but it has *WRONG* soul. The broad appeal and the art direction they took is understandable, but in my opinion it is detrimental to the game. In Homestuck art always feels second to the content, and the whole aim of the narrative was to create this bizzare "meta" atmosphere. I don't see it in the game. They tried to make classic golden age adventure with a team and creative lead who does not have experience in this field. As a result we have a game that has all of the weaknesses of the genre and none of the strengths of the Hussie. It is an attempt to play on the foreign field and I don't see the reason behind it. Why creating another beautiful but mediocre adventure game? There are plenty of them, and it is very difficult to compete with them having such a small team. The game does not try bring anything new or try to achive anything notable rather than being very ambitious but very minor omage to the niche webcomic.Show moreShow less
7.8 hours at review72 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Now you can sell your soul to Hussie on Steam!Show moreShow less
12.9 hours at review328 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
In it's current form this game is pretty hard to recommend to anyone except people who readily consider themselves fans of Homestuck. At 3 hours (Having pretty much clicked at everything possible) this is one of the worst "value" purchases I have ever done in Steam. Sure Since I only got bit over half of the achievements it is safe to say the alternative choice routes will give the game re-playability of maybe round, or two. However, considering the content is only point and click it seems rather.. lackluster. I wouldn't consider this worth the money unless it was IP I was already invested in. (Which sadly I think the devs are counting on, too) On top of this the game is still very buggy. Sometimes the cursor is very buggy with recognizing things, the screen keeps oddly shifting and gets visual glitches (Such as slivers of last scene showing on the border etc), screenshots come out awfully cropped in windowed mode, there isn't a borderless window mode, there are save corrupting crashes.. If we assume the episode length to be constant, the sequel to be same legth as this and the price to stay constant.. Then they plan to milk us for 32$/12h twice.. at 64$ for 24 hours of gameplay it sounds like AWFUL proposition. Sure lets hope the episodes get longer but... don't hold your breath. I'm sad because the art of the game is gorgeous. The writing is fantastic. But the game play, the game engineering are mediocre at best. The value proposition is awful. I wish all the best to What Pumpkin but as this game stands (and the future prospects it holds) it is hard sell to anyone who wasn't already planning to buy it regardless of the price and delays anyhow.Show moreShow less
11.5 hours at review55 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Oh my god the references! There's so much nostalgia here for me. I grew up in the period this game is set, so there's so many toys and other junk that I recognize. That aside, this game is, SO FAR, fantastic. If it keeps this level of quality that I've had in the first hour, then it's going to be one of my all-time favourite point/click adventure games. The music, the visuals, the humor! And the hidden achievements! I just got an achievement for trying to feed the Bubsy poster a pet treat. The result was hilarious. EDIT: I've just finished ACT 1, which is currently all that's available. Here's my thoughts on my experience: I'm sure if you only spent your time solving puzzles, you could beat it in about 20 minutes. But that's not what I did. I spent as much time as possible using every object and action on everything else even to the point where I got an achievement for trying to use a pigeon on 30 different objects. 3 hours later, I was very satisfied with the experience, and I will probably play through it again tomorrow to try different object interactions. I hope ACT 2 doesn't take too long to release. If you're looking for reviews of specific things or whatever, then here you go. Visuals: Very familiar to Homestuck fans. Some camera errors that don't impede gameplay that I'm sure will be fixed soon. Audio: The soundtrack is stuck in my head. UI: The top bar can get in the way of some puzzles, so if you're stuck, maybe try minimizing it while you look around. On the subject, there is no highlight on the interactable objects (aside from your cursor changing when hovering over), which I feel was actually a good choice. When you discover some funny writing by doing something like, as a previous example, feeding a pet treat to a Bubsy poster, it feels all the more special by the knowledge that the game didn't explicitly try to tell you there was stuff you could do with it at all. Stability: Well, in all the time I played it, it didn't crash. That's something. Story/Writing: Top quality writing. The story definitely seems to be accessible to people who have never read Homestuck. In fact, I think it will make those people go and start reading it. If you've got any specific questions, leave a comment on this review. I don't write reviews often so maybe I've missed something you want to know.Show moreShow less
3.8 hours at review264 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
I'm a homestuck fan and was pretty hyped about this game. Not enough to contribute to the kickstarter campaign back in the days, but fairly excited. So when it was put on steam greenlight, I supported it, and when it was released, I immediately bought it. I started playing it - and then the first act was over. If I had to guess: probably after a bit over two hours. That is an incredibly short amount of time. During these two hours I had to play with massive black bars on my screen (because of some screen resolution bug? - apparently they plan to fix that with the next update). During my time playing I certainly was entertained. Every item in the game can be combined with probably 95% of the other items available and will give you an reaction to it, which makes up much of the humor in this game. The characters are definitely interesting and homestuck-esque, as is the rest of the writing. The backgrounds are also beautifully drawn, and the callbacks to the homestuck series hidden everywhere are very satisfying to find (even though a bit forced at times). As a homestuck fan, who probably would've bought the game even if the overall reactions had been horrendous, I had fun. Yet, I cannot with good conscience give a recommendation to it. The short playtime, the extremely easy puzzles (with sometimes absurd solutions), the currently still bugged presentation, the soundtrack (definitely not as good as recent homestuck fan-albums), everything is basically bundled into an episode of an, for the foreseeable future, incomplete game, which on its own merits just doesn't stand out enough to justify a purchase. In the end, I just don't know if you'll receive $8 worth of entertainment from this. If I had paid 32$ for a hypothetical hiveswap season-pass (which, as far as I know, will be 4 acts in total, and if all acts cost the same: 4*8$ = 32$), and this was what I received for my money - I think I'd be pretty annoyed. TL;DR: If you are a hardcore homestuck fan: buy it. If you think homestuck was pretty okay or you don't know anything about it: don't.Show moreShow less
6 hours at review53 people found this helpful
RecommendedSteam player
Hella cool game bro Bro notes: better than sburbShow moreShow less
6.4 hours at review194 people found this helpful
Not recommendedSteam player
UPDATE (12/2/18): As far as I can tell, there hasn't been any news about the next acts being released. I'm dissapointed that the devs haven't exactly been on top of this project that's been in development since.. 2012? Development hell aside, the team seems more concerned with milking the brand recognition of Homestuck instead of finishing this game. I don't like being harsh, especially considering the problems this game faced in production, but at this point the developers haven't given me any reason to expect anything else. My point still stands. HARD PASS. The only content this game has to offer is a two-hour length demo of a game that should have been finished years ago. As a longtime fan of the series, I'm deeply dissapointed. -------------------------------- For such a long development cycle, the game is atrociously short, only clocking to about two hours playtime for the average player. I understand that the game is being released in acts, but until the other three are released, or at least have /some kind/ of release date, I'd strongly reccomend against purchasing it. As it stands now, Hiveswap plays more like a demo for the full game, instead of a full game. I don't feel like I was burned on the price, being so low, but I was really hoping for more. If you watch the trailers, you've basically seen the whole game. The entire plot is spelled out there. Know this before going in. That aside, there are small bugs within the game, including a really, really bad issue with the camera panning over to other rooms while still staying on the room you're in. On top of this, there is no "losing" hivewap, it is esentially a visual novel, and less of a game. These are minor issues overall, and didn't impact my playthrough all to much, but they are worth noting. On the upside, the art is fantastic, and the animated cutscenes have some charm to them. The writing did give me a chuckle, and was very evocative of Homestuck, if that's the kind of thing you care about. The soundtrack was limited, and became really repedative, but was very enjoyable for a while. Overall, Hiveswap is a silghly more involved visual novel, with pretty pictures and nice animation, but doesn't actually feature very much outside of the content shown off in it's trailers. Fans who were expecting more will be dissapointed, and I can't reccomend this to any adventure game fans who are looking for something new. Hard pass, at least until the story itself is completed.Show moreShow less
2 hours at review49 people found this helpful
Source: original Steam user reviews. Helpful votes are an archived snapshot, not live data. Last collected: 08/15/2026.