History VideoGame / HypnospaceOutlaw

''Hypnospace Outlaw'' is an internet simulation AdventureGame developed by Jay Tholen & Mike Lasch and published by No More Robots. It was fully funded via Kickstarter in October 2016, and was released in March 2019 on Steam and August 2020 on UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, UsefulNotes/Playstation4, and UsefulNotes/XBoxOne. August 2020 additionally saw the release of ''[[DownloadableContent Hypnospace Plus]]'', a free update to the game that adds new pages, music, chances for customization, interactive content and more, which came automatically with console releases.

** Out-of-universe, the UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch version has a problem with occasional crashes with the visual glitching effect that occurs when trying to load the in-universe-outdated [=NetSettler=] pages or [[spoiler: randomly throughout all of Hypnospace on New Year's Eve]]. While infrequent enough to not be that much of a problem, coupled with autosave mitigating the potential damage, it's a good idea to manually save as a precaution anyway.

On April 2022, the creators [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufMl2DlWX7w announced]] a sequel to ''Hypnospace Outlaw'' titled ''Dreamsettler'', which puts you in the shoes of a Sleepnet private detective during an alternate history period of 2003-2005. At the same time, they announced a spin-off game called ''Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer'', a {{VideoGame/Doom}}-like FPS game created by Zane (one of the characters from ''Hypnospace Outlaw'', now 37 years old) [[StylisticSuck based on ideas from when he was a teenager]].

* TwentyMinutesIntoThePast: The game was released in 2019 and is initially set in 1999. Meanwhile, ''Dreamsetter'' was released in 2022 and is set from 2003 to 2005.

* InsaneTrollLogic: At first, the hidden [[spoiler:Socialism]] page written by an apparently mild-mannered Hypnospace user proclaims: the Gumshoe Gooper estate removing "unauthorised" reproductions of the titular character in any shape or form must be a comrade, as they are actively removing a "imperialist propaganda" cartoon... even though it later turns out the estate was just removing the reproductions for monetary reasons.

* AffablyEvil: Invoked: the lawyer/rep for the equivalent of the RIAA who threatens to take legal action against [=MerchantSoft=] if they don't take down all pirated soundtracks of works under their copyright is noted to be very nice and polite by the responding MS employee.

* IncompetenceInc: Merchantsoft QA seems to be virtually non-existent, it relies on over-worked interns and unpaid volunteers, [[RightHandVersusLeftHand and its enforcement department sometimes ends up outright at odds with the rest of the company]]. Dylan himself is a PointyHairedBoss, and any competent underlings are hamstrung by his poor decisions, lack of communication, and buggy software.

* {{Irony}}: [[spoiler:Dylan Merchant made ''Outlaw'' to win back customers that were bored of Hypnospace's lack of features. Ironically, ''Outlaw'' turned out so buggy that it killed some of the users and the rest completely abandoned Hypnospace ''and'' its competitor.]]

* KickTheDog: The True Tranquility stories by Tim. All of the "digital parasites" are cruel caricatures of actual Hypnospace citizens, and the short stories are clearly designed to dig at their deepest emotional wounds. It's also heavily implied that, like with his later attack on Zane, Tim hacked into each victim's personal account specifically to learn more about their personal lives and expose their insecurities. To add a cherry on top, all of them are later targeted by Tim's True Tranquility virus.
** Arlan's story makes fun of his handicap, implies he's only good at being a salesman because people pity him, and outright refers to him as a "leech" on society.
** Carl Parker III's story digs at the recent death of his wife, Lisa, and makes a point of suggesting that he's rapidly forgetting the time he spent with her due to his old age. It also makes it a point to state that his fictional counterpart also lost his motorcycle-riding license.
** Eric 'Chowder Man' Helman's page erases any semblence of subtlety, describing his counterpart as a washed-up has-been who nobody remembers with anything other than annoyance. [=T1M=] goes one further and heavily implies that he's become an alcoholic to deal with the depression.
** Gus's page opens with discussing how alone his equivalent feels after his divorce, and proceeds to state that his kids ''hate'' spending time with him. It also implies that his relationship with Sherri amounts to little more than her bilking him for cash.

* TheMoralSubstitute: ''C.H.O.S.E.N.: Anointed'', a Christian-themed counterpart to the FPS ''Kataklysm'', is mentioned on a few pages. Previews show that it's about a pastor who uses a sword with a bible stuck to it and [[InstrumentOfMurder musical instrument guns]] to destroy things like a children's museum featuring an exhibition on evolution. Game reviewer The Observer claims it's surprisingly good despite less-impressive graphics.

* TechnologyMarchesOn: {{Invoked}}. [[spoiler:The final act of the game takes place in the present day, long after the Mindcrash incident convinced people that sleeptime browsing was dangerous and Merchantsoft went out of business during the ensuing investigations. The tech world has moved on, and Hypnospace now exists primarily as a time capsule of early internet history.]]

** [[{{Downplayed}} Subtle]], but Hypnospace has the same general values of real-world 1999. When [=T1MAGEDDON=] breaks into Zane's page, his idea of comedy is to make the macho {{Jerkass}} into the page of a crude CampGay stereotype, while actual LGBT users generally avoid explicitly stating their sexuality in favor of the "hs_lifestyles" tag, whose meaning is obvious to the modern reader with its rainbow coloring but avoids directly stating anything. The use of the word "lifestyles" in the tag's name additionally invokes the common misconception at the time that being LGBT+ is a choice.

** [[{{Downplayed}} Subtle]], but Hypnospace has the same general values of real-world 1999. When [=T1MAGEDDON=] breaks into Zane's page, his idea of comedy is to make the macho {{Jerkass}} into the page of a crude CampGay stereotype, while actual LGBT users generally avoid explicitly stating their sexuality in favor of the "hs_lifestyles" tag, whose meaning is obvious to the modern reader with its rainbow coloring but avoids directly stating anything.

* {{Demonization}}: "The [=SquisherZ=] Deception" is a webpage run by a fundamentalist Christian who uses very strained logic to try and prove that ''[=SquisherZ=]'' is part of a demonic conspiracy.

* FictionalVideoGame: Multiple, though the one given the most prominence is ''[[{{Phonymon}} SquisherZ]]'', a ''Pokémon'' parody centered around collecting and initiating conversations between alien slime-creatures to make them feel safe enough to come with you.

** The indirect ShoutOut to ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure'' is a mild anachronism, as while the series had been around since 1987, it was largely unknown outside of Japan besides a few early '90s [=OVAs=] and [[VideoGame/JoJosBizarreAdventureHeritageForTheFuture a 1998 fighting game]]. An American teenager in 1999 knowing about it would be implausible, but not impossible. ''Hypnospace'' taking place in an alternate universe also throws a wrench into things.

*** Goost is a fairly obvious take on [[Franchise/{{Ghostbusters}} Slimer]].

** The results of the ''[=SquisherZ=]'' fan-art contest include one with a highly-detailed face and '''ゴゴゴゴ''' surrounding it, bringing to mind ''Franchise/JoJosBizarreAdventure''. Jay Tholen was [[https://twitter.com/jaytholen/status/1371569463099801603 unaware of the reference]] when he included it, as it was a submission from a user on the ''Hypnospace'' Discord.

* PointOfNoReturn: Type VI. [[spoiler:Solving Tim's fake Mindcrash puzzle]] will trigger [[spoiler:Dylan to push out Outlaw before it's ready, causing the ''real'' Mindcrash]]. From the moment you press the button, [[spoiler:you can't save anyone, and progressing any open Investigations becomes impossible]]; the game gives you no hints that this is the case, and [[spoiler:Tim's]] puzzle is so pathetically simple that anyone who's been following the character will probably guess it effortlessly as soon as they see it.

** [[spoiler:The users of [=m1nx=], meanwhile, have [[DefiedTrope much more secure passwords]] with random capitalization, long strings of numbers, and more obscure words/phrases. [=re3koning_inc=] reminds the others to change their passwords frequently.]]

** Adrian himself isn't great. He seems to be prone to angry rants, [[spoiler:such as if you flag Professor Helper's page after you were instructed not to]], and is clearly lacking in basic tech knowledge needed for running a major software company. [[spoiler:The fantasy zones being condensed onto a crappy server and needing to have speed caps put on them was his idea, because all the "geek zones" were going against his vision for Hypnospace's public image for "regular people", and he didn't care about the backlash from pissing off one of the service's largest audiences.]]

* GenreKiller: In-Universe, controversies surrounding the disastrous Coolfest '99 meant to launch Coolpunk to the mainstream instead has killed its momentum and by New Year's, the movement had been abandoned.

* GenreKiller: In-Universe, the disastrous Coolfest '99 event along with 'Fre3zer' getting caught lip-syncing at said event causes the swift demise of Coolpunk as an emerging genre.

* AssholeVictim: [=ThatBrassyKid=]'s longer suspension and labeling as a "loner" to be moderated harder, compared to Zane's slap on the wrist, seems unfair. Then you check his and his (now ex-)girlfriend's page, and it's clear he's harassing and being an overall "Nice Guy"[[note]]Entitled men who think being nice to a girl means they must return their investment in the form of sex[[/note]] and creep towards another teenager, to the point of ''dumping his existing and supportive girlfriend to chase her''.

* AssholeVictim: [=ThatBrassyKid=]'s longer suspension and labeling as a "loner" to be moderated harder, compared to Zane's slap on the wrist, seems unfair. Then you check his and his girlfriend's page, and it's become clear he's harassing and being an overall "Nice Guy"[[note]]Entitled men who think being nice to a girl means they must return their investment in the form of sex[[/note]] and creep towards another teenager, to the point of ''dumping his existing and supportive girlfriend to chase her''.

** Aside from the conceit of a web service that can be accessed while asleep through a BrainComputerInterface, technology in general seems a little further along in this universe compared to the equivalent tech of our 1990s. The actual Hypnospace browser is much more fluid than real-life Internet browsers of the time, and download times are practically instant. Additionally, screenshots seen of the Game Boy-alike "[=GameChamp=] Portable" appear to be around the same level of quality as the UsefulNotes/GameBoyAdvance rather than the contemporaneous UsefulNotes/GameBoyColor.

* TheAlternet: Hypnospace itself, a parallel internet accessed in one's sleep.

** Virtual currency, elaborate website animation and audio, and strict moderation of content weren't common in the late nineties.

** More glaringly, Tiff trying to report her case of harassment on [=ChitChat=] from other people by using a page she built gets taken down and [[ShootTheMessenger earns her violations when you send it to Samantha]]. This could be fixed with more programming, by [[PointyHairedBoss Dylan]] isn't currently interested.

On April 2022, the creators [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufMl2DlWX7w announced]] a sequel to ''Hypnospace Outlaw'' titled ''Dreamsettler'', which puts you in the shoes of a Sleepnet private detective during an alternate history period of 2003-2005. At the same time, they announced a spin-off game called ''Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer'', a {{VideoGame/Doom}}-like FPS game created by Zane (one of the characters from ''Hypnospace Outlaw'', now [[OlderAndWiser 37 years old]]) [[StylisticSuck based on ideas from when he was a teenager]].

* CruelToBeKind: The player can potentially prevent [[spoiler:Zane and Carl from dying in the Mindcrash.]] How do you do this? Cite them for as many infractions as possible and get them banned from Hypnospace.

On April 2022, the creators [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ufMl2DlWX7w announced]] a sequel to ''Hypnospace Outlaw'' titled ''Dreamsettler'', which puts you in the shoes of a Sleepnet private detective during an alternate history period of 2003-2005. At the same time, they announced a spin-off game called ''Slayers X: Terminal Aftermath: Vengance of the Slayer'', a {{VideoGame/Doom}}-like FPS game created by Zane (one of the characters from ''Hypnospace Outlaw'', now 37 years old) [[StylisticSuck based on ideas from when he was a teenager]].

* TheTetrisEffect: After playing this game, you ''are'' going to wiggle your mouse to try to make pages load faster in [[DamnYouMuscleMemory your real-life browser.]] [[AluminumChristmasTrees This actually works for older operating systems]]; on Windows 95, [[https://retrocomputing.stackexchange.com/questions/11533/why-did-moving-the-mouse-cursor-cause-windows-95-to-run-more-quickly programs will install faster]] if you wiggle the mouse to keep the system processes flowing.

** One of the tennis players listed in the sports news section is [[VideoGame/ChuckRock Chuck Brock]].

* KickTheDog: The True Tranquility stories by Tim. All of the "digital parasites" are cruel caricatures of actual Hypnospace citizens, and the short stories are clearly designed to dig at their deepest emotional wounds. It's also heavily implied that, like with his later attack on Zane, Tim hacked into each victim's personal accounts to learn more about their personal lives and expose their insecurities. To add a cherry on top, all of them are later targeted by Tim's True Tranquility virus.

* KickTheDog: The True Tranquility stories ooze this trope. All of the "digital parasites" are cruel charicatures of actual Hypnospace citizens, and the short-stories are clearly designed to dig at their deepest emotional wounds. To add a cherry on top, all of them are later targeted by [=T1Mageddon's=] True Tranquility virus.

** Eric 'Chowderman' Hellman's page erases any semblence of subtlety, describing his counterpart as a washed-up has-been who nobody remembers with anything other than annoyance. [=T1M=] goes one further and heavily implies that he's become an alcoholic to deal with the depression.