What HYPER DEMON is
HYPER DEMON is a fast-paced arena shooter where you tear through demons with a small set of controls that open up a wide range of weapons, abilities and combos. Killing quickly raises the difficulty and your score at the same time, so pace is the core mechanic: hesitate and the run stays tame, push and the screen fills with threats. Gems are your resource. Collect them to buff your shot or fire rapidly, grab them to charge laser attacks, and spend them on big super moves when a crowd gets out of hand. Runs are score attacks and time attacks with a definite end, so each attempt is about how far you can get and how clean you can keep it.
Playing it with friends
The game is built around competing rather than cooperating. You can challenge the scores of friends on Steam and Discord, which gives your group a running scoreboard to chip away at between sessions. Any run can be watched back as a replay, and you can record clips in-game and share them through embeddable video links that work in Discord, so the usual loop is someone posts a run, the group reacts, and the next person tries to beat it. Online PvP is available for direct competition. There is also a Global Leaderboard if your group wants a longer horizon to chase.
Before you start
The view system is unusual and worth knowing about. Spherical projection gives you wide peripheral vision with fields of view up to 180 degrees instead of stretching and shrinking the center of the image, and a red holographic rear-view overlay gives you awareness of threats behind you. Expect a steep learning curve: the game is tagged as difficult, and the difficulty scales with how fast you play, so early runs will end quickly while you learn the controls. There is a photosensitive seizure warning, since the game contains intense visuals including stroboscopic effects. The game also reminds you to take breaks, drink water and step away now and then.