Tesseract – Hipercubo Review

A bit of explanation is needed here for those who aren't familiar with this so you can get a good grasp and appreciation for what this game is and the concept it's based on. This is a long post, but I promise you will find it interesting! Hipercubo is a spin term for the higher 4th dimensional geometric space called a "hypercube" for slang, or more mathematically appropriate a Tesseract. To put it in to perspective, a being living in the 2nd dimension can only SEE in 1 dimension (vectors aka lines) but only visualize in the 2 dimensional space they live. These beings have no concept of "up". Only forward/back/left/right. Everything is the same "height" as there is no height dimension. They of course cannot see or access the 3rd dimensional realm, even though it shares the same universal "space" as the 3rd and higher dimensions. Each dimension is contained inside (and a part of) it's higher dimension. A 3rd dimensional being can SEE in 2 dimensions but only VISUALIZE in 3 dimensions. This means we can, at any time, see all sides of a 2 dimensional object (which is truly all our eyes see) but can never see the opposite side of a 3rd dimensional object without going around it or rotating it. This also means we can see the 2D beings in their ENTIRITY (all sides and even their organs) by simply looking down on them as their world is essentially a piece of paper. If a circle on this paper represented a person and we put them in the center of a square, they would see a line all around them, and essentially be trapped. In their dimension there is NO way out. However, a 3rd dimensional being looking down on this poor individual can easily solve the problem by reaching down, picking them "up" in to his/her 3rd dimension and putting them back down outside the square. It's important to note here, to the 2nd dimensional beings, this event would look miraculous and appear "god like", as the trapped person would disappear and reappear instantaneously before their very eyes. To these beings, they can't fathom a supreme being from a higher dimension with the capability to see their world from all sides at once. To expand further, a 4th dimensional being can SEE in 3 dimensions and only visualize the 4th. (see the trend here?) Again, these beings would be able to see our world in it's entirity simultaneously. They can truly see all sides of any object at once. Even perform surgeries on us without ever breaking the skin. If they picked one of us up in to their own dimension, the person here on earth would miraculously vanish. So just as the shape of the universe to a 2nd dimensional being is composed of a square, and the universe of our 3rd dimension is composed of a cube; the dimensional "shape" of the 4th dimension is an 8-cell regular octachoron or Tesseract. A hypercube. In the most primitive simple form, you can visualize it as a cube inside a higher cube which contains 8 "cells" or "spaces"; the cube in the center, the cubes on each side of the center cube, and finally the cube surrounding all of it. For those who have followed all of this so far, I applaud you. But let me burst your bubble when I say it's actually more complicated than that, as we are absolutely incapable and impossibly able to TRULY visualize the actual shape of the 4th dimension. The tesseract is nothing more but a "projection" of the 4th dimension so our brains can make some sense of it. The tesseract is essentially a "shadow" cast upon the 3rd dimension. A 2 dimensional being would need to cast a "shadow" of a 3D CUBE on their own dimension to see the shadow of 2 squares overlapping to visualize our higher dimension. This is important to remember. So what does this mean? And how does this apply to this game? Well the whole game is centered around the projected tesseract and gives you the ability to manipulate it by "rotating" it's higher dimensional composition. As you rotate it, it folds in on itself which causes the cells to move and shift. Colors are assigned to each cell and your job is to cycle through them as fast as possible to match a list of colors that are presented to you at the top of the screen. Sounds easy? It's not! The developers have an undiscovered gem here. The gameplay is simple, but hard to master. It's inescapably hypnotic. I truly love this game and give it 5 stars. I hope my review has given you a glimpse amd appreciation for a clever and unique game such as this! I highly recommend it!
Review by iBeej on Hipercubo.