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HIVESWAP: ACT 1
A hand-drawn tribute to hilarious '90s adventure games (with none of the accompanying frustration). Play as Joey Claire, a puzzle-solving teen snatched out of her time (1994) and place (Earth) and stranded on a hostile alien planet on the brink of rebellion.
In short, Steam reviewers most often praise “strong character writing” (18 of 75 reviews) and “enjoyable point-and-click puzzles” (8); the most common complaint is “very short first act” (15). What reviewers agree on ↓
What players say
Steam review score and the most-helpful voices, which may include critical ones. Score via Steam as of 2026-09-27 · quoted reviews as of 2026-05-12.
What reviewers agree on
18 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“Quirky little game which surprisely captures a lot of the charm Homestuck effortlessly expresses (as new Homestuck media struggles to capture it). Like the narration changing depending on who's the playable character,…”
“needed a walkthrough in some parts because i'm dumb crazy detail and good writing but quite short (act 1 of ?) base price isn't worth it so only try it out if you can catch one of their sales like i did”
8 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“An amazing game, with great art, fun puzzles, and spectacular music. My only complaint is that its too short for $10”
“Quirky little game which surprisely captures a lot of the charm Homestuck effortlessly expresses (as new Homestuck media struggles to capture it). Like the narration changing depending on who's the playable character,…”
8 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“An amazing game, with great art, fun puzzles, and spectacular music. My only complaint is that its too short for $10”
“definitely very short (beat this in about 3 - 4 hours though only 2 show because of my demo playtime) though id say its fun enough to be worth the price of 5 pound. My main critique is down to the length, it feels like…”
“The art in this game is really nice, it has some nice tunes, and there's a surprising amount of detail. You can tell genuine care was put into this game. Its gameplay is the bare minimum, just a point and click, and…”
5 of the 75 reviews raise this.
“An amazing game, with great art, fun puzzles, and spectacular music. My only complaint is that its too short for $10”
“definitely very short (beat this in about 3 - 4 hours though only 2 show because of my demo playtime) though id say its fun enough to be worth the price of 5 pound. My main critique is down to the length, it feels like…”
“The art in this game is really nice, it has some nice tunes, and there's a surprising amount of detail. You can tell genuine care was put into this game. Its gameplay is the bare minimum, just a point and click, and…”
15 of the 75 reviews raise this · 15 of them still recommend the game.
“An amazing game, with great art, fun puzzles, and spectacular music. My only complaint is that its too short for $10”
“needed a walkthrough in some parts because i'm dumb crazy detail and good writing but quite short (act 1 of ?) base price isn't worth it so only try it out if you can catch one of their sales like i did”
“definitely very short (beat this in about 3 - 4 hours though only 2 show because of my demo playtime) though id say its fun enough to be worth the price of 5 pound. My main critique is down to the length, it feels like…”
8 of the 75 reviews raise this · 8 of them still recommend the game.
“needed a walkthrough in some parts because i'm dumb crazy detail and good writing but quite short (act 1 of ?) base price isn't worth it so only try it out if you can catch one of their sales like i did”
“this game was so tuff ong bro you gotta play this (lowk just used a walkthrough the entire time)”
“joey claire my daughter i hope nothing bad happens to her. anyways this game is way too hard :// but i do recommend you play even if ur not a homostuck fan. thumbs up emoji. you don't really need to know any of the lore…”
6 of the 75 reviews raise this · 4 of them still recommend the game.
“fun game. kinda janky but i like it”
6 of the 75 reviews raise this · 6 of them still recommend the game.
“An amazing game, with great art, fun puzzles, and spectacular music. My only complaint is that its too short for $10”
“needed a walkthrough in some parts because i'm dumb crazy detail and good writing but quite short (act 1 of ?) base price isn't worth it so only try it out if you can catch one of their sales like i did”
6 of the 75 reviews raise this · 5 of them still recommend the game.
“The art in this game is really nice, it has some nice tunes, and there's a surprising amount of detail. You can tell genuine care was put into this game. Its gameplay is the bare minimum, just a point and click, and…”
“These point and click games are usually not my style but since i'm an old fan of homestuck i decied to try anyway. While the gameplay could be frustrating at times where i didn't quite understand what i was missing and…”
Counted across 75 English reviews, sampled to match this game's 92.5% positive rating · as of 2026-05-12
“((No spoilers given)) HIVESWAP: ACT 1 is a game that, in my experience, takes 30 minutes to 11 hours to complete. On face value, that makes it sound like one of those games you'll either breeze past or suck absolute balls at depending on who you are, but rather, it's more so a…”
— a player, Steam review · 11 hrs played“Ultimately a good time if you like Homestuck, but it's rather short so probably wait for a sale. That's really all there is to say on the matter.”
— a player, Steam review · 6 hrs played“Jake English/Harley a canonical deadbeat lmaooo”
— a player, Steam review · 2 hrs playedPlayer activity
Monthly average concurrent players. Live data self-collected from the Steam API · history through 2026-06 via SteamCharts.
Achievement stats
Global completion rates across all Steam players — a data view of how far people actually get. Source: Steam official stats · as of 2026-10-26.
Price tracking
US-region pricing (USD), sampled twice daily by our own tracker since 2026-07-11. Steam prices vary by region — always confirm your local price on Steam.
Regional prices at last sample, in local currency — Steam sets each region's price independently.
Cheapest → most expensive, converted to USD at ECB reference rates (2026-10-26). Relative comparison only.
Latest official news
Developer announcements via the Steam news API — links go to the original posts. More across all games on the news hub.
HIVESWAP and Homestuck Games 85% Off
Have you been waiting for a sale to jump on HIVESWAP: ACT 2, Friendsim or Pesterquest? Well, they're all 85% off right now. Catch up on the series ahead of the release of HIVESWAP: ACT 3 this winter!
HIVESWAP: ACT 3 Demo Available Now
This is a free demo for HIVESWAP: ACT 3, a point-and-click adventure set in the HOMESTUCK universe. Jeevik Week is finally here! On Alternia, surviving another sweep is always something to celebrate,
Trick or treat: all aboard 🚂
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33025617/c7db829c17e28b5ff0b20eb0092f5f4c97445458.png Hiveswap: Act 2 ‒ Key Art + Sneak Peak https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcom
Clowns and corsairs
Volume 6 is out now: meet Gamzee and Vriska in the newest Pesterquest! Gamzee + Vriska Emojis This volume's batch of emojis are ready for you here! Desktop + Mobile Wallpapers {STEA...
Skip to the trolls in Volume 5
https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33025617/47f084e4b92fe7fe2e547173a1e1ba94e762de0a.png https://steamcdn-a.akamaihd.net/steamcommunity/public/images/clans/33025617/5a5
Games like HIVESWAP: ACT 1
From our knowledge graph — ranked by shared traits, not a black box. Each card says why it's here.
Heaven's Vault
84.6% · 2,053 reviews
shares Great Soundtrack, Point Click, Female Protagonist, Sci Fi
Airscape - The Fall of Gravity
77.5% · 1,030 reviews
shares Great Soundtrack, Difficult, Sci Fi, Family Friendly
Ori and the Blind Forest
95.4% · 15,005 reviews
shares Great Soundtrack, Difficult, Family Friendly, Cute
HIVESWAP: ACT 2
86.5% · 1,056 reviews
shares Point Click, Female Protagonist, Sci Fi, Exploration
In Other Waters
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shares Aliens, Great Soundtrack, Point Click, Female Protagonist
Turnip Boy Commits Tax Evasion
94.8% · 9,824 reviews
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Little Misfortune
90.4% · 6,657 reviews
shares Great Soundtrack, Point Click, Psychological Horror, Female Protagonist
Morphopolis
76.5% · 1,845 reviews
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Screenshots
Official Steam store screenshots — click any shot to enlarge.
Facts & details
From the Steam store record, snapshot 2026-05-12.
| Genres | Adventure, Indie, RPG |
| Player tags | Adventure · Point & Click · Great Soundtrack · RPG · Indie · Female Protagonist · Memes · Aliens · Story Rich · Cute · 2D · Singleplayer (SteamSpy community voting) |
| Features | Single-player · Steam Achievements · Steam Trading Cards · Family Sharing |
| Languages | English * * |
| Achievements | 44 |
| Official site | http://www.hiveswap.com |
Minimum system requirements (PC)
Minimum: OS *: Windows XP/Vista/Windows 7/Windows 8/Windows 10 Processor: Dual core 2.2GHz+ Memory: 4 GB RAM Graphics: 1 GB VRAM Storage: 6 GB available space