One of the most underrated aspects of video games is their ability to place us within other people, even being referred to by some as “empathy machines”. Sure, most mainstream games cast you as dudebro soldiers, adventurers, and superheroes, but indie titles have never shied away from exploring normal people and their intimate human emotions.
Hymer 2000 places you in the role of Frank, a recycling specialist who must dismantle the titular Hymer computer of Hope Residence. You’ll interact with its charming 90s-style interface, learning more about those who used to populate the area, before ultimately uncovering their fate.
After beginning the game, you’ll be greeted by a computer menu which grants you access to a small handful of applications. The Action program will let you navigate the remains of Hope Residence, learning about its inhabitants and their adventures along the way. However, you’ll encounter areas that you cannot progress through due to data corruption.
In order to recover this data, you’ll need to navigate to the Search program. Here, you enter keywords such as character names, objects, and events in order to retrieve the lost files and open more places to explore within the Action program. Each file also treats you to a transcribed interaction between characters, helping you learn more about their interpersonal dynamics and filling you in on aspects of the story.
This creates a pretty engaging gameplay loop. You’ll explore Hope Residence and other locations, examining objects that were left behind, then take those clues to try and guess new keywords. This will in turn open up new areas with new objects, allowing you to repeat the process. I found that guessing relevant words wasn’t too difficult, though you will certainly need to pay attention to the information you’re given.
I did have a few moments toward the end of the game where I kept putting new words into the search bar, hoping they would reveal story beats, only to be met with no results. It was frustrating, but this was likely due to the fact that I had found the vast majority of the files already. There are 80 to recover, though thankfully you do not need to unlock all of them to finish the game.
The gameplay is certainly simplistic, but that’s so the narrative can take center stage. Without going into spoilers, I found myself very touched by what the story had to say. There are questions raised about AI, personal fulfillment, and how society often finds a way to “other” those that are perceived to be different. As the more dystopian elements of the plot revealed themselves, I found myself grappling with what I would do if I were put in similar situations. It’s a credit to the writing that I found myself so invested in these characters, as I had been shown their triumphs, failures, and relationships over the few hours it took me to roll credits.
Character development and visuals aren’t the only way developer doBell immerses you into the experience; I found the sound design to be excellent as well. There’s a variety of ambient music that plays as you perform your tasks. It’s tonally ambiguous, oscillating between hopeful and melancholic in equal measure. At key moments it will fade out, replaced with the soundscape of a particular story beat. It’s this small attention to detail that further accents emotional scenes and draws the player deeper into the game’s strange world.
I’m not going to say that Hymer 2000 is a game for everyone. Most people are looking for experiences that are filled with spectacle, excitement, and high levels of interactivity. In spite of this, those looking to be lost in other people’s heads (and willing to do a bit of detective work) may hail this as one of the more fascinating indie experiments of 2025.
