Hive Adapt

Early build v0.2: if a wave won't end, press Esc and restart. A fix is coming in the next update. The browser version has a large first load, so patience helps.

Hold the wall. Outlast the swarm. Watch it learn.

Hive Adapt is a realistic third-person swarm shooter with tower defence, played fully offline on Windows PC. You are the last defender of a ruined frontier outpost on a Mars-red plateau. Wave after wave of bugs crawl, climb and fly in from the wastes, and the Hive remembers what hurt it. Lean on one damage type and the next generation arrives armoured against it.

What you get

• Elevated outpost defence: fight from the walls of a 7 m plateau with a wall walk, internal stairs, two causeways and gates, and breaches you can climb.
• Two weapons that level up: the AR-7 hitscan rifle and the PL-2 plasma rifle. Both gain XP and keep it between runs.
• Build and fortify: turrets on wall pads, a three-level Core Shield, and barricades at the gates and causeways in three tiers (scrap, steel, energy). Repair and upgrade between waves.
• Move like you mean it: motion-captured animation, dodge roll, jump pads that launch you over the walls, and a gear locker between waves (speed boots, armour plating, stamina pack).
• Enemies: Crawlers (some scale the cliffs), Flyers that cross the walls, and the two-phase Brood Mother boss.
• Endless mode: scaling waves, a stronger Brood Mother every 5th wave, and your best wave saved on your PC. Prefer a shorter run? Switch to the 5-wave First Playable or the 3-wave Vertical Slice from the start screen.
• Capture-friendly: vertical 9:16 capture mode, a hidden-HUD photo mode, and a screenshot key.

Controls

• Move / sprint: WASD / Shift
• Jump / dodge roll: Space / C
• Aim / fire: Right mouse / Left mouse
• Reload: R — switch weapon: 1 / 2
• Build, upgrade or repair: E (Q for the alternate)
• Gear locker between waves: B, then 1 / 2 / 3
• Start the next wave early: G or Enter
• Pause: Esc — skip tutorial: F1
• Vertical capture / photo mode / screenshot: F8 / F9 / F12

How to play

Download the zip, extract all files to a folder, and run HiveAdapt.exe, then press Start run. Windows 10/11, 64-bit, with a DirectX 12 capable GPU recommended. The game runs entirely offline and sends nothing anywhere.

Status

Version 0.2.0, an early build. Endless-mode balance has not been tested by many players yet, so feedback on how far you get and what feels unfair is very welcome. Please leave it in the comments.

AI disclosure: this game was built with AI assistance (code, text and parts of the art and animation pipeline). Audio is cut from licensed sound libraries and credited in the project docs.