HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed Switch update adds cross-play and story mode
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed’s biggest Switch update adds full cross-play, a story mode, new maps, enemies, bosses and weapons on 15 October.
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed is getting its biggest Nintendo Switch update yet on Thursday, 15 October, bringing full cross-play, a new story mode and a sizeable batch of maps, enemies, bosses and weapons.1
What the Switch update adds
The update brings Switch players up to date with the Steam, Xbox and PlayStation versions. Cross-play will let them join friends on the other platforms, while the new story mode expands the existing wave-based format with comic-book-style cutscenes and optional objectives.1
The patch also adds six bosses, including Cyber T. Rex, Missile Truck, Mothership, L.E.D Blimp, Major Evil and Gunship. Six enemy types are joining them, alongside three maps — The Funderdome, Adventure Dunes and Rental Lair — and five weapons including a Freeze Ray, Missile Launcher and Teleport Gun.1
Two new playable characters, Major Evil and Teddy the Teddy Bear, join new Infection, Capture the Battery and King of the Hill modes. Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch are also being overhauled, with a rebuilt interface, lobby menus, new skins and heads, and wider character customisation changes.1
Why the update took so long
The developers said the delay was largely down to foundational work. The team moved from an older Unreal Engine version to a newer one, rebuilt its networking backend for cross-platform play and reworked systems to support more enemies and larger environments.1
The same explanation points to the realities of a small team maintaining a game that has been in development since 2015. The developers also cited technical debt, engine work, localisation and the need to take breaks while delivering more than a dozen major free content updates.1
HYPERCHARGE: Unboxed is already available on the Nintendo eShop, while the Steam version remains the official PC reference for the game and its wider feature set.2
Our opinion
This is the kind of Switch update that can genuinely reopen a multiplayer game’s audience. Cross-play removes the platform barrier, while the story mode and new modes give existing players more to do than simply defend against another wave. The real test will be whether the small team can keep the upgraded networking and larger maps stable once everyone arrives at once, but the breadth of this patch makes it far more than a routine content drop.