Question 1

Is Hypersomnia free?

Accepted Answer

Completely. It is AGPL-3.0 open source, free on its own site and free on Steam, with no purchases, battle pass or cosmetics store. The official regional servers are run by the project.

Question 2

Does Hypersomnia support controllers?

Accepted Answer

No. We searched the source and the default configuration for joystick, gamepad, XInput and DirectInput and found nothing, so it is mouse and keyboard only. We have not tagged it for Controller Support, which also means PlayBound will not offer you phone-as-controller for it.

Question 3

How many players fit in a match?

Accepted Answer

Sixteen by default — that is the slots value in the game's own default configuration — and a server operator can change it. Official instances run ranked and casual variants, and spectator slots are separate from playing slots.

Question 4

Can PlayBound host a private Hypersomnia server for my party?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Hypersomnia ships a headless dedicated server, so PlayBound starts a private instance on its VPS when your party hits Connect and joins everyone to it. You can also self-host from your own machine, which the launcher will offer if your connection can accept inbound UDP on 8412.

Question 5

What makes the netcode unusual?

Accepted Answer

The server sends only player inputs rather than world state, and every client simulates the rest deterministically. Bandwidth therefore scales with player count, not object count — roughly 5 KB/s for two players at a 60 Hz tick, in a map with hundreds of dynamic objects. When someone joins, all clients rebuild their physics state so every simulation stays identical.

Question 6

Do I need to download custom maps before joining a server?

Accepted Answer

No. Connecting to a server running a community arena downloads the map and its resources automatically, over HTTPS from the map catalogue or directly from the server over UDP if the catalogue is unreachable.

Question 7

Can I play it in a browser?

Accepted Answer

Yes. There is an official web client, and it interoperates with native clients — you can host a server in a browser tab and have desktop players connect to it. Linking a Discord account to Steam shares your ranked rating between the two.

Question 8

Does Hypersomnia have multiplayer?

Accepted Answer

Yes. Hypersomnia supports up to 16 players. You can have PlayBound start a dedicated server for your group. PlayBound Connect handles the setup: start a party with your friends, pick how you want to play, and everyone launches into the same game from the PlayBound launcher, with the dedicated server started for you if you choose one. It also supports cross-play, LAN play, a ranked ladder, and spectating. There is no subscription and no paid multiplayer tier.