Hostile Volume
Shares rank 16 of 48 browser games by recommenders
A browser puzzle game where you set a volume level through deliberately awkward interfaces; people find it funny and a good lesson in bad UI design, though some levels are hard or impossible on certain devices.
A browser puzzle game where you set a volume level through deliberately awkward interfaces; people find it funny and a good lesson in bad UI design, though some levels are hard or impossible on certain devices.
21 people gave an opinion
- recommend it
- 16
- criticize it
- 5
- approval share
- 76%
Recommended in 1 of 13 months
- November 2025: not recommended
- December 2025: not recommended
- January 2026: not recommended
- February 2026: not recommended
- March 2026: recommended
- April 2026: not recommended
- May 2026: not recommended
- June 2026: not recommended
- July 2026: not recommended
- August 2026: not recommended
- September 2026: not recommended
- October 2026: not recommended
- November 2026: not recommended (month in progress)
Why it doesn’t carry the badge
- 16 people recommend itNeeds 10 or more, met.
- 3.2 recommenders for every criticNeeds 2 to 1 or better, met.
- Recommended in 1 of 13 monthsNeeds 4 or more, not met.
The same three rules apply to every product, and the badge can’t be bought. How the badge works
What people say about it
The reasons people give, with the number of comments that give each one. Open a reason to read what they said.
Why people recommend it
Each mark is one comment
Fun and funny despite frustration
“Great fun, well done to the horrible person who made it.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “Hilarious, some of them are easy with the keyboard”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “This was more fun, in a dystopian kind of way.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” - Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI”
- Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI”
Teaches lessons about UI design
“But I love the idea. It can actually teach you a lot of things about UI design.”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “That feels like the ultimate volume UI puzzle heh.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “Diabolical villainy in this game”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” Clever, entertaining idea
“Very interesting idea! Was happy when It was over haha good work!”
Comment from 15 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “That feels like the ultimate volume UI puzzle heh.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “Had a lot of fun cool idea!”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI”
What people warn about
Each mark is one comment
Some levels broken or impossible
“The game was fun, but level 22 didn't work on Tor Browser due to CORS errors.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “Looks like 17 cannot be finished on mobile though.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “Level 27 is not possible.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” Gave up on early levels
“Laughed out loud but gave up at level 5”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI” “i manually used arrow keys to set it to by clicking right 25 times, and that didn't work, so i gave up.”
Comment from 14 Mar 2026 in “Hostile Volume – A game about adjusting volume with intentionally bad UI”
Other browser games people recommend
The four most recommended other browser games, with the same counts for each, so you can compare like for like. The tick on each bar marks the 2 to 1 line the badge needs.
| Product | Recommend | Criticize | Approval | Months | Owned | Badge |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| TinyWind | 61 | 19 | 76% | 1 | — | — |
| Starfling | 59 | 17 | 78% | 1 | — | — |
| Starcraft: Ashfall | 46 | 12 | 79% | 1 | — | — |
| Half-Life 2 in a Browser | 42 | 11 | 79% | 6 | — | Approved |
| Hostile VolumeThis page | 16 | 5 | 76% | 1 | — | — |
What people said
16 of the 21 comments that mention it, newest first. Each links to the original comment.
“Diabolical villainy in this game”
“But I love the idea. It can actually teach you a lot of things about UI design.”
“Very interesting idea! Was happy when It was over haha good work!”
“it doesnt unlock anything to change the volume”
“That was terrible. Thank you.”
“i manually used arrow keys to set it to by clicking right 25 times, and that didn't work, so i gave up.”
“Great fun, well done to the horrible person who made it.”
“The game was fun, but level 22 didn't work on Tor Browser due to CORS errors.”
“Level 27 is not possible.”
“Hilarious, some of them are easy with the keyboard”
“and then lost my progress :(”
“Had a lot of fun cool idea!”
“Looks like 17 cannot be finished on mobile though.”
“That feels like the ultimate volume UI puzzle heh.”
“Laughed out loud but gave up at level 5”
“This was more fun, in a dystopian kind of way.”
Counts come from 1,795,640 Hacker News comments, November 2025 to November 2026. How we count. Report a mistake.