Hyperbolic metamaterials possess unique optical properties owing to their hyperbolic dispersion. As hyperbolic metamaterials can be constructed just from periodic multilayers of metals and dielectrics, they have attracted considerable attention in the nanophotonics community. Here, we review some of our recent works and demonstrate the benefits of using hyperbolic metamaterials in plasmonic waveguides and light scattering. We also discuss nonlocal topological transitions in the hyperbolic metamaterials that effectively induce a zero refractive index.