Superhot

Hi, you have to try this. It's the most innovative shooter in years. What? As far as I can tell you're legally obligated to put that in your review. With the cringey meme out of the way, I want to acknowledge that while it is a slight overstatement, they're not as wrong about it as you might think. This does borrow elements from elsewhere. Bullet Time from the Max Payne trilogy, dumping empty firearms from Kane and Lynch Dog Days, and probably others.

And yet it overall feels fresh. I don't know anything quite like this. This manages to be very quick and easy to learn, and deceptively complex. There is no HUD, you can only carry one weapon at a time so if you're not seeing one in your hands that means you don't have one, there is no reloading, everyone dies from one bullet, and when you aren't moving, anything else either isn't or it's only going extremely slowly.

The stylized graphics help you focus and give this a unique look. You can immediately tell what something is just from the one solid color covering it at a glance. Let's go through them. White? Impassable, don't bother trying to go through it. Red? Enemy, they'll keep trying to put you down until you take them out.

Black? It's something you can use to hurt others(and all of these are quite breakable, and can be destroyed or caught in midair, and considering that foes will release their grip on them, sending them flying or falling, this is extremely convenient for you), so it's either melee or a gun, you can tell which from the shape, either can be thrown(though the physics for that basically make up my one criticism because they are not quite dependable), and once the clip is empty that's what you'll want to do.

All of this is important to keep in mind, and it almost immediately becomes second nature. I've seen others say that this was the first time that they felt like they were in a Hollywood movie shootout, and I 100% agree. This could so easily make you feel overpowered, since you have so much control over the flow of time, or the opposite, since ultimately you can lose very suddenly, sometimes even if you are tremendously careful. But it strikes a perfect balance between the two.

Levels take you through all kinds of different areas. A bar, an office building, an alley, a subway station with a moving train, etc. Early on you might find yourself thinking that these feel completely separate from one another. When you complete one, you immediately find yourself in the new one afterwards. There is no connective tissue. This is purposeful, and you will come to suppose why.

Over the course of this a number of questions are raised. While I can only speak for myself, I was completely satisfied with the answers, both in quantity and level of detail, and I will not be explaining that further because it is simply something you've got to see for yourself.

There is a wonderful meta element to the storytelling. This opens with you receiving the game itself. The menu is made to appear like a classic pre-windows operating system. This does not have cutscenes and anytime where and you have control stripped away from you, you are made painfully aware that that is what is happening. It does not break format.

After a while, you find yourself wondering if there is any plot here because it seems so random. And then the character you play as literally types that in chat, to the person that sent you Superhot! It even prompts you to write something, though you can't actually choose what comes out. And then it goes and points that out.

This explores some extremely important and relevant themes that I will not give away. The conclusion is pitch perfect. After a while you may realize where it's going, and it has that Grecian tragedy thing going on, where you are powerless to stop the obvious negative outcome to at least part of this. My jaw dropped more than once due to this.

It frustrates me to see some user reviewers say that it is bad that this does not let you affect the ending you get. I think it's time to admit that we've gotten spoiled on that. Don't get me wrong. I love when I get to choose how one of these comes to a close. It is something that I can hardly get enough of in stuff like the Deus Ex franchise and some of the Kyle Katarn titles.

With that said, it is not something that works for every entry in this medium, and we should not treat it as something that we are owed. I definitely think it would have been wrong for this. On the other hand, I do appreciate those who say that it is pretentious. I will not argue that point, honestly probably I'm just the sort of person for whom that works. This does not mean that it is wrong if you are not.

Some say that this is too brief. I would argue it is appropriate. It is long enough that it makes an impact, short enough that it does not overstay its welcome. I might have felt my money was wasted if I paid full price for this. Not sure how much that says though, because that tends to be the case when I don't get something severely discounted, as was the case with this.

I respect those who simply do not get into the unlockables. Those being the self explanatory Endless and the Challenge modes. Both at least partially take place in the same environments as before. The latter features various rule sets that completely change the experience. I love it, I get why others do not. Violence is PG13 because you don't see blood or gore, rather, only crystals instead. Strongly recommended. 8/10.

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

The Most Innovative Shooter I've Played in Years

In all seriousness though, this is an excellent game with a highly original concept. I do wish that the intentionally stripped narrative had been a bit more fulfilling and "complete" than it was, I do wish there were more levels, and I wish they had done more with this concept, but what is there is solid, satisfying, addictive, and fun.

Superhot will never win any awards for beauty, with it's red people, white backgrounds and black interactables in fact it's quite ugly in places. The sound is blips and blops but for reasons explained in it's thin plot. But it's the concept that sets it apart from the rest and is really something quite special.

In this unique first person shooter time moves immensely slowly when you are prone and only speeds up when you move or perform an action. This gives you the chance to think about your next move, look around for things to grab, weapons to pick up while new enemies spawn on a timer.

The weapons are highly minimal in that there are only a handful, and truth be told the game has very little content including a very short storymode but honestly it didn't "Need" more.

The levels are fun, addictive and as I mentioned highly original and a joy to play. The wrap around however between stages is quite migraine inducing and really ruined much of the experience for me.

Because of it's concept Superhot overcomes its flaws and is a really enjoyable title but I find myself hoping this is just the start of a potentially amazing franchise. If they iron out this games issues, add a bit more content and pad the game out the next should be even better.

The Good

The concept is genius

Very addictive

The Bad

Very little actual content

Not enough enemy/weapon variety

The wrap around is awful

Things I learnt from this game:

The mind is software

I am being watched

Obey

Passed 2 times (the first was in the epic game, handed out), and did not regret it at all! The game is truly unique in its kind. Yes, it does not have a plot, goals, just kill red men, but how! Although about the thought that we are shoved here, it was reflected in me. At first I thought the game was from our developers, by the name of the author (Pyotr) and I realized how well they localized it, that it seemed to me that only our person could not submit the text so dryly, but it turned out to be Poles! Anyway, well done, support the game so far! 6 years have passed! Superhot At an opportunity, I would look at what the creators have done in 6 years (superhot 2) Basically, "Great game, I haven't played it yet. You should play it too."

Incredible game with a great concept and it plays very well aswell . Would recommend as it is not very expensive (£15 at most)