SUPERHOT (PC, 2016)

Rating: 8/10

IT'S THE MOST INNOVATIVE SHOOTER I'VE PLAYED IN YEARS

The game told me to say it. I swear! It isn't wrong though... SUPERHOT was originally a short web game entry for the 2013 Seven Day FPS Challenge. It was inspired by the Flash game, Time4Cat. In Time4Cat you play as a cat and time only moves when you move. Instead of making a generic first person shooter, the developers (also called SUPERHOT) decided to make an FPS using the mechanic from Time4Cat. Technically time still progresses in SUPERHOT if you stand still; just slowly. The game tries to explain why this is with "NO BODY IS PERFECT" and that no one can stand completely still. Fair enough. I actually didn't know about the prototype until a little bit before I played the full game, so I played it in order to see what it's like. It's pretty much the same as the finished product, which isn't a bad thing. There's even a hallway level in the full game that's eerily similar to the one from the prototype. I kind of wish the prototype was an unlockable feature or something in the full game, but it is free on the game's website if anyone wants to check it out.

SUPERHOT follows the Player when his friend introduces him to this secret game called superhot.exe. Wait, I have to run SUPERHOT.exe in order to play the game. How meta. Anyway the friend gives the Player the file and what happens after is in spoiler territory. I'll try not to say too much though. So after launching superhot.exe, the Player has to do a series of unconnected levels until being taken out for more story and go back in. You're booted out of the game again because the game is now password protected. Your friend doesn't know the password, but you do... somehow... You play some more levels, get taken out of the game (get used to it), and your friend checks up on you or something and this time the messages you typed are changed when you hit send. Your friend gets mad and ends the chat. I'm sure the message thing was a glitch. Right? Oh well, time for some more levels! This is where I can't talk about the story anymore. I have to admit the story felt a lot like some kind of creepypasta though. The game being called superhot.exe really helps.

Like I said before, the gameplay utilizes the concept of time only moving when you move in a FPS environment. Because of this, the levels are more of puzzles instead of just running and doing away with enemies all willy-nilly. None of the levels (34 in all) are really connected whatsoever and your objective is to kill all of the red guys in the given area. They usually have weapons like guns, bats, or even a katana that you can take from them if you hit them. Later on in the game you get the "hotswitch" which lets you Driver: San Francisco into (jump into and take control of) enemy bodies. I really didn't use it all that much unless I felt like I really needed to. The levels have a minimalistic design, similar to Mirror's Edge. There was even an alley early on that really reminded me of one from Mirror's Edge. There isn't a soundtrack whatsoever (the credits song doesn't count). Although I like music in my games, having no music here does help with pinpointing where enemies are.

Pros:

+ Utilizes an interesting "time only moves when you move" concept.

+ Well made puzzles/levels.

+ The sound effects are distinctive for everything they're assigned to.

+ Endless mode and Challenge mode are good for replay value.

Cons:

- It's pretty short (I beat it in 3 hours).

- There's not much past the time manipulation concept.

- You can't pause.

Final Thoughts:

SUPERHOT is a game I've been meaning to get to for years now. I played it on my old laptop for a bit back in 2017 or something, but never beat it. I think I either got stuck on a level and quit or just moved on to other things. Although the plot left a lot to be answered, I still really liked the game. I do wish it had more than the "time only moves when you move" concept though. The hotswitch kind of added something new, but not much. It also really makes me happy to see an indie game that isn't a pixelated metroidvania or rogue-like, though the new SUPERHOT game is the latter... Do I recommend SUPERHOT? Yep. The puzzles are challenging, the gameplay is fun, and even though the plot isn't great, it's fine. Truly, SUPERHOT really lived up to being the most innovative shooter I've played in years.

I hope everyone enjoyed this review. I'm trying to be a little more in-depth with my reviews from now on and I feel like I did a good job with this one (although as I'm revising this, I didn't really do much different from before...). I've really made a lot of progress from my one paragraph reviews when I first started earlier this year. I'm even using my YouTube channel to upload my playthroughs, which may or may not be an excuse for me to make gifs...