Superhot was developed and published by Superhot Team. It was released on Steam February 25th, 2016 and on the Xbox One May 3rd, 2016 for $24.99 (£19.99). A press review copy was provided to The Hidden Levels.
I am not a fan of games that try hard to imitate games of the past. Retro gaming isn’t one of my favorite directions gaming has gone in recent years. Occasionally I do stumble upon something that I’m able to overlook this trend and still enjoy the game as was the case with Steredenn. When it comes to Superhot the combination of something old and something new I just couldn’t get enough of. I personally started gaming on computers with a C64 and the ascii artwork that this game starts off with warmed my metal heart so much it almost melted. When you start playing the games within the game you’ll be simply blown away. Time moves according to your movements and your goal is to make it out alive while shattering red glass humanoid figures that want nothing more than your end of life. It’s a hybrid turned based puzzle first person shooter with an interesting and warped story line and plenty of extras you should take the time to enjoy.
What I Enjoyed:
Super Game – The ascii beginnings, the simple but amazing graphical style, and awesome soundtrack are reasons this game deserves to be considered super. I was sucked right into the game from the start. It reminded me of gaming on an old DOS PC at the start complete with an ascii black and white screen. You get a message from a friend and you get to chat as if it’s some sort of instant messenger program you are using back in the day but with the speed provided with modern day technology. Back in the DOS days before the internet you would have to connect to a Bulletin Board System (BBS) in order to be able to do something like this and it gave me warm memories. After a short bit of chatting with your friend they send you a file to play this game and once you enter the game the world as you know it completely changes and time only moves according to your movements.
Hot Game – The games within the game make this game so very hot. The mini games even show up on Xbox One friends list saying you’re playing them by their names and not Superhot. Recordings within the game allow you to use in game controls to create clips and it links to the Xbox One DVR to put on your timeline. Once you complete the story mode you then unlock the endless and challenge modes as well as some other additional features that I suggest you take the time to look at. You will find ascii representations of the maps you played, some interesting videos including a strange trailer with a great song I’ve never heard before. I enjoyed the song so much I went back on several occasions just to listen to it. The soundtrack although limited is very well done and just the thing that adds to the experience.
Super Hot Game – This must be what it’s like to be Neo in The Matrix and have the ability to dodge bullets and plan your moves. From the beginning of the story mode to the end of it I enjoyed every single aspect of it. It takes you on a story line that puts you in the game like no other game of recent memory has ever duplicated. Once the story mode is completed you then unlock the endless mode as well as the challenges to extend the enjoyment of it and test your skills with some extreme situations. I thought the last level in the story was challenging but I hadn’t seen anything yet till I unlocked these modes. Everything about this game is so super hot your mind will melt as my metal heart did.
What I Disliked:
Not so Super – It was difficult to find anything in Superhot that I disliked however the story mode length was not so super. It’s an enjoyable ride and if the game hadn’t had the additional modes unlocked after you finish the story mode this would have been an more of an issue but with those additional challenges the game just keeps on giving and pushing you to improve.
Not so Hot – Since the story mode was so short the difficulty does ramp up rather fast. They kept adding new techniques along the way and you have to adapt to them. However the game does reset quickly so restarts to try to get better at them happen fast enough you stay addicted to Superhot.
I’ve enjoyed my time playing Superhot and look forward to setting some personal bests on the endless and challenge modes. I also might reset the story mode and keep all the unlocks in place to see if I can do a nice speed run on it. I didn’t run into anything that I didn’t really like about the game and its something that needs to be experienced. Video games these days seem to fall into a category or type of game but it’s very hard to do this with Superhot. It’s a first person shooter but yet since time only moves when you move it makes it more of a puzzle game to move but yet there is multiple ways each level can be completed. The experience has that turned based feel to it since you can plot your movements as time is trickling by until you actually move.
Score: Buy it now
7 Responses
I’m a little late to this now, but nice review! I still haven’t finished this one yet, but judging by what you said, I’m probably halfway through things. Kinda figured it would be more about the ‘experience’ and the extras than a lengthy story mode, but damn, is this game fun! Worth it just for the ability to make me look a total Neo-in-the-Matrix badass that I’m most definitely not! 😉 Props to the Devs for being able to expand on an originally ‘simple’ idea.
Better late than never (Momism #125). I know you’re a busy man. I agree about how they expanded on the original, simple idea. I do want more of it myself and it pays off in the end to finish this title. I try to leave spoilers out of my reviews.
It’ll be interesting to see what the DLC will have in store for the game as well. Loved it and would definitely go back to it once that DLC comes out!!
And I thank you for that (the no spoilers bit)! I doubt it would ruin it for me if I knew the twists beforehand, but it’s always best to go into something not knowing. With that in mind, I played Playdead’s ‘Inside’ from start to finish yesterday, and I am damn happy that I didn’t read any reviews or watch any walkthroughs beforehand. Awesome, awesome game!
And Shadow, thanks for the news about the DLC for Superhot. I missed that announcement, and with them adding procedural generation to the new levels, it’s all the more reason I need to dive back in and ‘get gud’. 🙂
Hurley you could have read the review I created for Inside, I kept it 100% spoiler free! 😀 I do understand what you mean about that game though, the less you more about it the better the whole experience is.
I can confirm what JamieReloaded23 is saying.
Shadow Tobuscus did you hear about that someplace? DLC excites me for this game.
Hurley, it’s not easy to finish. At least it wasn’t for me. Those last sections are challenging but rewarding once you get through them. \m/
Yeah, Jamie, I read your review last night actually, after I left the comment here. Well said! I agree with it all! There were a few reviews I saw that had disclaimers beforehand, most of which said ‘zero spoilers’ about the story / puzzles, but I figured I’d err on the side of caution until I played it myself (the internet ruined ‘The Force Awakens’ for me before I even stepped foot in the theater, so…).
@Metal & Shadow: I saw the info on their Steam page for the game. I’d link it, but I’m not one to spam stuff and it’s pretty easy to find. The gist of it is, procedural generation for the enemies to make each encounter unique (no more memorizing locations!), 20+ new arenas, and you now get rewarded for pulling off particularly badass combos (the more Matrix-like, the better 🙂 ).