I Move Like They Do

Okay, okay, enough with the references. But seriously, this game is awesome. It’s amazing how even with the entire world in slow motion, the gameplay still feels as frantic as it does. Bursts of speed combined with the agonizingly slow-moving bullets makes for a teeth-grittingly tense shooter. But it kinda plays like a puzzle game as well, as you’re always trying to stay one step ahead at the very least. It’s strangely methodical in its gameplay.

Superhot. The game where “time only moves when you do”-ish. Time actually does move if you stand still or move your mouse, just so slowly the only thing that’s obviously moving are the bullets flying at you or your enemy. Naturally, you feel like you’re doing this in close shaves. It also gives you time to plan your next attack or scrunch your body into a ball, painstakingly turn the camera and pray a bullet isn’t an inch away from your face.

One of Superhot’s best strengths is that the player has so much room to improvise. It’s one of those games where despite the levels in the story always being the same, everyone I’ve seen play it handles the situation differently. Throwing stuff with right-click has a lot to do with that. Guns, bottles, a pool ball, literally anything you can get your hands on. By smashing an enemy with something, you buy precious time, disarming them in the process.

I love how focused the core gameplay is. It may only run off one mechanic, but it does that one thing so damn well it doesn’t matter. It would be a gimmick in most games, but everything in Superhot was built around the idea of combat in slow motion. The enemies and levels are specifically designed and coloured so that you have no useless clutter on screen, attacks are obvious and visible from long-range. Everything is manageable.

The game is incredibly simple, but the design is so elegant. Considering you’re in slow motion, it takes a while for the gun to not only recoil from the shot, but to fall back into the firing position again. The way they let you know the exact moment you can fire again is the crosshair itself. It simply rotates 90 degrees, briefly glows and makes an audible click when it does to let you know you can fire again. It’s all very clean and unobtrusive.

The only thing to complain about really is the story. “Really? You genuinely care about the story in THIS?” Nope. But the game most certainly does. Every time you start to get into the flow, it drags you out of the game for awkward forced dialogues… And I mean forced. As in, you have to physically type letters on your keyboard in order to progress the conversation. I wouldn’t mind a little story if it wasn’t trying to take itself so damn seriously.

There are (very) hidden computer screens buried in the environment that you can find to “crack” the level. I’m kind of annoyed I’m only cracking levels on my second playthrough though as I didn’t realise these monitors could be interacted with, but only if you’re not holding anything. Including weapons. It’s fun to actually reach them via breaking out of the levels intended areas, not so much fun to listen to the pretentious techno babble.

But (possibly) the best thing about Superhot is at the end of a level you get to watch the beautiful, bullet-riddled ballet performed before you in real-time. (If you press KP_7 to get rid of the splash screens and it only tells you that in a 15 minute long video of a chat room because okay then.) It makes you feel like you’re performing a scene out of Equilibrium and I LOVE it! Now to dive into the last secrets, challenges and endless modes…

HUGE thanks to aabicus for gifting me Superhot in the first place!

Enjoy the short highlight reel!