SuperHot (2016)

The first Superhot entry is a FPS that completely rethinks how the genre works. Its standout mechanic is that time only progresses when you move, which transforms each firefight into a tense and strategic puzzle. Instead of reacting on pure reflex, you’re constantly analyzing enemy positions, dodging incoming bullets in slow motion, and deciding the most efficient way to use whatever weapons or objects are nearby. I would only recommend this title for people who likes puzzles, but not necessarily shooters, this may sound strange, but it makes all the sense once you start playing.

The result is a game that feels both cerebral and cinematic, giving you moments that look like choreographed action sequences but are really the product of careful planning. The minimalist art style, stark white environments with bright red enemies, isn’t just visually striking, it also reinforces clarity and focus in the chaos. The campaign itself is relatively short, but tightly designed and memorable, with a strange meta-narrative that blurs the line between player and game. If you like alternative story-telling then this is one of the best titles you can get, and if not, the only thing you'll enjoy here is the gameplay since there is not really a big plot with characters, dialogs and any traditional elements.

After finishing the story, endless and challenge modes provide plenty of replayability, encouraging you to refine your strategies and experiment with different playstyles. While some may find the length of the main story underwhelming, the game’s originality, atmosphere, and addictive gameplay loop make it stand out as one of the most innovative shooters of its era. This is one of the best puzzle (or even shooter) game that I've ever played and a must-play if you like these genres to any extent.

For a short and simple game, Superhot is brimming with exciting action, tense strategy, and plenty of creativity to tackle the main game and its wealth of additional challenges.

Superhot's plot is a little difficult to pin down, as it plays around with quite a bit of metanarrative elements. The player is in front of their computer and is playing a leaked copy of a game called superhot.exe where the player possesses a character and must shoot a variety of enemies without getting hit once. The main innovative concept is that time slows down to a crawl (not full stop, though some modes enable that) until the player moves, so every move around every bullet and every shot can (and often must) be slowly and carefully calculated, with a real-time replay to reward the player with a blisteringly impressive run. Once the player is deeper in the system they receive ominous threats as superhot.exe may not just be a game to be played...

The game has a small pool of guns (handgun, machine gun, shotgun) that are all utilized in unique ways as time slows down. Players can throw guns, use melee objects, jump on enemies, and later on possess them as the amount of ways to throw down in a level become tough and captivating. Levels start off fairly simple to teach basic concepts but soon put the player in maddening (but still fun) situations with many enemies and the odds stacked against them. Nothing feels repetitive and everything feels fresh, which helps given that the main game only takes a few hours to actually beat.

If the player feels like they need more bang for their buck, beating the game unlocks both an endless mode and a variety of challenges. Maybe you can just get through the game with a katana, or with your bare hands? Can you "speedrun" the game, and in real time? As aggravating as it may be, there's even a full NORESTART mode that is there to challenge people with a nearly roguelike premise. Most of the game is rarely that frustrating, with short and repeatable levels that demand creativity as the challenges step up and don't usually waste the player's time.

As for sound and visuals the game is minimal but aesthetically pleasing in its cleanliness, with basic white shaded scenery depicting a variety of urban scenes (with a tinge of nostalgic technology) and the bad guys are all shining red gem-like entities that break apart in captivating ways. Music is not present but sound is an absolute must in this game, with every shot, break, and click essential to survival. It would be much more difficult to play this with no sound.

Superhot is a game that wants to be played again and again and always feels like it has more to tell in its fast and frentic action played out at a careful snail's pace. It's addicting in the best sense of the word.

Beat. I enjoyed the time slowing mechanic. It was like playing with super human speed, dodging bullets and doing crazy action moves like Neo in the Matrix. I mostly played as if it was a standard shooter; taking cover and camping in positions to minimize the chances of being flanked. There was a lot of spinning around to keep on eye on all directions, and fidgeting back and forth while waiting for the enemies to get close. Two things annoyed me though about the shooting. The first was the relatively slow travel speed of my bullets, which meant any enemy moving at all laterally would easily dodge my bullets unless I lead the shots. I thought I was supposed to be the only one with super perception. I did get plenty of sweet kills on moving targets but I found it was most often better to wait until they stood still. The other annoying thing was the lack of ammo counter. It seemed like the amount of bullets in the guns could be a little random. I also wished there was a crouch to go under bullets.

After beating the story I played around in endless mode for a while, which was about finding a good place to camp so I could be protected while killing at close range for easy looting. Then I did the challenges starting with speed run where I only beat the times on 3 levels. I could beat it with practice but I hate time limits so I will pass. I have to say the design of the challenge modes was excellent, with each mode preparing you for the later ones and further mastering the game. Katana only taught how to get by without shooting or losing the sword. Some levels were much easier while others were much harder. I really had to learn how to dodge each kind of gun enough to get into melee range. The first hot switch level threw me a bit until I realized I had to throw the katana through the window then take over the guy inside to pick it up. The most badass level was the train where I threw the katana at the 3 guys, baited shots, possessed 1, grabbed the katana and sliced them all down. Then I did the same for the next 2 and their bullets killed the last guy for me. The 2013 challenge was not difficult at all. Ghost was cool and showcased how to abuse hot switch for the most tricky enemies. Full stop was the best, with time actually completely stopping while not moving, and enemy bullets traveling faster. If not for my bullets not getting a speed boost and every gun only having 1 shot, I would say it was the most realistic. Even with the slowness from standing still in every mode outside fullstop I still got killed occasionally due to the imprecise aiming of using a controller. Shooters are simply better with mouse and keyboard. The lack of ammo encouraged more use of throwing and melee, which set up for the throwing only challenge. This was fun, especially for the bar levels where I had tons of bottles to throw, though it was very annoying when my thrown long guns hit a wall or when the enemy shot my thrown object. I learned to aim for their legs. The barehanded challenge was brutally difficult and not fun. I really had to master dodging bullets at close range and getting enemies to kill each other with friendly fire. The ballroom level with the assault rifle guy that spawned at the start was a doozey until I tried keeping 1 pistol guy alive while I ran up the stairs back to the start. Then the meeting room with the assault rifle guy in the corner took a few tries, and the elevator was a pain in the ass. After that I had hotswitch and could simply buy time to possess troublesome enemies. Hard mode was fun and easy compared to barehanded. Impossible mode was tough but still not as difficult as barehanded. The faster time and bullets of Hard and Impossible really changed the nature of the game. I had to be more careful, more mobile, and faster at aiming. I have no interest in playing no restart mode. The very last thing I did was look up the secret messages rather than collecting them myself, and did a little more endless mode but not long enough to unlock the last few maps.

This was an interesting and well made game, making excellent use of audio and visual cues to assist the gameplay. The click for when the guns finishing cycling to be fired again was especially noticeable and helpful. I liked the old dos style menu interface, even if most of the silly programs were boring. They helped set the personality of the game and people playing it though. At first I thought the game was about controlling real people performing real life assassinations, but after seeing the secrets it seems to just be a game that maybe takes over the minds of players. It was fun to imagine the scenario that was going on for each level and how they were connected, but I believe they are just video game levels. Despite how much fun the game was, it was not as innovative as it thinks it is and there are many better shooters that I would rather play. It would be cool to see this concept expanded for more extensive levels.

7.2/10

Somehow, in the last 7 years, I never picked up on the fact that Superhot actually has a plot? I thought it was just a low-poly shooter with a neat mechanical gimmick, I had no idea there was this much of a story or that it was going to creep me the hell out.

See, here's the weird thing about Superhot—or rather, about superhot.exe. Because I tend to take a very methodical approach to games, I of course had to look through the entire file system before ever launching superhot.exe. Which means I read the entire chat log from the hacker board, and pretty quickly picked up on what the game actually was. And the thing that's weird about that is, in-universe, if I read that whole chat log before playing the game, I would never play the game. It is very obvious what's going on, and I, a reasonable person, want no part in it. But, of course, I have to play the game...because that's the game. Right?

Right?

So the incredibly creepy thing about this surprisingly creepy game is that if it were actually, in reality, what it claims to be within the world of the game, it would have just told me that to my face and I still would have played it. Obviously it was, in fact, just a game. Still, creepy.

As for the gameplay itself, I really thought this was going to be the kind of action-puzzle game that I flame out of as soon as it gets mildly complex, but even when it got hard it never felt impossible, which is an excellent quality in a game. And solving the puzzle is fun and satisfying, particularly when you can do it with some finesse.

Overall, got a lot more out of it then I thought I would. It's the most innovative shooter I've played in years.

p.s. By sheer coincidence I'd just watched Empathy, Inc. a few weeks ago, a very good indie thriller from 2018 with a similar premise. Not, like, suspiciously similar, and it's actually really interesting to see two works start with pretty much the same basic core concept and then go very different places with it, plotwise and thematically.

p.p.s. Ok, yes, I'm sure everyone else has done that bit, but honestly it is probably the most innovative shooter I've played in years, so.

p.p.p.s. That guy in the chat who said he got 400 in Tree Dude, that's gotta be a lie, right? I got to like 150, I'm pretty sure by the time you got to 400 it would be physically impossible to process the visual information and translate that to the controller fast enough.

p.p.p.p.s. Best part of the game is the carpet generator, though, right? We're all agreed on this?

I’ve seen plenty of videos about Superhot and it seemed like a game with a cool concept, but I didn’t have VR, so it was never on my radar to play. With it being the free PS Plus game, I learned there was a non-VR version. It was hard to catch screenshots of this game because I was always constantly on the move dodging bullets.

Superhot is an FPS game with a novel concept. Time only advances when you move. Actions such as walking, jumping, shooting all cause the world around you to move. When you are standing still the world isn’t perfectly still. The bad guys still move, albeit super slowly, while you stand still. Most of the levels are quick affairs where a few enemies spawn in until you’ve killed enough. On the offensive front, you can punch, shoot, throw items, or hit enemies with melee weapons. You can throw items in front of bullets to keep them from hitting you. You get a pistol which shoots one bullet, a shotgun that gives you a spread, and an assault rifle that shoots several bullets within one time stop. I found the shotgun to be the most effective of all the firearms. Much like how Hitman is a murder puzzle game, Superhot is a shooting puzzle game. If you want to hit a running enemy, you have to compensate for the bullet travel time and lead you target. On some of the longer, tougher levels, you will die in your first attempt as you learn where to expect enemies from and what weapons they’re armed with. There’s a trial & error aspect to it, but I did notice small changes in the enemy positions with each restart. It usually felt it was making it easier for me after my 7th death. I did get frustrated a few times, especially when trying to figure out my own hit box. Sometimes that bullet whizzing by my head kills me, other times it doesn’t. Once you complete the level, it plays in normal speed. It shows what took you 10 mins play out in 30 secs.

Each level sets you in a stark white facsimile of an average location, like an office, a garage, subway tunnel, or hospital. You are attacked by polygonal red guys who luckily all go down in one hit. Given the game world spends most of the time frozen, there’s no music or really any sound, and the menus are all laid out like an old DOS Box type operating system. As I played through it, all these factors added up to give this game an almost horror vibe, like I was waiting for a jump scare to pop out of one of the epileptic loading screens, I didn’t like those. This was somewhat intentional as the game does have a psychological thriller vibe to it. This game did a good job at making me feel uneasy the longer I played it.

There is a story to this game, but it’s lightly told and leaves a lot of it up to you to draw the lines between the plot points. It’s more about the theme than a traditional story structure. Going for that psychological terror aspect, you are told just enough to be always on edge. There’s overarching themes about mental conditioning and the meta-ness of games. It’s a different spin on the “Would you Kindly” type of thing. Superhot is presented as this secret, underground game, like a Sonic.exe type thing. You are told to stop playing the game by a strange group, but you want to see the ending, so you ignore all those warnings and the game calls you out for it. I also couldn’t tell, but there seemed to be an Ender’s Game type twist going on. Spoilers, but you see yourself playing the game in the game. One of the more interesting levels to me is the hospital. You shoot your way into a hospital room, where there’s the usual smattering of red guys, but on a bed is polygons in the shape of a woman, but she’s not an enemy, just part of the scenery. It’s the only time a non-enemy person is shown and I feel like it means something. So, my guess is the plot is the powers that be are making you enact real life assassinations in the guise of a VR game. More spoilers, you end the game by killing yourself and uploading your mind into some type of digital consciousness. I think the implication being this shadowy organization is slowly collecting minds through this secret computer game. The last levels set in the server farm this digital consciousness occupies throws in some more story intrigue as the red guys seem to be fighting each other, as if there’s two factions. The story always tells you just enough that you’re always confused, but never quite frustrated.

All in all, this is a neat game with a cool concept that I would imagine is much cooler in VR. The puzzly shooting gameplay makes you feel like John Wick as you catch guns out of midair and then toss them at a guy. The art style is striking and unique and the story is a mind trip.

I loved this game. I will defend its length (as I always do) because I love a game that doesn't overstay its welcome. And it wasn't even that short because damn, this game was really kicking my ass for a few segments. I would read you can beat the game in a couple hours, but Steam says I clocked in at the 5.8 hour mark. A big chunk was replaying a couple of the harder levels, especially those where you're surrounded from the start.

The concept was novel and so much fun, but is it really the most innovative shooter? For my money, it's still nowhere near the original Portal. The storytelling format was novel, but it got a bit annoying at times. It was trying to be deep and thoughtful but ended up just feeling gimmicky and in the way.

But this is still a damn fun, innovative game that I wouldn't think twice about recommending. It had been sitting in my backlog since Dunkey mentioned it and I'm glad I got to experience it.

SUPERHOT is one of the most unique and innovative FPS games of the modern times. It features a twisted Matrix-like creepy world, where you control your polygonal character through various missions, manipulating time to your advantage, trying to figure out the story, until you realise that nothing is what it seems.

At first you will find even the smallest gunfights challanging, dying multiple times to learn how to use your environment, the coffee mug on the nearby desk and who to shoot with the remaining bullet. You move carefully, dodging your way through assault rifle bullets, staying still to figure out your next jump as time goes on only when you do the same. Then you master your abilities, and the game throws at you even more impossible challanges, but also rewards you with a unique ability to wreak havoc amongst the enemy lines. By the time, you solve the mystery, you will be unstoppable. THE SYSTEM WILL SET ME FREE

Real challanges will be unlocked after you finish the story. You can replay each level with a twist, some helping you, others making you fight your way throught the hordes of enemies bare handed or with the amazing katana only. But by the time you arrive to these, you won't need weapons. You are the weapon!

You can also test your speed and your capability of resistance with the various time trials and infinity modes, where every move has to be for a purpose, to see the awaited words as a reward. SUPERHOT SUPERHOT SUPERHOT

SUPER.....HOT
SUPER......HOT

If I recall correctly I got this game during a Steam Winter Sale, played 20 mins (like I always do for new acquisitions) had some fun then stuck it in the back log. I had every intention of going back to it and recently I did!

There's a lot I like about the game. The art direction is really nice. I enjoy abstract art, polygons, minimalist use of color/light. The concept of time progressing only when you move is incredible, very original.

Game play is a little tough to get used to after a break but once I got the hang of it the experience was very enjoyable.

What I don't enjoy is the layout. the .exe and readme menus are stylized in a nice way but it can be confusing. When I go to watch replays the devs try to get me to make an account. Seriously, how many accounts do I need? Why can't they just save the replays on my HDD?

The story is pretty vague but I enjoy the intrigue. Is the character playing a simulation, are they some sort of cyborg stuck in the matrix/simulated reality? Who is making the protagonist shatter all these red dudes? A little more depth to the story would be nice.

Some game play aspects annoy me, like why can't I pick up a gun? The devs want me to have to grab it mid air after punching someone, I get it but maybe I don't want to fight like that...

Overall I liked it (per the star rating) but it's still a little rough around the edges. I'll finish it soon. I don't believe there are many stages left as I heard it's a short game.

Awesome mechanics combined with very well told metalinguistic story. I struggle to find negative things about this game.

I see a lot of people complaining about SUPERHOT's length on the internet. To those people I propose the following question: "do you think the campaign would really benefit from having a couple of hours more?". If you ask me, I think that it would definitely make the game more dragged-on and stale.

I find many gamers have these inverted values where the amount of minutes you get per buck in a video game are more important than how much enjoyment you get per minute. After all, we are all marching towards an inevitable death and like hell I'm going to spend some precious moments of my life by getting freaking platinum trophies while being bored out of my mind, just because I payed for something. My life is more important than money.

That being said, apart from the campaign, you also get a bunch of challenges and an infinite mode that can add a lot of time experienced with SUPERHOT.

I think 20 dollars is a more than ok value for supporting these amazing independent artists' future projects and for experiencing such an innovative piece of art!

Great mechanic for the game - time progression based on movement - that lead to some truly epic gunfights. Nothing cooler than throwing an ashtray at someone while diving out of the way, beating and disarming their friends and then using their gun to clear everyone in the room.

The story was... Interesting. I started looking into theories explaining it, and it kinda makes sense kinda doesn't. It left me disturbed, and mostly annoyed that the whole experience was over in a little under two hours. Certainly not worth the $20USD price tag where the devs asked us to provide free advertising for them.