SPEEDRUN! Superhot – Steam review

How often do we see a genius video game gimmick that is underused or, worse, butchered by developers? Superhot is an indie game built around one such gimmick, a subversion of the first-person shooter genre, but it is a mind-bending and ingenious puzzle game that makes the most of its idea, and I would highly recommend it.

Although the objective in each stage is to kill all the enemies, Superhot actually owes more to the puzzle game than a shooter. Every time you move, your enemies and their bullets do too, but if you stand still, so does time. Thus, you have got the freedom to carefully think about your next moves and actions, lining up a shot and ensuring that you are not killed yourself. You do not have to reload – throwing an object at an armed enemy will cause them to drop theirs, which you then grab. And, after you have completed each stage, you get to watch a real-time version of what you just did, and it never stops being cool, witnessing you taking out enemies like you are in The Matrix.

Attention to detail is rewarded far more than combat skills

There is not much more to the game than this – there is a narrative, but I am not going to spoil anything here (it is in parts genius and supremely silly). It is amazing how quickly you get used to the mechanics of this world (admittedly, it does take a level or two to fully grasp it). There is little in the way of explanation pass some of the early levels, with a lot of work is done by the game’s visuals. The world is a blocky white and grey; enemies and their bullet trails are bright red; guns and items that you can pick up and use as weapons are blue – when you come to understand what each colour means, navigating through levels becomes intuitive.

There can be a few annoying deaths down to nothing more than bad luck, but the game does not go out of its way to penalise you, and you respawn near-instantaneously. Really, though, your fate is in your own hands, through a bit of clever thinking or some good old trial-and-error (I used both, and I expect that many will). And there is something incredibly satisfying about getting through these action movie scenarios – standing unarmed in a room against three enemies – and succeeding in disarming and dispatching your foes. Attention to detail is rewarded far more than combat skills. 

A wonderful mix of style and substance

You can be through with the main game in three or four hours, whereupon you unlock a few bonus modes. Challenge mode lets you play through the main levels, but it adds a few new restrictions to increase the difficulty. There is also Endless mode, where you try to chase the highest number of kills possible in arenas with an endless number of respawning enemies. These are simple, but they add to the enjoyment of the main Superhot experience, without feeling like tack-ons. It is impressive how controlled the game seems – it is streamlined and focused, and all the better for it.

Superhot takes an innovative central conceit and fashions an incredibly enjoyable experience out of it – it is a wonderful mix of style and substance, and I guarantee you will not have played anything like it before.