Ended up liking this game a lot less than I expected. I still love the core mechanics, but I have two major gripes:
1. the story is bad.
I get what they were trying to do, but it feels like the game sorta tries to have it both ways with making fun of indie games taking themselves too seriously and... taking itself way too seriously. All the secret zen koan bullshit is a huge snoozefest, and by the end of the game I was mashing furiously to get through the chat sequences.
To be perfectly honest, I think the game was much more effective when the demo version was just dropping you into various classic action movie scenes and letting you break them down in slow motion.
2. It's less the length that bothers me - although it's certainly part of the problem - and more the fact that I think the mechanics are sorely underused in the end.
The body-swapping mechanic is awesome, but isn't really even used to solve any puzzles - it basically just serves as a panic button, which is boring. The game feels like it's barely scratching the surface of what the core time mechanic can do, let alone what the time mechanic, body swapping, and item throwing mechanics could do for level design together.
I'm sort of bummed that, after two years or so of the Superhot demo being hailed as this incredible "wow, imagine what a full game of this would be like!" idea, I basically feel the same way about the final version. There's so much potential here, but the game is slim and worse, feels loose.
This sounds way more down on the game overall than I mean to, I guess, because I still think it's genius and I still had a good time with it. But man.
Agree with all of this. The story just didn't come together for me and the game is way too short to explore the mechanics or vary things up in good ways.
It has been stated over and over, but it's nevertheless true; the real game is in the Challenge and Endless modes. It is all there.
It's still technically a failing of the game if the story mode makes people think of Superhot as a linear thing - because it's not - but if you're truthful in saying you want to play the game and engage with its mechanics, it infinitely more than delivers as soon as you shake the notion that it needs to happen within its parenthetical narrative wrapping.
Surprised how much I've gotten out of the challenge modes, every replay worth seeing is in one of those modes, the limitations and/or buffs usually encourage more impressive and stylized gameplay.
Surprised how much I've gotten out of the challenge modes, every replay worth seeing is in one of those modes, the limitations and/or buffs usually encourage more impressive and stylized gameplay.
Yeah, I've come to the conclusion that the story mode for SuperHot is really nothing more than a fancy three hour tutorial on how to play the game. The real game starts after you complete said tutorial.
It has been stated over and over, but it's nevertheless true; the real game is in the Challenge and Endless modes. It is all there.
It's still technically a failing of the game if the story mode makes people think of Superhot as a linear thing - because it's not - but if you're truthful in saying you want to play the game and engage with its mechanics, it infinitely more than delivers as soon as you shake the notion that it needs to happen within its parenthetical narrative wrapping.
I've been going through the challenge modes but I just have very little desire to rotate through the same 30 maps or so again and again. In a game like this I was expecting something over 100 maps and scenarios to really keep it fresh and varied. Yes the challenges change it up, but at the end of the day I'm still seeing the same thing, same enemy patterns, same spawns, etc over and over again which I just have no patience for.
It has been stated over and over, but it's nevertheless true; the real game is in the Challenge and Endless modes. It is all there.
It's still technically a failing of the game if the story mode makes people think of Superhot as a linear thing - because it's not - but if you're truthful in saying you want to play the game and engage with its mechanics, it infinitely more than delivers as soon as you shake the notion that it needs to happen within its parenthetical narrative wrapping.
The challenge modes are not what I'm looking for honestly. They're a cool extra but they don't do nearly enough. Still the same maps, enemy layouts, etc etc (except on endless). I think saying that stuff is the "real game" is a vast overstatement.
And I don't need a narrative wrapping; I mean, shit, half my post is dedicated to pointing out how pointless I felt the wrapping was.
The challenge modes are not what I'm looking for honestly. They're a cool extra but they don't do nearly enough. Still the same maps, enemy layouts, etc etc (except on endless). I think saying that stuff is the "real game" is a vast overstatement.
And I don't need a narrative wrapping; I mean, shit, half my post is dedicated to pointing out how pointless I felt the wrapping was.
Quality over quantity. That fact that each level is completely playable no matter what restrictions or changes, is a huge testament to how well designed these levels are.
And don't worry, the game is getting a bunch of post-release content
took me like an hour to beat this start to finish.
Pretty damn cool but the replays get quite annoying with it saying SUPER HOT every kill lol
edit : damnit i didnt try the other modes yet
my only complaint was body swapping , it made it a bit too easy ,i can see what they were aiming for , and the fact that they throw away their gun when you swap makes sense otherwise it would be insanely OP. still OP though
The challenge modes are not what I'm looking for honestly. They're a cool extra but they don't do nearly enough. Still the same maps, enemy layouts, etc etc (except on endless). I think saying that stuff is the "real game" is a vast overstatement.
And yet the only separation between the story mode and the challenge modes is that one has a narrative wrapping and the other doesn't. After the "story is over", your core gameplay options and conditions are broadened and constantly re-contextualised, and you get to use your skills in completely new ways and on an entirely different level.
If you feel that the story mode is where the real game is at, I'm not going to argue with you, but I'm not going to agree, either. It's little more than a methodical introduction to elements you'll deploy based on your own creative whims in the other modes - where the game really comes alive.
And as an introduction is it very strong. It does give you a taste of some of the things you can do, and makes you curious about the ways you can combine them, and invent new uses for them.
Quality over quantity. That fact that each level is completely playable no matter what restrictions or changes, is a huge testament to how well designed these levels are.
And don't worry, the game is getting a bunch of post-release content
I guess I don't feel that way. To me it's a testament to how loose the level design feels rather than how well designed they are. I don't really think quality over quantity applies when there is a lot of quantity, just the same levels repackaged with different challenges. That's like the opposite of quality over quantity in my mind.
And yet the only separation between the story mode and the challenge modes is that one has a narrative wrapping and the other doesn't. After the "story is over", your core gameplay options and conditions are broadened and constantly re-contextualised, and you get to use your skills in completely new ways and on an entirely different level.
If you feel that the story mode is where the real game is at, I'm not going to argue with you, but I'm not going to agree, either. It's little more than a methodical introduction to elements you'll deploy based on your own creative whims in the other modes - where the game really comes alive.
And as an introduction is it very strong. It does give you a taste of some of the things you can do, and makes you curious about the ways you can combine them, and invent new uses for them.
I do not care about the story one iota. My complaint is that the challenge content is the story maps repackaged, which I do not really consider fair to call "the real game." It doesn't matter if the original maps were in service of a story or not; I find the offering of maps slim, and dropping me in the same maps with the same enemies with slightly different mechanics overlayed on top is not what I'm interested in.
My issue isn't that there's a literal split between story and not-story, my issue is that the game really doesn't feel like it's scratching the surface of what its toolbox is capable of, and the challenge modes don't really make up for that when I've already experienced and memorized the maps and spawns. Whether there is a story wrapper or not, there is a dichotomy between the "main" game and the "bonus" stuff. You see that as the real game, but I just can't get with that. It didn't work for me in MGSV and it doesn't work for me here.
I didn't mean to imply you do. I'm saying it's the thing that makes you think of one area of the game as the "main game", and the other not. If there was no story wrapper to separate them, you wouldn't think of those maps as the "story maps", but rather arenas or skate parks or locales in which you engage with different configurations of the game's mechanics. All of the game would be the "real game", and the "story mode" would just be a very easy, straightforward and pedagogic way to play it.
I would say that the depth of the tool box is precisely what the game starts exploring when you enter the Endless and various Challenge modes.
Unless you mean that the game doesn't serve them up to you. That I definitely agree with. The game expects you to experiment with the strategies it has shown you in a linear fashion, and come up with new ways to use them. It doesn't say
"throw your weapon to the guy you're hot-switching into and catch it!"
, because it trusts you to be curious enough about how you can use those elements in combination by your own volition. That discovery is so much more of the game than anything you've experienced up to that point is.
But we're not gonna get anywhere with this, of course. I don't think anything changes if there were 30 more levels. They would be 30 more prefab, ostensibly dictated ways to first play the map, which you then tackle in heaps of new ways to really get at the meat of it. It would certainly take longer to simply cover that ground, though. I'll give you that.
I didn't mean to imply you do. I'm saying it's the thing that makes you think of one area of the game as the "main game", and the other not. If there was no story wrapper to separate them, you wouldn't think of those maps as the "story maps", but rather arenas or skate parks or locales in which you engage with different configurations of the game's mechanics. All of the game would be the "real game", and the "story mode" would just be a very easy, straightforward and pedagogic way to play it.
I would say that the depth of the tool box is precisely what the game starts exploring when you enter the Endless and various Challenge modes.
Unless you mean that the game doesn't serve them up to you. That I definitely agree with. The game expects you to experiment with the strategies it has shown you in a linear fashion, and come up with new ways to use them. It doesn't say
"throw your weapon to the guy you're hot-switching into and catch it!"
, because it trusts you to be curious enough about how you can use those elements in combination by your own volition. That discovery is so much more of the game than anything you've experienced up to that point is.
But we're not gonna get anywhere with this, of course. I don't think anything changes if there were 30 more levels. They would be 30 more prefab, ostensibly dictated ways to first play the map, which you then tackle in heaps of new ways to really get at the meat of it. It would certainly take longer to simply cover that ground, though. I'll give you that.
I would absolutely still gripe if the game rotated you through the same maps with only the thin challenge stuff on top after the first time through. A huge part of the game is figuring out how to navigate each map, and doing the same map again with the same spawns with a slight modifier is a neat bonus but nothing more to me. They are cool, but they're not enough. I just don't think there's enough in the game taking advantage of the mechanics.
Also, I figured out the spoiled mechanic the first time I got that ability. It comes up exactly zero times in the game as a necessary thing to do to solve a map. That's the kind of think I'm talking about; yeah, there's so much cool stuff you can do! The game never asks it of you.
That's true. It expects the player to. That's why there are replays; not so it can show how everyone does the exact same thing, but how they all do them differently.
I would absolutely still gripe if the game rotated you through the same maps with only the thin challenge stuff on top after the first time through. A huge part of the game is figuring out how to navigate each map, and doing the same map again with the same spawns with a slight modifier is a neat bonus but nothing more to me. They are cool, but they're not enough. I just don't think there's enough in the game taking advantage of the mechanics.
Also, I figured out the spoiled mechanic the first time I got that ability. It comes up exactly zero times in the game as a necessary thing to do to solve a map. That's the kind of think I'm talking about; yeah, there's so much cool stuff you can do! The game never asks it of you.
Wait, so you want the game to force you to play a certain way just because? There's all this cool stuff to do because it adds variety to the game. This is akin to complaining about combat variety in a hack n slash when all you do is spam one combo.
That's true. It expects the player to. That's why there are replays; not so it can show how everyone does the exact same thing, but how they all do them differently.
So in this I think this nails my precise gripe with the story/the main set of levels, however you want to refer to them: it teaches/gives you the opportunity to discover a few concepts, requires none of them, and then all you're left with is challenges where you play the same stuff over and over again.
It just feels like the game bottoms out just as you discover it's true depth, which is a massive bummer for me.
Wait, so you want the game to force you to play a certain way just because? There's all this cool stuff to do because it adds variety to the game. This is akin to complaining about combat variety in a hack n slash when all you do is spam one combo.
No, that's not what I'm saying at all. In fact, that's kind of what I'm complaining about, because the challenge modes literally are forcing you to play a certain way just because. I just mean that at no point does the story mode require you to think outside of the box - the only way the game really gets you to think outside of the box is by arbitrarily throwing challenge rules on top of existing levels. That's a bummer!
So in this I think this nails my precise gripe with the story/the main set of levels, however you want to refer to them: it teaches/gives you the opportunity to discover a few concepts, requires none of them, and then all you're left with is challenges where you play the same stuff over and over again.
It just feels like the game bottoms out just as you discover it's true depth, which is a massive bummer for me.
You can say the same for Hotline Miami, which this game is very much like gameplay-wise, or any game where you can play the same levels in different ways. The same stuff over and over again
Going to have agree to disagree. Those challenges do require you to use that depth in new and inventive ways. and in turn hone your skills and let you pull off tactics and moves you couldn't accomplish previously
It's not a mechanic. Stop thinking about those things as mechanics that need to have a use. They're a thing you thought to do, and the game's design allows it.
I wholeheartedly agree. And it's why the game resonates so deeply with some people. The core of Superhot becomes a means of expression. People insist on calling it a puzzle game, and while I understand what they're getting at it's really a misnomer. You're not looking for the one solution. While a lot of the challenges are certainly challenging in a traditional sense, most of it is an offered opportunity to use your creativity, to plan and execute something, and do stuff that feels awesome.
Of course that doesn't hit the spot for everyone, but to claim that the game isn't capitalising on its mechanics is like saying Minecraft doesn't because it doesn't specify how to build stuff.
You can say the same for Hotline Miami, which this game is very much like gameplay-wise, or any game where you can play the same levels in different ways. The same stuff over and over again
Going to have agree to disagree. Those challenges do require you to use that depth in new and inventive ways. and in turn hone your skills and let you pull off tactics and moves you couldn't accomplish previously
Hotline Miami's difficulty ramps up to challenge you to reach a little deeper into your brain to clear levels (and also has way more), whereas Superhot kinda feels like a flat line difficulty-wise. There aren't any maps in Superhot that loaded up and made me feel "oh, no, how am I going to get out of this?" I think the level design, in quantity and quality, comes up short compared to the potential in Superhot's mechanics.
I think that's more my problem as opposed to length; it's not that the game is short that bothers me, it's just that it didn't satisfy in that regard.
You can say the same for Hotline Miami, which this game is very much like gameplay-wise, or any game where you can play the same levels in different ways. The same stuff over and over again
Going to have agree to disagree. Those challenges do require you to use that depth in new and inventive ways. and in turn hone your skills and let you pull off tactics and moves you couldn't accomplish previously
I don't doubt that the challenges are interesting and do cool things. But at the end of the day it's the same maps and same enemy layouts they're asking you to do over and over again. Hotline Miami had a lot more to it and the difficulty curve felt steeper and more natural throughout the game. I came away satisfied rather than wanting more, which is why I never really went back to the game and haven't even touched the second. Superhot leaves me wanting a lot more because the mechanics have a lot of potential but it just doesn't have enough there. I want new layouts, new enemy patterns and enemy types, and the feeling of learning a new map rather than a spin on something I've already done.
It's kinda the same way I felt about MGSV's repeat missions. Yeah they're fun because of the game's mechanics, but it's just not enough. I'd rather have the feeling of being put into a new area and having the learn it rather than a tweak on preexisting stuff.
It's not a mechanic. Stop thinking about those things as mechanics that need to have a use. They're a thing you thought to do, and the game's design allows it.
I wholeheartedly agree. And it's why the game resonates so deeply with some people. The core of Superhot becomes a means of expression. People insist on calling it a puzzle game, and while I understand what they're getting at it's really a misnomer. You're not looking for the one solution. While a lot of the challenges are certainly challenging in a traditional sense, most of it is an offered opportunity to use your creativity, to plan and execute something, and do stuff that feels awesome.
Of course that doesn't hit the spot for everyone, but to claim that the game isn't capitalising on its mechanics is like saying Minecraft doesn't because it doesn't specify how to build stuff.
I think you're way overstating what you can do in this game. The sandbox of tools is simply too small to imply that you can do whatever you want. I feel like most levels have pretty clear solutions and it's not to the point where you can get crazy creative with how to get to the end. This is why I hoped the core game was a bit longer and introduced a few more core mechanics and weapons to create that feeling of having more items to play with in your skillset. Instead you get a few guns added and one thing that gets pretty underused before the game just abruptly ends.
I... just don't know what else I can say to this. The game is really, really empowering, and incredibly open to your experimentation. Of course you can't do what you *literally can't do*, like drive a car or whatever, but within the confines of the game, there's an abundance of space for you do do whatever you want. If there aren't already, I'm sure replay compilations of people doing all sorts of bonkers stuff will be forthcoming.
This is just going in circles. You're not looking for the one solution, and yes you can get crazy creative with how you get to the end. The Endless mode has neither a notion of "solution" nor "end", and yet the discussion keeps coming back to how the game needs to provide more puzzles. I just disagree. I can reword the ways in which I disagree, but I feel like I've been exhaustive in my posts already.
This is why I hoped the core game was a bit longer and introduced a few more core mechanics and weapons to create that feeling of having more items to play with in your skillset. Instead you get a few guns added and one thing that gets pretty underused before the game just abruptly ends.
This is why I hoped the core game was a bit longer and introduced a few more core mechanics and weapons to create that feeling of having more items to play with in your skillset. Instead you get a few guns added and one thing that gets pretty underused before the game just abruptly ends.
By "core" game do you mean the story mode? And by "abruptly ends" do you mean the end of said story mode? Because, like I said above, the story mode is basically a two hour tutorial to teach you how to play the game, and after the story / tutorial it then sets you loose on the real meat of the game, everything else.
Have you finished everything else? Or was the story mode all you were interested in?
By "core" game do you mean the story mode? And by "abruptly ends" do you mean the end of said story mode? Because, like I said above, the story mode is basically a two hour tutorial to teach you how to play the game, and after the story / tutorial it then sets you loose on the real meat of the game, everything else.
Have you finished everything else? Or was the story mode all you were interested in?
I don't think it's a stretch to say the story mode doesn't do enough with it's mechanics. There are so many ways you can vary things up. They could add different enemy types that take multiple and precise hits to kill, add enemies with different AI patterns and tendencies, things like that. I think it somewhat lacks a satisfying difficulty curve to make it feel like you're using everything in your arsenal to get through the later levels.
I've done a few of the challenges but I'm not going to do much more. It's just not enough for me. For me for those challenges to really be the meat of the game they would need to have unique levels with them rather than just rejiggering content.
Again my complaint is just that there aren't enough levels in the game. The core story mode is the meat of the game because the challenges are all based on those levels. It's the same 30 core levels with new restrictions and changes each time. Evidently that's enough for some people, but it's just not enough for me. My enjoyment with the game really came from being dumped into a new level and having to figure my way through it.
Playing through challenge modes and endless mode and it's a nice way to increase the longevity of the game a bit. But endless mode, I don't know, I managed to do 49 kills on my first try, what's the point of trying to do more than that already?
It's also quite easy to cheat the game, it's more obvious in katana mode where you can just wait until the enemies follow you in a tight corridor for instance. The time stopping mechanic makes you a god basically and the game is quite easy as a result.
Still lots of fun and for originality alone it has a chance to be in my Top 10 this year.
When they shoot stuff, they get stunned from that exploding, too. In the board room level, if you round the table to the left the shotgun guy in the top right corner often shoots one of the model buildings, which blows apart and makes him drop the shotgun.
So the bar guy is definitely stunned from the flask exploding, but the fact that he died must be some freak accident.
It's moving so fast, but maybe he shoots some other things with the same blast, and that's why.
Can't wait to see the speed runs for this game a couple months from now. It'll be interesting cause they pretty much will have to ignore the slow down mechanic.
Can't wait to see the speed runs for this game a couple months from now. It'll be interesting cause they pretty much will have to ignore the slow down mechanic.
When it said "SUPER HOT!" afterwards I was like.. yeah, no. You're trying to make me feel better and I appreciate that, but no.
I have to say that I agree that jumping at/on people is bizarrely powerful. It's sorta fun to do, but you can go on such a massacre by spamming it. I wouldn't know how to nerf it while still keeping it sorta intact, though.
Ended up liking this game a lot less than I expected. I still love the core mechanics, but I have two major gripes:
1. the story is bad.
I get what they were trying to do, but it feels like the game sorta tries to have it both ways with making fun of indie games taking themselves too seriously and... taking itself way too seriously. All the secret zen koan bullshit is a huge snoozefest, and by the end of the game I was mashing furiously to get through the chat sequences.
To be perfectly honest, I think the game was much more effective when the demo version was just dropping you into various classic action movie scenes and letting you break them down in slow motion.
2. It's less the length that bothers me - although it's certainly part of the problem - and more the fact that I think the mechanics are sorely underused in the end.
The body-swapping mechanic is awesome, but isn't really even used to solve any puzzles - it basically just serves as a panic button, which is boring. The game feels like it's barely scratching the surface of what the core time mechanic can do, let alone what the time mechanic, body swapping, and item throwing mechanics could do for level design together.
I'm sort of bummed that, after two years or so of the Superhot demo being hailed as this incredible "wow, imagine what a full game of this would be like!" idea, I basically feel the same way about the final version. There's so much potential here, but the game is slim and worse, feels loose.
This sounds way more down on the game overall than I mean to, I guess, because I still think it's genius and I still had a good time with it. But man.
Finishing the campaign just made me want more levels that actually take use of the game's mechanics fully with some real challenge. The ending shootout was kind of
disappointing and just had waves of dudes running up to you not forcing you to do anything special or intricate with the mechanics besides shooting them before they get to you...
It really bothers me that the campaigns levels in general just aren't more varied and designed around you having to use your abilities more creatively. I mostly have to go out of my way to do cool and complex maneuvers/moves instead of the game actually demanding me to do so or designed for them to be pulled out in the first place.
Just finished the story mode or what ever it is. Steam says took me 111mins.
Loved the game play wish it was set up more like a regular game and dropped you into more levels. Maybe bonuses for not missing with a gun, or no gun runs ect..
Game screams to me to be set up like a puzzle game that lets you replay levels and shit instead of the weird story stuff.
Just finished the story mode or what ever it is. Steam says took me 111mins.
Loved the game play wish it was set up more like a regular game and dropped you into more levels. Maybe bonuses for not missing with a gun, or no gun runs ect..
Game screams to me to be set up like a puzzle game that lets you replay levels and shit instead of the weird story stuff.
Bought this game blind just after glancing at the scores. Glad I did ,great game like hotline miami x fear played nice witht the steam controller as well.
Beat the story over the weekend. It really is the most innovative shooter I've played in years.
But the constant crashing on OS X is TERRIBLE. I can barely play through endless mode because it'll run for 10 minutes and then crash, then run for 2 then crash, then run for another random length of time and crash...its so bad. I hope it gets fixed soon.
OMG, if this came out for the Vive with your real life movement affecting the time, I would die from happiness. Probably the closest we'll feel to being in the Matrix.
Decided to try and I guess "benchmark" my poor performance, and my FPS as expected is going anywhere from 30-60 (though it rarely spends much time at 60), but my frame times are absolutely fucked. Compared to rocket league which has very slight bumps in the frame time, superhot bounces from 16 ms to sometimes over 100, but mostly oscillates between 16 and 50-70 ms. That can't ALL be Unity, right? It's definitely not using my iGPU, and my 390 should handle this just fine
SUPERHOT is on the left, rocket league on the right
If anyone has a Steam Controller, I recommend giving analog emulation (joystick move) a shot along with gyro/mouse. It's a bit slower, more precise, and just a neat change from wasd. I put up both configs if anyone wants to give 'em a shot.
I'm really happy with SUPERHOT. The challenge and endless modes keep me coming back for more. I have about 6 hours in the game, and I could easily hit 10 with all the stuff to mess around with. I hope they continue to support the game with more content.
Well, I'm passionate about the game. 
