SUPER. (short pause) HOT.
SUPER. (short pause) HOT.
SUPER. (short pause) HOT.

I'll be honest. It was Internet-Youtuber-Dudebro-Reviewguy that turned me off from trying out Superhot on release. The parroting imitation and YEAH attitude that some of people had to this chant just got a Super Urgh out of me.

But last month I figured I should get around to trying it out, since I've had it since 2017. Is it overrated? Super Yes. Is it Fun? Ehhh, yeah, it is okay. Not Super OK. Just okay.

The story is here just to keep the movement in each tiny zone ticking along. You are a hacker, chatting to a few other hackers and are told about a game found on a server and are given some warez to go play the most innovative shooter in years.
Ahhh, that warm humming and clicking of early-mid 90s PCs fills you, with fantastic memories almost forgotten. And I did end up exploring the entire terminal I was using before playing the game properly. So much nostalgia.

In this game you shoot red people. Sometimes the game breaks and you go back to chat to get an update. Things start going wrong and you are told to stop playing. Well, I did need to go take a break anyway, so I closed out. Apparently there is more to this plot point that I missed, oh well!

Gotta be more to this than just shooting, right? What makes Superhot so innovative?

Time, Mr Anderson, isn't it about--- uh. Time, that's what is the gimmick. The world only moves when you do. Mostly. Bullets will crawl slowly through the air even when standing still, and this got me killed more than a few times until I figured out what was happening.

And your personal hitbox is huge. So I can only imagine it is my real world body size and I'm not as thin as those commie bastard reds... Uh, the red glowing dudes you fight against in game. There's no Matrix'ing and dodging bullets like you would expect, so hide behind lots of pillars instead.

But you can pick up weapons and shoot back, or knock them out of the hands of the reds and take revenge. Aiming does not appear to cause the world to tick forward with the exception of moving bullets. Make your shot and then run for cover. If you hear the right audio queue, jump out and tackle the next baddie. Kill everyone in the stage and move on to the next.

Around mid-game you'll get an extra ability to sacrifice your own body and possess another. And sometimes this is almost forced, levels start with you right in the sights of someone and the best action is to possess them before their bullets rip and tear you to shreds.

It is a nice new game mechanic, but the way it is implemented in some stages feels rather off.

This shoot and cover tactic does do one thing for Bert the Turtle players, it slowly builds your confidence.
Once you realise that moving quicker can cause levels to be completed in 5-30 seconds real time you may find you can rush the stage. Shooting people, picking up and throwing a stone martini or mini CRT, slicing people in half with a katana and zipping around.

This is helped by the 'challenges' that unlock as post game content. Replaying the first half of the levels with restrictions in place, such as limited weapons or bullets, or a timer clock to achieve a RED time. They're a fun little bit of post game content.
There's also an 'endless' mode with continuously respawning reds to shoot and stab.

Which is okay, if you are big into leaderboards and challenging friends. For the rest of us it is a little bit of extra content before we move on to something else... Which is fine but I'll be honest, I would of liked extra levels. Or a level editor!

SUPER (yeah, okay, the game is fun) HOT.

Most of my issue is that the game is vastly overhyped. It has a fun gameplay mechanic, but is let down by a rather short length, issues with hitboxes, and occasional throw aiming failures.

It is most certainly stylish, the dull grey nearly non textured environment Vs. the stark reddish tones of the enemies really make this title stand out. If this game had music, even a droning tone, I was not hearing it. But I did love that warm terminal clicking sound.

Is it worth a look? Yeah, but I'd be picking it up on sale or in a bundle. The $35AUD asking price is just a little too much for my liking for what I can get out of it.

Game Acquisition: Humble Monthly (June 2017)
Platform Used: Steam
Tweet Threads: 1 - 15 March 2020
PC Used: Scorptec Master-RTX2070 2019 MK1

OS: Windows 7
Processor: Intel Core2Quad Q6600 2,40 GHz
Memory: 4 GB RAM
Graphics: GeForce GTX 650 (1024 MB Ram)
Storage: 4 GB available space