First launching on The Epic Games Store back in November 2019 before hitting consoles earlier this year, surreal indie puzzler Superliminal has finally made its way to Steam. A new platform always brings with it new faces, and with Superliminal generally being viewed as something of an underrated gem by its fans, it seems the port to Valve‘s seminal PC storefront will be yet another opportunity for a fresh batch of players to experience Pillow Castle’s work.
So, for those finally getting the chance to dive into the perspective-shifting puzzle game now its graced the pages of Steam, is it worth it? Acting almost like a blend of the structure of Valve’s excellent Portal games and the mind-bending world of Galactic Cafe’s The Stanley Parable, Superliminal is without question a very competent puzzle game. Much like the aforementioned Portal, it might only have one mechanic behind it, but the sheer uniqueness of that gimmick is so well utilized and explored throughout its brief campaign that it never wears out its welcome.
To those unfamiliar with the title, Superliminal has a simple premise. Waking up in a surreal world acting under the mind-boggling laws of dream logic, the player must find a way to return to the real world through an assortment of puzzle-focused chambers. Their one tool in this strange realm of looping corridors and oddly proportioned rooms is their perspective, with players able to pick up objects and change their size by altering where and how they look at them. This means small chess pieces scattered around rooms can transform into giant battering rams and the moon itself can become the size of a pea.
Even without Pillow Castle’s eventual additions to the mechanic, it’s utter genius. Very little compares to the first fifteen minutes players will inevitably spend getting their head around just how innovative this concept is, as they resize every item in the game’s series of opening chambers with gleeful abandonment. Everything about it flows so seamlessly, and with no slow down or frame drops between resizes, it’s hard to fault almost anything about how the studio integrates such a smart mechanic.
But it winds up coming into its own even more as the player progresses, whether that’s through learning how to frame objects so they appear within hard to reach places or – in one particularly psychedelic level – multiplying a set of fire escapes to create a ramp. In some of the later sections of the game, there’s even the opportunity to resize doorways and drastically reduce the scale of the player character in segments reminiscent of Honey I Shrunk the Kids. It keeps things fresh from beginning to end, with no section ever overstaying its welcome or utilizing the perspective mechanic in the same way.
Speaking of the levels, for the most part, they’re sure to appease players looking for a pleasant handful of problems to solve, although they hardly place many hurdles in their path. Sure, there are two or three particularly brutal headscratchers included, but the vast majority of the game’s chambers are simple affairs that prioritize an energetic pace over engaging puzzles. While that’s partially the reason that Superliminal manages to weave such a tight experience, it does mean that what’s here can feel a little simplistic at times.
For every tricky puzzle that makes the player stop and think, there are around six to seven chambers that can be solved in a matter of seconds. It would’ve been great for the difficulty to ramp up as Superliminal proceeded through its runtime, but as it stands, there’s a distinct lack of challenge towards the late-game sections.
That being said, these levels are a joy to explore from a visual standpoint. Centering around an abstract, minimalist world, Superliminal is a surprisingly pretty game at points, partnering its quirky puzzles with equally larger than life locations. Most areas shift the overall style between levels (although, admittedly, some more diverse locals might’ve spiced things up a bit), with the stand out being the dark, dingy corridors of a horror-inspired level that players traverse towards the midpoint of the game.
For the most part, areas shift design based on the style of gameplay that takes precedent in the level, with the aforementioned horror segment seeing players navigate dark areas with a makeshift lamp. Alternatively, one of the game’s final sequences uses stark white environments to force players to question what is and isn’t out of the level’s bounds. It’s great to see the visual design tie-into Superliminal’s meta, perspective-shifting gameplay so frequently.
It’s a shame that the same focus wasn’t poured into the game’s overarching narrative or tone, because Superliminal can tend to be somewhat forgettable for a game with such a unique core premise. Although the gameplay definitely resembles elements of the likes of Portal, The Stanley Parable, and The Talos Principle, the difference is that each of these games had something defining. Valve interlaced Portal’s levels with the dry wit of GLaDOS, Stanley Parable’s strange dream logic was laced with self-referential meta-humor, and The Talos Principle incorporated a touch of philosophy into its proceedings.
While Superliminal often considers the idea of weaving moment-to-moment gameplay with an additional, narrative-based element, it never really fully pulls the trigger. Through the narration of the ever-present Dr. Glenn Pierce, it becomes clear early on that the game wants to relate its perspective based gameplay to the issue of mental health. It’s definitely one that could’ve worked under the right circumstances, especially considering the game’s abstract focus, but sadly it never feels like Superliminal earns its poorly interwoven message by the time the credits roll.
It’s also worth mentioning that this is a very short game, clocking in at around 2 and a half hours on the first run. Unless players are willing to return for the newly added developer’s commentary or additional speedruns – which likely will appeal to some considering it has built-in settings to facilitate them – the game isn’t going to outlast more than two or three sittings at the most.
That being said, Superliminal is still a really solid puzzle game. Its innovative main mechanic is worth the price of admission alone, with Pillow Castle taking the time to evolve and experiment with the mechanic so no two levels are ever exactly the same. What it lacks in challenge, story, and length it makes up for with its commitment to its perspective-based premise, carving a genuinely fun puzzler that’s sure to leave aficionados of the genre satisfied.
Superliminal is out now on PC, PlayStation 4, Xbox One, and Nintendo Switch. Game Rant was provided with a Steam code for this review.
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