Reviews

Superliminal Review

Written by Ankit Gaba

Information:

Name: Superliminal

Platforms: Nintendo Switch, PC, Xbox One and PlayStation 4
Platform Reviewed On: PS4

Genre: Puzzle

Developer: Pillow Castle

Publisher: Pillow Castle

Superliminal is one of the weirdest puzzle games I have ever played you never know what is going to happen you start in your dreams many different illusions can easily fool anyone, for example sometimes it looks like a door is just ahead. Still, it isn’t a door. It ends up being an optical illusion. Superliminal can be described as “Perspectives” in one word you just have to look at things in Superliminal from a different perspective to solve the puzzles Superliminal usually messes around with the player into making them think that something which can be used to solve the puzzle but it often ends up not being there as I mentioned before it’s an optical illusion most of the time there are some minor issues with Superliminal I had on PS4 one of them were frame rate issues in certain areas the frame rates dropped a lot also the game can get repetitive quickly because a lot of puzzles use the same mechanic of the game. It just feels the same until you are introduced to some different mechanics in the middle of the game, but just right after 2-3 levels, you have to go back to the same mechanics again, which makes Superliminal dull.

Let’s talk about the soundtrack. It’s very relaxing and light. It matches the game’s setting. It also makes the puzzles less frustrating it just goes well.

Graphically it isn’t anything special, but the Art Style stands out the game is concise and can be completed in less than 1 hour if you are used to playing puzzle games there are some glitches where objects glitch out, but they don’t occur frequently.

Most puzzles in superliminal are about finding the exit. When you find the exit there will be an elevator which will take you to another level there is a total amount of 9 levels in Superliminal the narrative of Superliminal is very straightforward there are two characters which talk to you Dr. Pierce and the AI usually they will explain what is going on with you and where you are. Still, sometimes it just doesn’t make sense. As I mentioned in the beginning, most puzzles exist of changing your perspective you just pick up objects and look at them from a different perspective which can change their size you can make them bigger or smaller depending on the perspective you are looking at them sometimes you just have to make a small house bigger and enter it to solve more puzzles in it so you can advance to the next level. In the middle act of the game, you have to clone some objects to solve the puzzles, which reduce the repetitiveness a bit and make the game better.

Now let’s talk about the issues in Superliminal more. The game is concise. Still, the concept is terrific and mindblowing another issue is the frame rate the game would lag a lot in some levels especially the level which had rain had a lot of frame rate issues the game falls short because of repetitiveness in levels also the mechanics are elementary in the game they could have added more types of puzzles nearly all of the puzzles feel the same in Superliminal which made it boring for me. Still, it is a great game that is worth buying for the amazing and mindblowing concept alone; everything else is just a cherry on the cake.

Another thing I mentioned before was the pretty straightforward Story. Still, it also ends up being boring I had no interest in the Story during my playthrough of Superliminal the most interesting thing was the mindblowing puzzles and the amazing optical illusions the game could have been way better if the puzzles had more variety and were more different from each other as I have mentioned most puzzles previously in Superliminal end up feeling boring because they are more of the same as the previous ones you have to do to advance to next level.

Verdict:

Superliminal is fun but ends up feeling repetitive due to the lack of variety in puzzles the music matches the game’s setting perfectly also the narrative of Superliminal is very boring I had no interest in the Story itself while playing Superliminal. The protagonist doesn’t speak throughout the entire game also there are some horror elements which don’t feel scary at all due to the limitations of the level design in Superliminal, but that’s not a major issue another issue which I had was the frame rate it dropped a lot during certain areas.

7/10

Pros:

Great OST which goes with the setting of Superliminal perfectly

Mindblowing illusions

Amazing concept

Cons:

Poor frame rate in certain areas

The game gets repetitive.

What do you think about Superliminal? Please let us know in the comments below.

About the author

Ankit Gaba

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