Superliminal

 Release: 2020

Developer/Publisher: Pillow Castle

Gameplay Stats: 3 hours, 8/27 achievements

I don't really know what to say about this game without spoiling it. It's kind of similar to AntiChamber in that it's a puzzle game that plays with the player's perspective to solve problems. The gimmick that it shows in the trailer is that you can resize objects by moving them closer or farther from you and I think that does a good job explaining the premise in a nutshell!

Visuals: Not a whole lot to speak on here. The game doens't look great, but it isn't really supposed to. The game is functional and telegraphs how things work well, so it does quite well in this category I feel.

Audio: The little bits of music are nice. They kind of remind me of Portal in a weird way, although the music isn't nearly as charming. The voice actors do a good job here. There isn't a whole ton of emotion expressed, but everything is expressed pretty clearly and in a way that keeps the player engaged.

Plot: I didn't think this was very good to be honest. But does a puzzle game need a plot? I don't think it does to be honest, so I won't hold this against it. The plot that is there serves to move a player between the rooms and it does that, so I think it was serviceable.

Gameplay: Here is definitely where this game shines! Playing the different sections of levels is always interesting. I played this game in a single sitting and have no regrets about that. The puzzles were very interesting and every time I thought I knew what was going to happen my expectations were undermined in an interesting and fun way. I think my only gripe here would be that the walking is awfully slow. It didn't bug me at the start, but you have to cover large areas in some of the later levels and it took longer than I wanted it to. I think a sprint would've been good for the end of the game, but I think it might've broken the beginning so it would be tricky to balance something like that.

Overall I really enjoyed my time with this game! I don't feel accomplished for having beaten it, but I enjoyed the play it took to figure my way through. I think I'd recommend this game as a way of combating expectations, but I don't know if it stands up as well as many other puzzle games. This was clearly inspired by Portal and AntiChamber, but I think both of those games are better than this one. [7/10]