Superliminal

 PC
User Score
7.7

Generally favorable reviews- based on 215 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 147 out of 215
  2. Mixed: 45 out of 215
  3. Negative: 23 out of 215

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  1. podzorama
    Nov 17, 2019
    7
    Superliminal starts strong, very strong. Puzzle mechanics are different enough for it to pique interest.
    Unfortunately after the third "wake" things go dramatically downhill. Puzzle solutions become more mundane less imaginative and the solutions become less intuitive, which is ironic given the idea of the game is looking at things with a different perspective. The game quickly becomes a    Superliminal starts strong, very strong. Puzzle mechanics are different enough for it to pique interest.
    Unfortunately after the third "wake" things go dramatically downhill. Puzzle solutions become more mundane less imaginative and the solutions become less intuitive, which is ironic given the idea of the game is looking at things with a different perspective. The game quickly becomes a Stanley Parable walking sim, which as good as that game is, is not something I signed up for by buying Superliminal.
    Although the game is short, it ran out of ideas well before the end point, and I was rather wishing for it all to be over about three quarters of the way through.
    I am sure you can sense my frustration here, because after first half hour I was sure I had stumbled upon a classic game.
    It is not without some charm and interest, and of its genre it is pleasant enough to play through.    … Expand
  2. Qysc3nt
    Dec 8, 2019
    7
    Interesting puzzles, but not very challenging. Also game is pretty short. When I reached the end of the game, my first impression was "That's all?"
  3. lastMorning
    Nov 29, 2019
    6
    Good idea. Interesting mechanics. But it more like a tech demo than a puzzle game. You can do different interesting things with stuff in the game but puzzles are very easy to solve and it's all very linear. The game is also very short. Story is simple and doesn't deserve attention. Environments are pretty simple too. Nothing beautiful. Music is just OK. If not for "out of the box thinking"Good idea. Interesting mechanics. But it more like a tech demo than a puzzle game. You can do different interesting things with stuff in the game but puzzles are very easy to solve and it's all very linear. The game is also very short. Story is simple and doesn't deserve attention. Environments are pretty simple too. Nothing beautiful. Music is just OK. If not for "out of the box thinking" mechanics than it would have been 5/10 or even less.… Expand
  4. philzlz
    Oct 22, 2022
    6
    A fun game for a few evenings together in coop. While most puzzles are pretty simple the mechanics are something new and had us interested. The Battle Royale mode was a nice addition but rooms started repeating after three runs.
  5. adelicateorange
    Dec 2, 2019
    6
    Superliminal is a game that tries to do too much with its unique game mechanic of perspective. The first hour feels fresh and exciting because of its concept. The idea of shifting depth and field of view to make things shrink or grow in size is an awesome mechanic. It is still invigorating to move puzzle blocks to get bigger and see what potential routes I could do, if I wanted to speedSuperliminal is a game that tries to do too much with its unique game mechanic of perspective. The first hour feels fresh and exciting because of its concept. The idea of shifting depth and field of view to make things shrink or grow in size is an awesome mechanic. It is still invigorating to move puzzle blocks to get bigger and see what potential routes I could do, if I wanted to speed run this later. Unfortunately, this game has a big problem on its lack of depth. Beyond that first hour, you'll be doing similar puzzles where the "perspective" mechanic starts feeling mundane with nothing new coming to the forefront unless its something completely different (e.g. East/West Puzzle). Many of the new puzzles you'll experience only come during the 3rd act of the game, and are one offs. This is a big issue because that relinquishes the notion of learning, which is integral to puzzle games, because you'll never use that new knowledge ever again.

    Also, this game's "story" is not really a story. It initially feels like something out The Stanley Parable because of its reverb-heavy, omniscient voice. Except, they replaced the humor and wit with parental lecturing. One could argue that the exposition dump in the 3rd act of this game could be the story, but the fact it comes so late makes me believe that the story was more an afterthought. It does kinda piece things altogether, but when you have no real foundation of what is occurring, I believe its best to scrap the story. I think the game's story would have been far more cohesive and streamlined if players are given the choice to figure out the underlying story through the puzzles and items that can read/picked up (i.e. The Witness).

    When it comes to visuals of the game, it does run pretty hard for me and there was no setting changing that I could find with my game. I am a little upset by that. I don't have the strongest system, but I was able to run at 60FPS without screen-tearing. The landscapes are pretty well detailed and look nice. It looks very similar to textures from The Beginner's Guide. It's by no means ugly, but it's nothing to shout about either. I cannot speak much about sound, but I did find the game's base settings to be quite loud.

    Can I recommend this game? No. The concept of superliminal is pretty cool, but its an incredibly short game that gets tiring pretty fast. I hope that a larger company is able to take the Superliminal Guys and make it a triple AAA title that could be a spiritual successor to Portal. That would be an amazing product, and could be one of the greatest puzzle games in the 2000s. As for right now, I cannot recommend it because its too short and tedious for those who are fans of puzzle games.

    5.5/10: Wait for absolute bargain-bin sales.    … Expand
  6. Jollyolfun
    Nov 18, 2022
    7
    portal esque game which has a really unique perspective, pun intended hahahah
  7. committedmeat
    Jun 13, 2022
    7
    The puzzles are solid, but they all rely on a singular gimmick (resizing) that doesn't really get explored all that much for a game that is ostensibly about optical illusions and liminal spaces. Story-wise, there is a narrative that is conveyed in unique ways, but it doesn't really go anywhere, so don't go into this game expecting much.
  8. musiol108
    Nov 22, 2019
    6
    Game with great potential that hasnt been used. When I bought this I thought its gonna be a puzzle game with levels like in portal or other games. Well, start is very addictive, but later it gets worse and worse. At the beginning we are solving puzzles then we are just walking around, the story is really shallow and it is supposed to be a "woke" game (like do something with your real lifeGame with great potential that hasnt been used. When I bought this I thought its gonna be a puzzle game with levels like in portal or other games. Well, start is very addictive, but later it gets worse and worse. At the beginning we are solving puzzles then we are just walking around, the story is really shallow and it is supposed to be a "woke" game (like do something with your real life etc). The worst part of this game is that, there is no easter eggs, the game is very linear. You can basically finish it in 1,30 hours. I dont recommend buying this game for full price (20$). It is not worth spending 20$ on a game where there is no graphic options and there are still several bugs. Overall it is worth checking but not for 20$.… Expand
  9. HSuke
    May 29, 2020
    6
    This feels like a $5-10 game. It took me 2.5 hours to beat this super-short game, and even then, I was just waiting for it to end.

    The first half has decent puzzles based on 3 simple mechanisms. The 2nd half was almost entirely a guess-and-check walking simulator with many scripted events. If you're expecting something similar to Portal, The Talos Principle, or QUBE, skip this game.    This feels like a $5-10 game. It took me 2.5 hours to beat this super-short game, and even then, I was just waiting for it to end.

    The first half has decent puzzles based on 3 simple mechanisms. The 2nd half was almost entirely a guess-and-check walking simulator with many scripted events. If you're expecting something similar to Portal, The Talos Principle, or QUBE, skip this game. It's too much of a walking simulator to be considered a decent puzzle game.

    Unlike most walking simulators, there isn't a story. Even an uneventful game such as "Gone Home" is 5x more eventful than this game. The ending was VERY WEAK.    … Expand
  10. Pavlol
    Jul 30, 2020
    6
    This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Good at the start but the puzzle where there were two doors really pissed me off. I was searching for playthroughs and nobody has the same puzzle as myself at all. The west and east signs in that looping puzzle was never there for me and I was left to wonder wtf is going on. Never played tthe game after that and never going back to this… Expand
  11. edxtan
    Feb 27, 2023
    6
    Superliminal's perspective distorting mechanic is gradually abandoned in favor of poorly explained, less interesting mechanics.
  12. Lazzakz
    Aug 21, 2023
    6
    Mechanical innovation quickly turnt into mediocrity through recycled ideas and lack of creativity in the mid-final moments. Starts off pretty strong though.

    DECENT 6
  13. ProfAmateur
    Dec 9, 2021
    7
    The game reminds of course about Portal. But the elements / focus on puzzles are different and well done in a very good way. The game is a bit short but for around 20 bucks its absolutely okay.
    I had problems in terms of game saving / no overview about saving data. I was in one room where the relevant items **** up and disappeared. I clicked on reload level and had to play the whole f*    The game reminds of course about Portal. But the elements / focus on puzzles are different and well done in a very good way. The game is a bit short but for around 20 bucks its absolutely okay.
    I had problems in terms of game saving / no overview about saving data. I was in one room where the relevant items **** up and disappeared. I clicked on reload level and had to play the whole f* level again instead of only 1 room.    … Expand
  14. hoanns
    Jul 12, 2022
    7
    The perspective puzzles are nice and creative but it also gets a bit gimmicky and the rest is a bit mediocre, it feels a bit cheap overall. It's an okay puzzle game.

Awards & Rankings

54
#54 Most Discussed PC Game of 2019

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
74

Mixed or average reviews - based on 35 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 19 out of 35
  2. Mixed: 15 out of 35
  3. Negative: 1 out of 35
  1. GameGrin
    Dec 14, 2020
    80
    The forced perspective game mechanic alone makes Superliminal an essential buy for those looking for a new first-person puzzler. Both mind-bogglingly clever and hilarious use of environmental storytelling, the potential to be a classic is limited by its short play time and unnecessary exposition.
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  2. Noisy Pixel
    Nov 26, 2020
    70
    Superliminal offers unique gameplay elements for a fun evening, but the experience won’t leave an impact. Its perspective features turn out to be more of a novelty or a practical tech demo than a way to create an engaging narrative. While that alone might make it worth giving a try if you’re looking for an interesting experience, the idea of Superliminal works better on paper than in execution.
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  3. Game Rant
    Nov 25, 2020
    70
    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.
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