Superliminal

 Switch
User Score
9.5

Universal acclaim- based on 1310 Ratings

User score distribution:
  1. Positive: 1,233 out of 1310
  2. Mixed: 25 out of 1310
  3. Negative: 52 out of 1310

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  1. spencerplewe
    Jul 18, 2020
    7
    It certainly fits in the mold of first-person puzzlers which usually blow your perceptive mind, which I’m a huge fan of, but this is a bit too short and undercooked for its full price. Definitely get on sale like I did.
  2. kinktwink
    Aug 11, 2020
    6
    Really unique (from anything I've played anyway) and carries a really great theme. Several surprises and tonal shifts throughout kept me invested, but the gameplay did get a little repetitive and some of the puzzle solutions were nonsensical. A fun little game, even if I did get tired of falling through the floor towards the end.
  3. EdwardG
    Dec 27, 2020
    7
    Superliminal is a smart, inventive puzzle game all about perspective.

    The puzzles are good fun and are fairly original thanks to the game's unique mechanics. They're a little difficult to explain, but it's very intuitive when playing the game - for the most part, what it boils down to is that you can manipulate the size of some objects, and duplicate some others. It's a short game,    Superliminal is a smart, inventive puzzle game all about perspective.

    The puzzles are good fun and are fairly original thanks to the game's unique mechanics. They're a little difficult to explain, but it's very intuitive when playing the game - for the most part, what it boils down to is that you can manipulate the size of some objects, and duplicate some others. It's a short game, clocking in at a little over 2 hours, but Superliminal makes pretty good use of it's mechanics in that short runtime; the game manages to pack in a good number of satisfying puzzles plus a neat little story with a nice message that ties in to the game's themes perfectly. It could've pushed these mechanics further though, and the puzzles in the latter half of the game could've been more complex.

    Overall, I quite enjoyed Superliminal. It's a briskly paced puzzler with cool original mechanics that doesn't overstay it's welcome. It's not as refined as it could've been, and although the story is certainly thematically consistent, it's perhaps a little on the nose. However, this is a memorable experience through a strange dream world that's good fun for a couple of hours.    … Expand
  4. jgmj921
    Mar 27, 2021
    7
    Overall a good puzzle game with decently designed atmosphere across the entire playthrough. However the puzzles are slightly repetitive and not highly interesting or thought provoking. The story itself is good yet not the level of SOMA or Talos Principle.
  5. ur_mist
    Aug 20, 2020
    6
    Great idea and poor implementation. I am really a fan of this type of game and was very impressed with the trailer. Nevertheless, in fact, the game was very easy, the puzzles are pretty damn easy and simple. There is no sense of challenge, I really don't feel anything moving in my brain.
  6. spikesagal
    Jul 21, 2020
    5
    This is almost a good game. The makers of Subliminal had a good idea about solving puzzle using perspective, and they sort of made it work, but they got so many things wrong.

    Starting with the game's strengths, some of the puzzles are genuinely challenging and thought-provoking. I also found it interesting that in certain stages the player can find a way outside of the puzzle area, and    This is almost a good game. The makers of Subliminal had a good idea about solving puzzle using perspective, and they sort of made it work, but they got so many things wrong.

    Starting with the game's strengths, some of the puzzles are genuinely challenging and thought-provoking. I also found it interesting that in certain stages the player can find a way outside of the puzzle area, and enjoy a sort of an easter egg. All this would've been fun, if it weren't for some glaring issues.

    This is where it starts to fall apart. In a first-person 3D puzzler, it's important to get the movement mechanics right, and unfortunately Superliminal just didn't. Both movement and look-around are locked at a constant speed, making this game extremely cumbersome to navigate. Top that with the fact that many of the puzzles require fairly precise positioning, and you've got yourself an constant exercise in frustration.

    The narration is simply terrible. The makers of Subliminal clearly tried to imitate Portal narratively, but had neither the writing talent, nor the voice acting talent available to them, winding up with a monotonous, repetitive set of bad jokes, and no character development whatsoever.

    The puzzles range from pretty good to not a puzzle. Many of the game's "puzzles" consist of walking from point A to point B, which sometimes takes an excruciatingly long time, due to the game's physics and movement mechanics. Other puzzles required finding a grab-able object among a room full non-grab-able objects, providing no way to distinguish between them.

    Late in the game, a certain puzzle stage has a fail state. As in, if you wind up there, you have to go to the menu and restart from the last check point. Mind you, this is the only point in the game that has a fail state. I literally spent half an hour trying to get out of it, before I finally looked it up in a walk-through, and proceeded to facepalm.

    The game's graphics are just mediocre. The models, shading, and lighting are primitive, but they work fairly well with this type of game. However, there are a few artifacts that occur while using the game's perspective-shifting mechanics, that sort of break the immersion.

    The sound design, on the other hand, is barely even there. Nothing about it is memorable, or helps the game in any way. Was there music? Environmental cues? Ambience? All I remember is that objects make noises when they're dropped.

    Superliminal was so close to being good, that it would totally pass as a good prototype of a game, but it fails terribly as an actual game, due to a lack of any sort of polish, as well as an abundance of design elements that make it excessively frustrating to play.    … Expand
  7. addictiya
    Jul 18, 2020
    6
    bought at full price and don't think it's worth the value.
    Got bored very fast, puzzle solutions are kinda repetitive.. Though there were def moments that surprised me, but before getting to those moments which only showed up once a while, I wasn't intrigued during most of the gameplay..
  8. Nathanimations
    Sep 4, 2022
    5
    Userscore too high. They were at the top of Best user rated games of all time.
  9. nusco
    Nov 18, 2021
    7
    Superliminal is a dreamy first-person puzzle game that plays with spatial perception and optical illusions.

    PROS: EXTREMELY TRIPPY: If you're looking for an oneiric, doors-of-perception kind of experience, it's hard to imagine a better game to scratch that itch. UNIQUE CORE CONCEPT: I cannot think of any other game that relies on the same idea of playing with perspective and your    Superliminal is a dreamy first-person puzzle game that plays with spatial perception and optical illusions.

    PROS:

    EXTREMELY TRIPPY: If you're looking for an oneiric, doors-of-perception kind of experience, it's hard to imagine a better game to scratch that itch.

    UNIQUE CORE CONCEPT: I cannot think of any other game that relies on the same idea of playing with perspective and your perception of scale.

    A FEW MEMORABLE SEQUENCES: One of the later levels pushes the idea of rescaling objects to interesting lengths, and results in a few moments that will probably stick with you.

    CONS:

    A FEW GOOD IDEAS, STRETCHED TOO THIN: Most puzzles are based on the same handful of good ideas. As the game progresses, those ideas get reused once too many times.

    SHAKY PERFORMANCE: The Switch struggles to keep a decent frame rate in some of the game's environment.

    DRAGS ON TOWARDS THE END: The final level or two could have been a memorable acid trip, but their flow is spoiled by too many arbitrary riddles and annoying maze-like puzzles.    … Expand
  10. Silverfish003
    May 10, 2023
    7
    The game starts out really good, the puzzles are something new. Every "main" chapter (1-7) introduces its own gimmick to change the Basic mechanic a little. I completed the game without looking up the solutions, it was fun, but the puzzles were far too simple and they kept repeating. The ideas are fantastic, but none of them reached their full potential and that's what hurts. The 8th andThe game starts out really good, the puzzles are something new. Every "main" chapter (1-7) introduces its own gimmick to change the Basic mechanic a little. I completed the game without looking up the solutions, it was fun, but the puzzles were far too simple and they kept repeating. The ideas are fantastic, but none of them reached their full potential and that's what hurts. The 8th and 9th chapter is a walking simulator, sorry. I dislike the parts where hugging the walls was required to see if the walls aren't simply a fake illusion, as those didn't make good puzzles. I must admit though, this game proves that humans are extremely predictable and it depends on it a lot of times, and I kept getting caught off guard and then was really surprised, that's a huge plus.

    To summarize this review, Superliminal is a fun game but the puzzles are not often the "main feature" as you spend more time walking around hallways. Buy it only on sale, for the full price of 20$ it's not really worth it.    … Expand

Awards & Rankings

35
#35 Most Discussed Switch Game of 2020

Critic Reviews

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Metascore
77

Generally favorable reviews - based on 10 Critic Reviews

Critic score distribution:
  1. Positive: 7 out of 10
  2. Mixed: 3 out of 10
  3. Negative: 0 out of 10
  1. Nintendojo
    Aug 16, 2024
    91
    Overall, I enjoyed my time with Superliminal. I love how the game constantly plays with the user’s expectations, and the unique gimmick made for some puzzles that stumped me. The ever shifting visuals kept me engaged all the way through and made me excited to see what the game would do next. While it is a little short at around three hours, it is an experience that I believe most people should try. While the game can be short and simple, it creates a fun and engaging time throughout.
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  2. SECTOR.sk
    Jun 16, 2022
    80
    Superliminal offers one of the freshest ideas we have seen in first person puzzle games in many years. The main negative point here is the game's length, since you can complete it in just 2 hours.
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  3. DarkStation
    Aug 19, 2020
    80
    All in all, I had fun with Superliminal. I would recommend it to anyone looking for a quick and moderately challenging (but not too difficult) puzzle game. As long as you aren’t looking for cutting edge graphics or a strong narrative, I think there is a lot of fun to be had here. You will have to deal with some literally dream nonsense logic, though. But isn’t that half the fun?
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