I remember hearing about SuperHot at a party; a first person shooter where time only advances when you move. I played a three level demo while the game was still in the early stages of development. Conceptually, the game is unique and creative. Although the setting and low polygon graphics may seem basic, the mechanics are creative, challenging and addictive. The story is fairly simplistic, but it does play a little into a meta-narrative on gaming. Overall this is a fun independent title that merges puzzles and first person shooters in a unique design.

As with most independent titles, the story campaign of this game is short. With over thirty levels, SuperHot felt like a long game. However, my total play time was under five hours. Finishing the story opens up additional challenges, including and endless mode. There’s quite a bit of additional content past the story mode gameplay. For an independent title, I felt like this was about the right length, and the level difficulty grew at a solid pace. Although some levels may be frustrating, none of them are insurmountable.

The mechanics are somewhat unique. The game never comes to a complete stop when your character is not in motion. Everything is always moving incredibly slow. If you left your character in one spot and left the game running for several minutes, you would eventually be killed by an enemy bullet. Each level consists of mostly grey-scale wall textures. By contrast, enemies are bright red, and weapons are black. Enemies can be killed by firearms, fists, or certain objects that can be thrown (wrenches, fire extinguishers, and others). The action time of firearms follow the movement based time mechanics, meaning you must move after firing before a gun is ready to fire again. Guns cannot be reloaded, but can be thrown when you run out of ammo. Red glows appear around locations where enemies spawn, and killing the last enemy shows a replay of the level at full speed with the words SUPER HOT repeated on a loop.

I hesitated getting this game for a while simply due to the price. It normally retails for over $20, which seems high for an independent title. I purchased this particular copy in a bundle. While the game is fun and innovative, I’m not sure if it’s worth the high price tag considering how short the main game is. I’m still glad I played through it. The story itself is left rather open-ended and up for interpretation, but the overall game is enjoyable and turns the classic first person shooter into more of a puzzler. I’d highly recommend this title if you can pick it up during a sale.