Quick Review: Superliminal

Mind’s been thoroughly screwed, I’m good for this review.

That chess piece started out normal-sized.
Now it's bigger than a person.

Superliminal is a game by Pillow Castle that was released on November 5th, 2020. In it, you are participating to a dream therapy meant to more accurately make you perceive the problems in your life. The dreams you’re thrust into are meant to represent a challenge to perceptions, of depth and optics in particular. However, something goes awry in the in the “dream”, forcing you to explore this sequence of puzzles while things are going out of control, inside and/or outside. The only solution is to follow the dream… however weird or scary it gets.

Grab an exit sign, use it as a ramp towards
the actual exit, which is up there.

Simple controls: WASD to move, Space to jump, left-click to grab an item, right-click to spin an item around. The entire game is all about optical illusions and perception tricks. The main skill in the game is to grab an item and moving, either forwards or backwards, and the item’s size will change relative to its current size, position compared to the wall you’re facing, and the distance you’ve walked afterwards. In simpler terms: Need a quick shrink? Bring this item towards a wall or the floor; need a quick growth? Take it away from the wall, or point it to the ceiling way up there! Those aren’t foolproof methods and they won’t work for everything, but mastering these size games is necessary to solve most puzzles.

You think this at the end of the hall is an
exit, then you realize... you've been played.

That cube's gonna be whole at the right angle,
but it's still missing some pieces...

The second aspect is all about disorientation through other visual trickeries. By aligning your vision correctly, summon cubes out of painted walls. Grab the moon out of the sky, the exit is on a piece of wall on it. Create an exit by picking off a door that only appears at the correct angle. Grow exit signs until you can use them as bridges. And that’s before the game throws in ways for yourself to shrink and grow, sections in black and white, labyrinths, paradoxes, horror-like sequences, and more mind-melting shifts and changes guaranteed to lead to some of the most unique puzzles I have ever seen.

A-ha, I did what few have done: I stole the moon!
And it has a cool boombox on it!

Well, this has taken a turn... (Yes, this is from
the same game, if you're wondering.

With that said, the game’s tone is interesting. We have that story where “you” get lost within your own subconscious, visiting the behind-the-scenes and back alleys of the “studio” that makes the “dreams” you’re in, all while an AI monitoring your travel across your own mind and Dr. Pierce, the human who created the program, are fighting their own separate battles to try and bring you back on the track the program was supposed to keep you on. It’s… excuse me, what?

Why, why did I summon this many apples?

It definitely bears the mark of other crazy first-person puzzles of Steam; Portal and The Stanley Parable come to mind, and Superliminal gives off a vibe pretty similar to both, and I wouldn’t be surprised if they were inspirations. It’s great, and at the risk of repeating myself, it does things I haven’t seen any other game do. Then again, it’s not often that video games get to dwell on optical illusions or discuss perception. On top of everything else, the game includes a Challenge Mode, a Developer’s Commentary (both unlocked after beating the game once), a level workshop in Beta mode (allowing you to add your own items to the game and even create a level or play someone else’s), multiplayer modes in both Battle Royale and Co-Op, and even a built-in speedrun timer. They really thought of everything.

I got where I'm standing at by walking into the
bouncy castle I am currently moving around
and size-shifting. I am moving the item I am
supposedly into, AND I'm changing my size
alongside it. Mind: 100% Screwed.

Yeah, it’s really great. It looks amazing (and the illusions are set up in similarly amazing ways), has excellent ambiance music throughout, has some puzzles that are very tricky (thinking outside the box is mandatory to progress), and the main story has just the right length (3-4 hours on first playthrough) to not overstay its welcome. It’s very good. Hell, almost perfect even.

Superliminal is available on Steam for 19.99$ USD.