SUPERHOT took the whole concept of the first person shooter and spun it on its head just a few years back.
FPS games are often about twitch gameplay, fast reflexes, ducking for cover and shooting with whatever you can get your hands on.
SUPERHOT is … different. The enemies around you only really move when you do – though they will very gradually encroach on your position like a persistent snail. And you don’t just have guns, but vases, crowbars, swords, and shurikens at hand.
Imagine constantly playing in Bullet Time from The Matrix and you’ll have a pretty good idea of what’s going on.
The original game was over pretty fast, with each level acting out like a unique puzzle with armies of enemies creeping up on you, and you gradually getting access to new weapons.
The game then made the jump to VR which was incredibly popular, and some even go as far as to say is the definitive way to play.
Mind Control Delete is essentially SUPERHOT 3, then. Or 2.5, depending on how you view VR, and has been brewing very nicely in Early Access for three years.
It’s not in VR this time – apparently, the team have no current plans for it either – but the good news is if you own the original SUPERHOT on any of the launch platforms, you get Mind Control Delete … for free!
And believe you me, that is a super sweet deal as this is more than just a tacked-on DLC. This is a robust, relatively vast, and incredibly enjoyable followup that enhances the SUPERHOT formula in every conceivable way.
You may not feel that way initially as it seems like you can whiz through the game within a few minutes. You get a game over screen and everything, but then the game keeps opening up as you find more and more glitches in the coding.
Before long, you’re entering quarantine zones, getting unique powerups that let you blow things up when you throw them or exploding into shruikens if you take any damage, and you’re able to choose your own path through the game.
MCD now includes some rogue-like elements to keep the action fresh and different. Each marker on the path has an entire screen of code and you find yourself hacking into the various glitches.
The more levels you complete in the game, the more ‘glitches’ you can add to your playthrough. For instance, you can choose to spawn with a random gun or have increased health.
Unlike the original SUPERHOT where it was a one hit kill, you start each grid with three hearts and each time you’re hit by a stray bullet or smacked with a pipe, you lose one heart ala Zelda. The catch? The experiences are all procedurally-generated so you’ll never quite know which area you’ll end up in or what you’re up against.
For instance, I found myself face to face with an enemy as soon as I spawned several times so was immediately throwing punches or using whatever random weapon the game placed in my hand.
Inititally, the hacks the game offers you are fairly easy to choose between – to be honest, there’ s a few I didn’t use because I didn’t see the need – but as you get deeper into the game and unlock more and more of the content, it gets really difficult to decide what you want to prioritize. That is when Mind Control Delete really comes into its own.
Not just that, but enemies will also mix up their approach a little bit with some becoming resistant to certain weapon types or aren’t easily disarmed.
The really interesting thing about MCD, though, is that it peels back some of the mystique of the SUPERHOT world and arms the game with more narrative and suspense. You’ll still be absolutely clueless as to what’s going on, but the narrative devices in place still manage to be surprisingly enjoyable.
MCD is a tougher challenge than SUPERHOT and a lot of that lies in its unpredictability, but it also makes for more entertaining viewing as you can have a completely different playthrough from a friend or viewer. It’s sure to be a delight for streamers!
As someone who appreciated SUPERHOT for what it offered originally, I am a much bigger fan of this much more fulfilling, well-rounded experience. The roguelike aesthetic really suits the tone of the game and makes the Mind Control Delete experience absolutely essential for SUPERHOT fans, whether you loved it in VR or not.
Best of all, it’ll be free for most people, which is so ridiculously generous it’s untrue. While it’s not quite the massive evolution of the genre the original was, this is a much more substantial and rewarding experience overall. You might even say it’s
SUPER
HOT
SUPERHOT: Mind Control Delete releases July 16th for PC, PS4, and XO (If you own SUPERHOT flat on any those formats, you will receive MCD for FREE)
Tested on PC
Code provided by PR
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