Superliminal (PC)

Developer:

Pillow Castle

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Release Date:

2019

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Systems:

Win, MacOS, PS4, XBOne, Switch

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This week on Super Adventures, I'm playing SUPERLIVINAL.

I played a demo of this ages ago and made a mental note back then that I should write about the full game sometime, because it's interesting and worthy of attention. Well, that's what I thought at the time anyway, maybe I'll hate it now. Maybe the demo was the only good bit and it's all downhill afterwards. It happens sometimes!

A few years before that demo there was a tech demo, and that had the name Museum of Simulation Technology, but I think the title they went with in the end suits it better. Plus it's got the word 'super' in there, and that's always a plus in my book.

Anyway, I have a vague memory of how the game starts, but I'm sure I'm eventually going to reach some gameplay weirdness I don't expect. I mean I hope so, as it'll be a shame if it just repeats the puzzles in the demo over and over. Oh, I should probably warn you that I'll be giving a few of the puzzle solutions away. Only a few though, I won't be going through the whole game.

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The game starts with an advert for the Pierce Institute's patent-pending SomnaSculpt dream therapy, but the camera keeps pulling back until we've escaped the TV and we're in someone's room. I guess the occupant was using their zoom vision to get a better look at the screen, but they've gotten bored of it now.

I get the impression we're not supposed to be 100% impressed either, as the commercial goes on to mention that the flagship clinic is next to the secondary overflow parking lot, etc.

Judging by the design of the TV and portable stereo I think we're in the late 80s, early 90s. But then what isn't these days? Even games set in the future look like the 80s. The nostalgia is strong.

The camera continues pulling back to reveal we're lying in bed. Or sitting on the pillow I guess, seeing as there's no one under the bed sheets. Either way it seems like this is our last glimpse at the real world before the game enters the protagonist's dreams. That means I get to give this article my 'dreamworld' tag! I haven't used that one in forever.

CHAPTER 1 - INDUCTION

 

WASD huh? What could it mean? Those aren't my controls, I redefined them already!

Turns out that the game had started me off looking at an image on a wall. I turned around and found myself in a room containing a table with a piece of paper lying on it. Further investigation revealed that it was covered in tiny tiny writing, with the words "Terms of Service" written on the top. This must be one of those tutorials which teaches the player how to interact with objects by making them sign on the dotted line before they're allowed out of the first room. It's okay, I don't think contracts signed in your imagination are legally binding.

When I turned back around the key tutorial image had been replaced with a doorway, which suits me.

Hey, free chess pieces! They're all just pawns though.

I already know how objects work in this from playing the demo, so I don't get to have that moment of realisation this time around. In fact I probably already knew before I played it, from a trailer or something. Which is a shame really, because being impressed by the clever weirdness is 50% of what the game's about.

Alright I'm going to pick up a chess piece (with my cursor, I don't have hands in the game) and then tilt the camera up to look at the ceiling.

That's the same pawn, and it should be exactly the same size and position on screen as it was in the previous screenshot. I'm just holding it up in the air now.

I can rotate objects when I'm holding them, but only on the horizontal plane, so I can't put the chess piece upright before letting go. Maybe gravity will do the job when I drop it. 

And now the chess piece is big! When I was holding it up in the air it secretly switched from being small to being far away, but you can't tell because of the forced perspective. Basically anything you hold always looks the same size to the camera, but it's as far away as it can be in the room you're in. Until you let go.

I remember a scene in the sitcom Father Ted where Ted is trying to teach his childlike colleague that the toy cow he's holding is small, while the cows outside the window are just far away. Well in this game it's the same thing.

Okay I'm done with giant chess pieces now, so I'm going to head outside and see what else the game's got for me.

Oh. Bigger chess piece.

I know how to deal with it though. If I was looking at this rook close up it'd actually be tiny, so all I have to do is pick it up and then turn to face the wall. Or I could just leave the chess piece full-sized and put it behind me.

Chess pieces again. They're getting some mileage out of those models.

But there's a voice in my ear now! A female computer voice who sounds only slightly evil. She explains that this whole thing I'm doing is an orientation to help me get used to I-LIDS, the Interactive, Lucid-Induction Dream State where I retain full control in the dream world. It doesn't seem like I have full control over my Xbox pad's vibration though, which is doubly awkward as I'm using mouse and keys. I ain't gonna unplug it though, I'm too stubborn!

Alright, I found some software to disable the vibration and now I can get back to dropping giant heavy cubes without my desk rattling. Trouble is it's hard to know what I'm meant to be doing in this test chamber as there's no exit.

Oh, it was behind a box. Awesome, making progress!
 

This pressure plate I've found opens the door in front of me, but it only stays open when I'm standing on it. Seems like the solution's obvious, I just take the cube from the other room, but the catch is that I need that cube to use as a step to reach that exit on the top right.

Hang on, there's no catch, I can just pick the cube back up again once I'm through the door! Sure the door will immediately shut, but it can't trap an object I'm holding. It'll just be closer to me.

The game's going to get a bit samey if all you do is take a small thing and make it big and vice versa.
 

I already know how to solve this one! We did this one already.

Okay wow, I didn't see that coming. It's just a picture of a chess piece painted onto the wall and floor (literally, there's a paint can next to it).

This kind of optical illusion's called trompe-l'œil, and it's about tricking the viewer with an image so real that you believe it. I checked its Wikipedia page and found this example:

"Fictional trompe-l'œil appears in many Looney Tunes, such as the Road Runner cartoons, where, for example, Wile E. Coyote paints a tunnel on a rock wall, and the Road Runner then races through the fake tunnel."

So yeah I just got owned by a bloody Wile E. Coyote trap.

Oh, the computer voice has a name now by the way! She's the Standard Orientation Protocol and she's quick to inform me that she's not part of the patient care team and that means she doesn't care. There's a touch of comedy to the dialogue that matches the playfulness of the puzzles. The game likes to screw with me but it's not cruel about it.
 

This is a weird puzzle. The switch is hidden in another room behind two panes of broken glass. It's lucky each puzzle is so contained or else I'd have no reason to assume that pressure plate way over there is connected to the door right next to me. Wherever that other room is, I'm sure it only exists for this puzzle and I'll never visit it.

You know, I think all the windows in here are broken, not just the smashed one. I mean they're reflecting the room but not me.

Hey it's one of those object barriers like in Portal.

People beyond this point without items will be fine, but those carrying an object will be fined up to four nights of sleep! Apparently there's a group out there called 'Mothers Against Items' and they really don't want me to carry my blocks around the level. Because it would break the game.

Incidentally there's some soft piano jazz playing at the moment and I'm not keen on it. Just thought I'd mention that.

Now I'm in a room just like that other one with the pressure plate on the floor. Except this time there's two pressure plates and no blocks. See, this is why I couldn't bring an object with me, because I'd just put it down here and skip the puzzle.

Instead I get to stand here blockless and try to figure out how to hold down two switches with zero items. While listening to jazz piano.

Oh, the sign above the door comes off! I suppose I could complain about this being unfair because none of the other signs come off the wall, but this one was slightly crooked to show it was loose. Plus I have the feeling that taking things for granted isn't going to get me anywhere in this game.

Alright, that's it, I've completed the basic tests to show I know how to manipulate objects in the dream world and now I'm ready to accept the polite recognition that the computer voice has promised and get started on my therapeutic journey.

Uh, that's a brick wall. Someone's bricked up the final exit. So that's a little inconvenient.

I suppose I could hang around here to see if someone shows up to help me... inside my dream. Or I could try to use my cheese to somehow break out and escape orientation. Hmm, those walls seem a bit less sturdy than ones in other rooms.

A bit of heavy cheese got the job done. I just dropped it down next to a wall and let gravity do the work. Then I did it with all the other walls as well, just to be thorough.

Alright now I've escaped the test chamber and I've slipped behind the scenes, just like in that other first person puzzle game.

Freedom!

I don't know if this is the right way for the SomnaSculpt therapy but it's got to be better than being trapped inside a room, inside a dream.

Oh damn, it tricked me! I took a few steps then fell through the floor, down a long tunnel, and ended up landing on a bed. Not the bed from the intro though. I haven't woken up yet.
 

Uh, my loading bar's broken.

CHAPTER 2 - OPTICAL

Now I've found myself at a third bed. Or maybe this is the room from the intro and they just took the TV and stereo away while I was asleep.

Alright I'm out of bed and I'm ready to get my money back for this failed procedure. Trouble is there's no one here. The whole place seems to be abandoned.

So I decided to empty the fire extinguisher and activate the fire alarm. Not to get people's attention or try to properly wake myself up, just because there's an achievement if I find and use them all along the way. In fact the alarm doesn't even make a sound, thankfully.

There are apparently other objects to collect or trigger or whatever, but I haven't looked up what they are, and it doesn't seem like there's anything else in this room I can interact with. Well, except for the drinks machine.

At least I'm in no danger of dying of dehydration while I'm trapped in here. Uh, not imaginary dehydration anyway. I just wish I could make out all that tiny writing on the buttons.

Ah, that helped! It also proves I'm definitely still in the dream. Which is good, because I probably need the sleep.
 

And now I'm in a hotel I guess? I just turned the corner and suddenly it was all pink walls and doors.

It only took me a few steps to realise that this particular corridor isn't going to be my way out of here, as I was growing too big for the exit. Or really the sneaky game's playing with my perception again, as the floor actually slopes up and leads to a tiny door.

Okay, this is just really weird looking. Everything through that door is actually just painted, but it's painted onto a shape that's sticking out of the wall. It makes the perspective work backwards, so if I step to the right here to get a better look at the left-hand side of that corridor, I'll actually see more of the right-hand wall instead.

The actual exit is through the door on the left, though it looks like a dead end until you walk close enough to see the wall has been painted on.

Alright I've reached a slightly more artificial-looking part of the hotel now. And by that I mean there's no ceiling on it and I can tell it's all basically a set on a sound stage.

This puzzle's another situation where I had to just try everything until something worked, as it turns out it's possible to rip the exit signs off the wall. They're not even crooked this time to give me a clue! Giant exit signs resting against walls can make excellent ramps, though getting them rotated the right way and in position can be tricky.

Damn, I got the first sign in the right place on my first try, but I'm really struggling to get the second one lined up right. I'm trying to form a bridge to the rooftop in the middle so I can learn its secrets. Oh hang on, I can just leave it where it is and use it as a step to jump over!

And there was nothing actually over there. Guess I'll just keep going then.
 

I found this cassette player lying just outside, which means I finally have a choice, as you can either play the tape or walk away. It doesn't matter, you get the audio anyway, but it's nice of the game to let me push the button myself.

The only thing on the tape is a short audio clip from Dr. Glenn Pierce. He sounds more like a narrator than a doctor, he's got a nice soothing Scottish accent, and right now he's letting me know that I'm special! So special that I've somehow strayed somewhere they can't find me. But they're currently working on it, so there's no need for any panic. Couldn't they just, I dunno, pour a bucket of water over my head or something? It can't be that hard to wake me up.

My escape from the hotel was short-lived, but the decor is getting even weirder now. I've already seen fake painted-on corridors and fake painted-on chess pieces, but they were done in a way to trick me into thinking they were real. That doesn't work so well when this is what you see when you enter the room.

I bet it looks great from over by the other wall though!

See, now it's an absolutely convincing cube. It even has a shadow. Wait...

The painted chess piece earlier taught me that sometimes objects are just an optical illusion, while this is teaching me that optical illusions can also be objects. It's a bit contradictory, but that's just how the game rolls.

It doesn't feel like it's trying to be awkward though. In fact once I had the image 99% lined up, it automatically gave me the last shove to put me in the exact right position and make it appear.

Hey it's that room I was in before, with the giant exit signs sitting right where I left them. Maybe I should jump down, see if the game has falling damage. Nah.

SOON

Nice room, but they seem to have forgotten to give me an object. I went around the whole room, sweeping the cursor across everything like I was pixel-hunting in an old point-and-click adventure game, but I found nothing. And there's a lot to hover the cursor over in here; the game's really tormenting me now.

I've hit a few tiny speed bumps along the way but this is the first puzzle I've been 100% stuck on. I don't even know where to start, it's just a room full of stuff I can't do anything with!

A MINUTE OR SO LATER

Solved it! I won't ruin the answer, but I do want show off this object I've found. It's a portal: a doorway that leads to another part of the level, like the ones you'd find in that famous 2006 video game, Prey.

I'm sure you're impressed and delighted with how I subverted your expectations there and said a different game, but Prey's portals differ from Portal's portals in that the size you are when you come out depends on the size of the doorway, and I still have my object resizing powers.

I think I'll just leave it alone though and step through.

Hey it's an end-of-level elevator, like the ones you'd find in that famous 2007 video game, Portal!

There's also a sign with some important advice about avoiding your sister in law. I mean in the dream world, not in real life. Shouldn't be a problem as I haven't met anyone in here yet.
 

CHAPTER 3 - CUBISM

Well this is familiar. I guess every chapter starts with the bedroom, the reception desk and the vending machine huh? Very Stanley Parable.

I got a can of Mini Soda out of the vending machine this time and it started off appropriately tiny before I embiggened it. I don't get the tag line though. "The North Star drink"? What?

Hang on, isn't there a North Star state in the US? Oh damn, is it Minnesota?

SOME PUZZLES LATER

The Standard Orientation Protocol AI is getting a bit frustrated with me now and honestly I'm getting frustrated with myself. The game was all smooth sailing for a little while, but now I've ran into another roadblock.

I can keep going for a bit around that corner, past the notice board, but the corridor's a dead end. It's all taped up with police tape that I can't cross.

There's a cryptic sign there pointing back to the previous screenshot, but it's cryptic so I don't get it. I mean it seems to imply that I should fall down a hole, but first I'd need a hole to fall down.

Maybe there's a clue on the notice board.
 

Nope, nothing here that seems relevant to my current dilemma of being trapped in a hallway. But hey at least now I know that the year's 1991 at the earliest. I wonder why they set the game 30 years in the past anyway, it doesn't seem to have any relevance to anything.

Now I'm trying to think about what I know about 1991. It was a good year for movie spoofs, with The Naked Gun 2½: The Smell of Fear and Hot Shots both making the worldwide top 10, though they were beaten at the cinema by Silence of the Lambs, Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves and Terminator 2. The biggest video games at the time were titles like Street Fighter II, The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, Super Mario World and Sonic the Hedgehog. Meanwhile songs like Queen's 'Bohemian Rhapsody', Right Said Fred's 'I'm Too Sexy' and The Simpsons' 'Do the Bartman' topped the charts.

Right, okay, I'll stop stalling and try to think of something I haven't done yet. I know, I'll get rid of all the cubes I brought in with me so I can come at the puzzle with a clean slate.

A chunk of the floor came up with the cube! Oh damn, this wasn't even meant to be a puzzle, I just had to click the bloody cube it put in front of me!

See, this is the danger of being able to bring in objects from a previous puzzle into another room. Sometimes they make it easier and sometimes they just confuse things. The game generally limits the things you can interact with to the bare minimum so there's no red herrings. It's very focused, to its benefit.

I suppose this 'puzzle' makes sense, as the game's all about putting aside what you think you understand and coming at problems from a different angle. It's not the kind of game that has you solving basic puzzles and then using that knowledge to solve more advanced ones later on. Though it's happy to let you believe it is.

CHAPTER 5 - CLONE

Man, this bloody fan keeps blowing all my apples down the hole! I really hate it when that happens. There's probably an obvious answer to this but I can't figure it out.

At first I was worried the game was going to get a bit dull and repetitive by leaning on the resizing mechanic too much, but that's not the case at all. I won't spoil what I'm actually doing at this point of the game, though I will spoil that it's not bloody working here.

I'll figure it out though. Eventually.

CHAPTER 6 - DOLLHOUSE

The game loves its recurring objects and symbols. Lots of chess pieces and apples.

I don't want to say too much about what's actually going on here though as that might give away a solution. In fact the game's as much about the experience as it is about working through puzzles, so I really shouldn't be showing any of it. It's such a pretty looking screenshot though.

Museum of Simulation Technology tech demo

I will say that I haven't come across a single puzzle based around making a stack of objects, probably because it's not much fun to do. I learned that from playing the ancient tech demo the game evolved from.

Executing a solution rarely requires much skill or effort, it's not what the game's about.

CHAPTER 7 - LABYRINTH

Damn, I was doing really well, flying through the last few chapters, but now I've hit another roadblock and I'm entirely stumped this time.

I'm in a T junction with no items and only one exit. Ignore that door, I have to go either left or right to get out. But going through the exit just brings me right back here to this spot again, so I'm just looping around forever. Actually that's not entirely true, as there's at least three different T junctions I've found myself in so far. There's a version of Hall 01 with a dead end on the left, a Hall 01 with a dead end on the right...

...and a Hall 02 with a dead end on the right. You'd think the exit arrow above the door would have something to do with which path is the dead end, but it seems to be random.

Man I feel like a total idiot for not being able to figure this out. There are no objects and there's one exit, so how am I screwing this up? It's not due to a lack of trying either. I'm an impatient and easily distracted man, but I've been going around in circles for 8 minutes trying to work this out. I am so so relieved I'm not streaming this to people right now.

Hang on, it seems like if I turn towards a dead end on Hall 01 and then take the exit instead I always end up looping back to the start of Hall 01 again. Otherwise I can progress to Hall 02. So maybe the trick is to never look directly at a dead end. But how can I know which way to avoid looking if it's random and there's no pattern? I know, I'll turn very slightly, just enough to see if there's a red glow, and then go the other way.

Holy crap it worked! I don't know how it worked, I still don't understand this puzzle at all, but I'm not complaining.

MUCH LATER

Huh, the Developer Commentary mode is greyed out? It's telling me that "Mode is unlocked after game completion", but I just completed the game! I went through all of it, didn't even look up a solution online. I suppose I could go through all of it again and get the speed run achievement for beating it under an hour, but... no. I want my button now dammit!

Oh, it turns out that I just had to restart the game to get it to acknowledge my victory and it's all good now. I've also unlocked Challenge Mode, which is all about getting through each puzzle with the absolute minimum necessary amount of moves. I think I'll be leaving that one alone.

SomnaSculpt Workshop (Beta) sounds good though, even if the game's two years old now and it seems unlikely this mode's ever coming out of beta.

It's a level editor! You can drag walls and objects around, even import your own objects if you're somehow tired of chess pieces and cubes. It seems a bit awkward though, so I think I'll be calling it a night now.

I mean after I've replayed the whole game with the commentary track on.


CONCLUSION

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Superliminal definitely belongs to the 'first person puzzle game where you're antagonised by a malevolent computer voice' genre, like Portal and all the rest, but it also has aspects of Antichamber and The Stanley Parable in there as well.

Personally, I thought the mix worked. The puzzles were generally fun and I didn't feel like it was trying to frustrate or utterly stump me. The puzzles are all very contained and you're usually just figuring out the gimmick of a room, with very little work involved in executing the solution. It's definitely not the kind of puzzle game that requires a notepad, a head full of trivia, patience or dexterity. Resizing and placing objects can take a couple of tries but I don't remember needing to manipulate more than a couple of them in each area.

Really though it's more interested in throwing weirdness at you and surprising you than it is building on its mechanics. Sure it'll make you think you're working on a variation of the last puzzle again, but then it'll pull the rug from underneath you. Or the floor. The game likes the player and wants them to be happy, but it also likes to troll them relentlessly.

The two voices in your head have nothing on GlaDOS but the voice acting's good and help set the tone for the mildly comedic, low-stress reality warping that's going on. There's not really much of a story here though. Plus being set in the 90s is absolutely irrelevant as far as I can tell; you'd only know from the cassette players and the occasional date found on a piece of paper. But the game's more about experiencing the visuals and thinking outside of the box than it is about paying attention to a plot. In fact it's really really keen to get you thinking about what you're looking at in a new way. Which is fine to me, because it's a beautiful game however you look at it. Well I think so anyway. I do like bright colours and shiny corridors.

It's a short game, it took me just over two hours to beat and I was wasting time screwing around trying to get decent shots and taking notes, but then Portal was short too and no one complained about that. In fact I think a lot of people feel that Portal's length works to its benefit and I was definitely glad that Superliminal wrapped up just as it was on the verge of outstaying its welcome. Though I did go back and played the whole thing again right afterwards.

It doesn't feel like a game like this would have much replay value, seeing as once you know all the puzzles you can just race through it... but it has achievements for speed running it, and a challenge mode where you have to complete each section in the absolute minimum number of moves. It also has a developer's commentary, which is always appreciated, and a SomnaSculpt dream editor! Which I didn't really play with because it seems like effort.

Anyway, I had two thoughts going through my head when I was playing through Superliminal: "I want to see what's through the next door," and "I want to show this off to the internet," so it's probably doing something right. In fact I think it deserves some awards, especially seeing as it got me to finish it twice in one night:

Wait, I forgot to mention that I wasn't keen on the jazz piano soundtrack! I mean it's not like that all the way through, but it isn't really my thing and I ended up turning the volume down on that. Alright, now I'm done.

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Thanks for dropping by and reading these words, it's always appreciated. You could leave some thoughts of your own now if you want. Just type them into the comment box below. You could also take a guess at what the next game will be using that clue on the left.