Game reviews: Superhot and Fortified - cool and fun

Superhot

Superhot Team

One of the coolest things about modern video games is that no idea is too small or too weird to make into an indie release. The existential journey of a wartime immigration officer? Yup, it’s been done (Papers, Please). A demonic game-within-a-game where you must escape the clutches of a crappy retro-adventure? You got it (Pony Island). A hallucinogenic dream world where you have to deliver an envelope to the sun, but you’re also the sun? Seriously, how did they even think of that one? (Tearaway).

And even though we’re just a couple of months in, Superhot’s already making a strong claim for the weirdest, coolest concept of the year. On the surface, the game looks like your standard, everyday first-person shooter, where the only real goal is to kill every bad guy on-screen. But it’s in the almost philosophical approach to the concept of time that it slowly segues into its own little puzzle genre.

The idea is simple: when you move, the game moves. Any cease in progress, and it all comes to a standstill. That means bullets, positioning, the whole nine yards is based on the simple notion of timing. But what on paper sounds like a strange, virtual version of musical statues, turns out to be a highly efficient, incredibly fluid and intriguingly complex journey into the intricacies of time-trickery – kind of like The Matrix’s bullet-time, but with a more minimalistic slant.

Visuals here are kept to a bare minimum, looking more like the basic framework of an eventually over-realised, hyperrealistic shooter – but there’s an eccentric charm in its simplicity, and combined with the limited five-hour running time and beautifully lean concept, creates a strong case for less-is-more. Make no mistake though: as the levels progress and the game’s difficulty amps up, Superhot quickly turns into a conundrum-filled adventure where equal measures of quick thinking, multitasking and clever play combine to create a swarm of possible solutions.