Did you ever have dreams as a kid where you had to infiltrate a highly-secured facility and fight a bunch of bad guys all by yourself? Perhaps you took those dreams to your pretend sessions and imagined yourself slicing and dicing an army of thugs with all kinds of weapons and techniques.
If you were one of those kids, there is a high likelihood that you still have that innate drive to beat up a bunch of enemies. Good news: you can bring those passions to life with the amazing “SUPERHOT VR.”
“SUPERHOT VR” is a game that’s been around for at least eight years, as it was released originally on PC and console in 2016. However, with the rise of virtual reality systems at the same time, the game quickly adapted to VR-style. This was the best decision the developers could have made, as it turned out to be far more entertaining in VR.
The premise of the game involves you, a badass, in a series of white rooms with red enemies made of glass. Most levels have obstacles and random objects made of black glass which can be used as weapons. The objective, of course, is to slaughter all of the enemies to clear the level. The neat part is that it feels extremely violent but does not have any aspects of gore or real-life violence.
In a way, it’s a non-violent violent game that leaves you on a high for action. Weapons in this game include pistols, shotguns, SMGs, AKs, knives, swords, needles and an array of thematic objects to fit each level’s design.
The premise is pretty straightforward, but there is a catch. Time works differently in the Superhot realm. By default, nothing is moving. All objects and enemies are perfectly still. Each time the player moves, time itself is allowed to proceed. In other words, you need to be very wise with how you move or else it could cost your life.
Suppose I am in a room with a single pistol sitting out of reach and several enemies standing in a doorway across the hall. These enemies are holding shotguns and SMGs, so I need to be very precise or I will die. It might take a couple tries to figure out how to get my hands on the pistol, eliminate the shotgun-enemy, steal his weapon and use it against the rest.
You will notice in the process of figuring out how to beat a level that you probably pulled a couple stunts that made you feel really cool.
Sometimes you can even use your bare fists to smash the glass head of an opponent. You can throw shuriken to strategically reduce the range of your enemies. You can even throw a vase or ceramic cup as a means of improvisation. This is the way of a trained assassin, and it feels awesome.
Of course, even a game like this has some kind of plot even though it doesn’t need to. The “system” implies that the whole experience is a simulation. Ironically, the player starts in an office room and enters the Superhot universe by wearing a VR headset, so you are essentially playing VR inside of VR.
If the whole experience is a simulation, that means even the “player” in the office of the game is exploring the art of destroying glass enemies in a stylish manner. I recommend not looking too deep into it, but I can certainly say it is quite poetic.
If you get tired of playing the levels in a normal fashion, which honestly I can’t imagine even happening in the first place, you can spice things up a bit. There are speedrun modes, higher difficulty settings and modifications that make the game highly unfair for the player (and more fun).
Consider this your assassin training. You can train your reaction time, ability to detect useful items in proximity, and… maybe I shouldn’t make it sound like I want you to be a killer. This game is killer!
Anyway, I think this a good time to point out that virtual reality has been on the rise for quite a while. However, it seems to have hit a bit of a bump in the road (not pointing fingers but it is totally Apple’s fault) and new developments have ceased. I recommend trying out VR titles that will feature in the Icebox in the next few weeks.
In this world that that is Superhot, you need to stay cold, killer.