Review Roundup: Superliminal, Still There, Bee Simulator & More!
The stuff dreams are made of.
In this month’s review roundup we take a journey through outer space and the hellish Wild West, right to the centre of our own subconscious. Indie games, they leave no subject unturned.
Superliminal
A puzzle game that makes you feel like you’re trapped within a Stanley Kubrick-directed nightmare? I can absolutely get behind that.
A game with tones of humour and ingenuity, Superliminal throws players into the first-person perspective of a patient receiving dream therapy. You’re placed within the dreams themselves, attempting to solve puzzles as you move from one observation room to the next. But, as is often the case with the subconscious, things don’t stay linked to reality for very long.
Each puzzle at least adheres to one rule: perspective is reality. This is a lot more fun than it sounds. Hold up a tiny puzzle piece so that it seems far away, and wow, that thing just got real big real fast. Here, things that look bigger further away, actually become bigger when held out and dropped. It sounds complicated but within the game nothing could be simpler, and it’s the most fun I’ve had solving puzzles in a long while.
The escalating panic of the automated guide over the tannoy system adds some narrative cohesion to the puzzles and environments that keep getting stranger. But, in all honesty, if Superliminal had no narrative, I’d still love it.
[Reviewed on PC]
9/10
Still There
Still There is the point-and-click space adventure for the burnt-out generation. Set in the Bento space lighthouse, the game follows Karl, the sole crew member on an AI run ship who is paid only after a task is complete.
Karl, however, has rather more on his plate than just space capitalism. Faced with the traumas from his past, he is having a difficult time moving on, constantly haunted by the voice of his lost daughter. What follows is a dark but intriguing look into trauma, featuring some quite tricky logic-based puzzles along the way.
Still There has far more to offer than it might initially appear, moving past some obvious space-related clichés to create a genuinely touching story. It’s only let-down by its slightly hyper-masculine humour content. Prepare for dick jokes.
[Reviewed on PC]
8/10
Ritual: Crown of Horns
We’ve had our fair share of Wild West-related games this month with Red Dead Redemption 2 throwing its cowboy hat into the PC gaming ring. Now, comes an entirely different kind of Wild West epic – an epic amount of shooting that is.
Ritual: Crown of Horns is a satanically-styled, cultist-obsessed, dip into a Wild West base defense game. In this top-down shooter you’re a bounty hunter with a whole hoard of beasties to kill. At the start your arsenal is just two guns and a dash function. Your mission is to protect the witch that has been guiding you. Choose where to shoot, don’t take too much damage and protect the witch in the time span given, and you’ll complete the level. Each level has new and trickier parameters, so learn how to run fast and absolutely think before you shoot.
Ritual: Crown of Horns is pretty metal, surprisingly precise and entertaining, but it probably won’t knock your socks off.
[Reviewed on PC]
7/10
Bee Simulator
A simulation game based on the life of a bee is an idea with a huge amount of potential, but the team at Varsav Game Studios has not, unfortunately, realised it here. Attempting to be both educational and entertaining, Bee Simulator becomes a kind of Spyro/learning game hybrid that falls flat, despite all the beats of the bee’s wing.
Following the life of a newborn bee as it establishes its place amongst the hive, the game features plenty of cut-scenes, mini-games and flight to keep you entertained. But with all this fuss around what could be a calming and informative experience, it instead feels over-structured and constrained, giving little impetus to explore an environment that otherwise seems vibrant and exciting. Flight controls are also let down by a camera that can’t keep up, rendering the mini races that occur a frustrating, rather than fun, exercise.
Its one massive redeeming feature is its soundtrack, an orchestral theme that elevates the whole experience and almost saves the whole thing. It’s worth checking out for its sound work alone, but perhaps not at full price.
[Reviewed on PC]
5/10
Widget Satchel
Widget Satchel is a game about a ferret with a bag that clearly is not big enough. Onboard a space station that you clearly have not been invited onto, Sprocket the Ferret is hell-bent on stealing any bits of tech that he can find – all to turn into upgrades for further stealing.
Only able to hold a certain number of widgets, Sprocket has to get to the end of each platforming level to turn in his treasure, but there are plenty of little robots hoping to slap them right out of his hands. It’s a bit like playing Mario but with more personality and, unfortunately, a little less to do.
Widget Satchel is such a nice game that it feels a little mean to criticise it, but alas, the platforming in each of its levels did leave a little to be desired. With robot encounters making me lose more widgets than I gained, I was left feeling mostly frustrated, which is a shame when there is such good writing and environment styling on offer.
[Reviewed on PC]