Mind Control Delete is a standalone Superhot expansion
Superhot goes all roguelike
Super-whot?!! A standalone expansion for ace 'time moves when you do' shooter, Superhot, is releasing on Steam early access tomorrow. Superhot: Mind Control Delete will free if you already own the original, though it costs money during early access, and introduces a roguelike twist to the time-bending FPS. There's a reveal trailer below, which I'm going to cleverly describe as a supercut even if that's not technically accurate.
The biggest difference from traditional Superhot sounds like the way you grow in power over the course of the game. Here's how the Steam page describes it:
The game will force you through dozens of increasingly difficult time-moves-only-when-you-move gameplay challenges. Each challenge will make you more powerful and bring you closer to deciphering the secrets hidden from you by the system. As you unlock powerful abilities and gain access to new playable characters, so will your enemies grow stronger, smarter and more desperate to stop you.
I'm intrigued as to what those abilities could be. The first game gives you the power to swap bodies with your opponents, and the VR version throws in a fairly boring charged zap attack, but other than that every level plays out in basically the same way. There were only a few weapon types, and the only real variation came from level design. If Mind Control Delete successfully "distills and expands on the same intoxicating rhythm of slow motion combat", as it claims to, then hopefully I can get more out of it than the 4 hours I spent in Superhot's campaign.
While the game is out on early access tomorrow, the devs warn that it's a long way from finished.
"We’re still a good 9-12 months away from a full release," they say, "so please don’t forget that this is nowhere close to a complete, satisfying experience just yet."
They also advise people to play the original game before the pick up this version. They aren't the only ones who'd tell you to play Superhot - here, let Graham tell you about how the first game makes you feel awesome:
It feels slick to grab a gun out of mid-air, even when there’s no skill involved in doing so. It feels skillful to launch a sword through the air at where you think an enemy is about to appear and to hit. It feels cool not to look at that hit, relying instead on the full-screen number momentarily flashing up your kill count: “16”. It feels balletic, John Woo-style, to toss a gun in someone’s face to send them reeling so you can steal their dropped baseball bat and smash them into pieces.
Oh, and the VR version is incredible.