SUPERHOT: MIND CONTROL DELETE

MIND CONTROL DELETE is an attempt to combine something from the roguelike genre and the gameplay of the original SUPERHOT. In my opinion, the implementation turned out to be a failure, although on paper the idea sounds interesting. And there is a feeling that the SUPERHOT Team understood that they were getting something incomprehensible and decided to present everything as some kind of irony over the player. Firstly, the game ends in half an hour and the credits really begin (at this point, by the way, you can turn it off and delete it, and you won’t lose anything). Then the game asks you: do you want more? Oh yes?! Get at least 7 more hours of mindless carnage. And it really is. A whole bunch of levels in each of which you have to go through from 10 to 15 so-called scenes. At the beginning of each level, you choose 1 passive ability, and as you progress through the scenes in the level, you are randomly given a choice of 2 more abilities, of which you should choose only 1 to make it easier for yourself to further progress. Some abilities are really useful and give you a big advantage (like starting every time with a firearm or a katana), but most of them are weak, don't work as mechanics, or become irrelevant as the difficulty increases. At some point, the gameplay becomes absolutely unbearable: invulnerable enemies appear, the levels begin to visually break (in the truest sense of the word), and the passage of levels begins to be based not on your skill, but only on the fact whether you are lucky in this race or have to, sooner or later, start the level all over again, because the circumstances just didn't work out in your favor. At the end, the game generally turns into a meta-irony: on the contrary, it begins to take away the passive and other abilities you have discovered, reaching the point of complete absurdity, taking away the ability to move/shoot and look around. In summary, MIND CONTROL DELETE is definitely more suitable for true SUPERHOT fans. For the rest of the players, it's probably better to pass by, replay the original SUPERHOT or better to try SUPERHOT VR.

While it's pretty safe to say that this game is an improvement on nearly every aspect of the first game, there are some serious issues that lends the game to not be as great as it could have been.

First off, the good. The updated mechanics and introduction of 'hacks' and 'powers' make playing this game way more interesting and fun then in the last game. While there was a pretty fun simplicity to the base mechanic in the first game, 'Mind Control Delete' basically takes that base gameplay and boosts it up, making for a way more fun playthrough. Not only that, but the game also has a better visual pallet, looking a lot cleaner and meaner then the first, adding to the games dystopian aesthetic.

As well as the game itself being a lot better, the writing also has improved. The idea that 'SUPERHOT' is this malevolent and monstrous entity taking over peoples lives and forcing them into this game of Man Vs Man is extremely captivating and engaging meta narrative that could only work as a video game. It almost mocks itself within the writing, feeling like the fourth wall just doesn't exist, and that you really are being sucked into some sort of addiction.

But...it is not perfect. Not at all. For starters, the maps used in this game because extremely redundant and extremely boring and tedious after a couple of hours. Playing the same 5 maps for 20 hours when I know they could have included more variation annoys the ever living piss out of me, and makes for a run-through that I preyed would end sooner then it did. And that is the biggest complaint I have with the game: While the first game was way too short, this game stretches itself out way too much for how little maps there are. Sure, the mechanics make the game way more fun to play, but if I'm playing the same levels over and over again, it doesn't feel like I'm playing a fun shooter: it feels like work that I don't want to be doing.

Overall, I think that the perfect SUPERHOT game can exist, but I think that more variation in maps would have boosted this game from being 'eh' to 'great'.

MIND CONTROL DELETE is a roguelite take on the SUPERHOT formula, and its mostly a misstep, but still really enjoyable because of how cool the original formula is. Like the original time only moves when you move, and as such you can pull off some incredible John WIck moves, dispatching all enemies in a room and dodging bullets. Even slashing bullets is possible.

There are quite a few nodes in the game which act as self contained roguelite runs, composed of 3-6 levels, in which the enemy spawns, power ups to acquire and map you get are left up to the dice to decide. Unfortunalty this is the worst part of the game, as randomizing enemy layouts means some hits will be cheap. Some powerups are definitly way more powerful than others, and some are extremely situational, so its also frustrating to not get useful powerups during those opportunities.
The level layouts are mostly cool, but you end up paying them so many times it becomes very repetitive.

The game becomes truely challing a couple of nodes in, but this acts against it due to how repetitive it can get, and often how reliant it is on RNG, in the worst way possible.

Overal its commendable for the devs to try this spinoff, but the base game is best. The story still blows though