Background

Superliminal is an Indie first person puzzle game that was released in late 2019, right before the COVID19 era. I recall vaguely hearing about this around the time it was originally released, but never gave it much thought until I saw it was one of the games that was going to be removed from the PS Plus catalogue in late 2024.

Production

For those familiar with similar titles, Superliminal is best described as a hybrid between Portal and The Stanley Parable. The game is a first-person puzzler built around a unique gimmick reminiscent of Portal, while the tone and atmosphere evoke The Stanley Parable—from its eerie abandoned offices and maze-like backrooms to the quaint British narrator. As the game is premised on exploring and escaping from a dream world, the level design becomes increasingly surreal as the game progresses.

The graphics and controls are serviceable but have a distinct “basic Unity-game” feel to it, where it lacks the level of polish that would bring it to the next level. While it’s not the sort of game to push graphical boundaries, I could see it greatly benefiting from a ray tracing remaster down the line where a more realistic presentation would enhance its unsettling “liminal” atmosphere. Unfortunately, the controls—whether in character movement or camera handling—suffer from a noticeable floatiness, making interactions feel imprecise.

Similarly, the writing and voice acting for the narration are competent but fall short of their inspirations. The game clearly aims for the tone of Portal and The Stanley Parable, with a disembodied voice guiding the player through an abandoned facility, yet it lacks the same humour and charm, making the experience feel somewhat underwhelming by comparison.

Gameplay

Superliminal’s core gameplay mechanic revolves around perspective manipulation—objects retain their apparent size relative to the player’s viewpoint, while their actual size changes based on the background as the player moves the camera. For example, a player can pick up a normal-sized apple up close, where it fills most of the screen, then turn to face a distant ceiling while keeping the apple in view. Upon releasing it, the apple “resizes” accordingly into an enormous house-sized apple falling from above.

The early puzzles gradually introduce this mechanic before ramping up in complexity. While genuinely fun, the limitations of the system soon become apparent: the perspective-based interactions lack the deliberate precision found in other puzzle games, often leading to frustrating trial and error when adjusting an object’s size and orientation. As the game progresses, the puzzle design starts to feel repetitive, with many later challenges boiling down to finding the right object to create a ramp. Although new mechanics are introduced, many feel like one-off gimmicks that aren’t expanded upon in later puzzles. Towards the endgame, puzzle-solving takes a backseat, and the game shifts into something more akin to a trippy walking simulator.

The game is relatively short—my first playthrough lasted around four hours, yet certain sections still felt padded for length. A speedrun achievement for completing the game in under 35 minutes highlights just how quickly it can be breezed through.

Conclusion

Superliminal is built around a genuinely innovative mechanic, but struggles to fully explore its potential in a meaningful way. It’s clear that Superliminal draws heavy inspiration from Portal and The Stanley Parable, but this unfortunately invites unflattering comparisons. Where Portal excels in precise puzzle design and gradual mastery of its mechanics, Superliminal often feels imprecise and inconsistent. Likewise, both Portal and The Stanley Parable uses sharp writing and humor to create a compelling world, while Superliminal’s storytelling lacks the same charm and wit. Ultimately, Superliminal feels like an ambitious experiment that’s definitely worth checking out for fans of the genre, but falls short of being a truly good game.

6/10 worth it if you’re a fan of the genre