Inside vs Superliminal
Inside
Inside is 2.5D-like, atmospheric puzzle/platformer where you play as a young boy trapped within a dark project that pushes the human body within the limitations of physics. Being a puzzle game, Inside has some of the most intriguing ones. The goals are often vaguely known rather than being concretely defined by the game, and of course, every aspect of the puzzle is built to push your use and understanding of the game mechanics and your character's (limited) abilities as a boy. Interestingly, there are a lot of water levels for a platformer game, but these levels somehow managed to feel relevant to the overall storyline and spices up the gameplay.Although many have openly criticize the ending of the game, the overall feeling that is evoked by it seems perfect for a game as dark and as unsetlling as this one. If you're ready for a puzzle-platform game that will challenge your brain while at the same time bring out strong emotions, this is the game to play.
Superliminal
Superliminal is designed to challenge even the most avid of puzzle solvers, providing them with mind-boggling puzzles, the unique ability to change the size of objects based on depth in perception, and a story filled with heart.The game starts off with you dozing off at the couch in front of a TV showing a weird commercial about some dream therapy program that promptly landed you in a weird dream-like state in which you find yourself the subject of an odd scientific experiment. Thankfully, unlike the more surgical kind of experimentation which would definitely turn the game into a horror show, the scientist behind this experiment is more concerned about testing your mind and its ability to perceive, pushing it to its very limits.
Superliminal offers a nice variety of perspective-based puzzles for you to solve as you move from room to room in what seems to be a vast yet empty scientific complex. The puzzles here start off easy enough since the game does have to do its job of introducing the mechanics to you. The mechanics here mostly involve finding objects that you can manipulate (a.k.a. resize and reposition) and then use in the puzzle’s solution in order to move on to the next “level” or room.
Once you got a hold of the basics, the difficulty of the puzzles starts to ramp up and at times, you might find yourself completely at loss as to what you should do, as I did… and I’m ashamed to say pretty early on in the game. When the game says that “what you see isn’t always what you get”, it’s not kidding.
Superliminal is one of those rare, trippy puzzle games that either you get it or you don’t. Puzzle enthusiasts might find the game more than intriguing to take a crack at due to its unique perspective-based puzzles. The game may be short but the experience it leaves you is unforgettable!