This review contains spoilers

Superhot: Mind Control Delete talks about agency in gaming in a way that is nihilistic and straightforward: you are not in control, and you never have been.
This game deals with control in a different way... it asks you if you're in control.
It tells you to Slay the Princess. To take the gleaming blade and drive it into her heart before she has the chance to destroy the world. You can certainly do that.
You can also stray. You can hesitate. You can kill YOURSELF. You have a truly catastrophic amount of agency - a WORLD ENDING amount, in fact - and yet... no matter what you do, win or lose, you repeat. Over and over again. Forces at work beyond the game telling you to go again.
Without truly spoiling the ending, to say it handles it "well" is subpar. There are multiple endings, as any game that attempts the lie of agency does, but they all handle it amazingly.
If you only ever play ONE visual novel ever, play this one.

Reviewed on Feb 25, 2024


Comments