That’s cool, were you at Double Fine or EA? Was there a reason why they weren’t so open about the RTS? StarCraft 2 was just around the corner so I don’t think it was an issue with the genre.

I got used to Raiden during my MGS2 playthrough, since he still plays similarly to Snake. Brütal Legend was more drastic with a complete change in genre.

The story definitely felt like it was aiming to cover all the hot-button political issues in the U.S. at the time, such as immigration, racism, police violence, drug counterculture, and religious extremism. But I feel the developers’ French background limited them to a more surface-level treatment of these themes. The cult subplot, in particular, comes across as how a more secular European perspective might view the American evangelical movement as a sinister threat in the same category as the other societal ills the game covers.

Yes, Portal and The Stanley Parable are definitely high bars, but I feel Superliminal actively invites those comparisons through its similarities in structure, tone, and presentation. When a game so closely follows in the footsteps of its influences, I think it’s fair to examine where it succeeds and where it falls short in comparison.

That said, I get that my review may come across as a bit harsh, which is why my final score still places it toward the upper end of my 4-7 range for mid games—I do think it’s a worthwhile experience for fans of puzzlers despite its flaws.

I would strongly recommend Disco Elysium, which is a very unique RPG with excellent writing.

https://store.steampowered.com/app/632470/Disco_Elysium__The_Final_Cut/

I appreciate the feedback, and I can definitely see how a lot of the games I consider “mid” would still be a lot of fun for other. Ultimately there will be a lot personal preference involved with any kind of review, so what you’re reading here is just me as an amateur writer trying to articulate my personal views.

I use a scoring system because I find it a useful shorthand to summarise my overall thoughts on a game. The limited scale is because there are 8-10/10 games which are a class above the games I intend to cover in this series (e.g. Doom, System Shock, Elden Ring) while 1-3/10 would be those which I don’t enjoy, are completely broken or are morally reprehensible (e.g. visual novels, predatory monetisation, NFT games). I personally find it more interesting trying to explain my views of these “mid” games than those at either end of the scale.

The Force Engine seems like a good alternative for experiencing the game on a modern platform. It’s an open source engine that adds a few new features, like mid level saving https://theforceengine.github.io/