SUPERHOT was a first person shooter where time only passed while the player was doing things. Stand still and so does time. I"m not here to tell you about that game though. I'm here to tell you about the VR sequel.
SUPERHOT VR is a first person shooter for VR headsets where you take on the role of a person in an nineties-esque hacker apartment with a very cyber-punk looking VR helmet. Whenever you put it on you are transported to a series of locations where you face waves of enemies. The environments are white textureless geometries, the enemies are red polygonal humanoids, and the interactive objects are black. In these sterile, mostly colorless action sets you fight your way through waves of red foes with whatever you can get your hands on. The game treats your movements as though they are always happening very fast meaning if you stand still the level is mostly static, if you move fast it barrels forward, and if you move in slow motion time languidly crawls forward. You and the enemies both appear to be made of glass, both in that you only take one hit to end and that you make a window breaking sound when you or the baddies are struck. All of this combines to create a weird hybrid of a puzzle and first person shooter that is nothing like Portal. Each scene has you in a specific location fighting some number of foes, firing and dodging bullets, grabbing weapons and random objects, and trying to outsmart and outlast the enemies. Kill all of the reds and you're teleported to a different part of the level to do it some more. If at any point you get hit the level starts again. This creates the core loop of the game. Fight, die, repeat. Each scene behaves like a puzzle where you have to kill every foe without ever letting them get too thick. Too aggressive and you'll run out of ammo. Too defensive and you'll get dog piled. Keep your head on a swivel or you'll get shot in the back. This makes for game play that is highly repetitive yet remains engaging.
As the game progresses the separation between the apartment and the VR world begins to dissolve. The game is pretty light on plot; preferring to lean on the action/violence. What little story can be gleaned seems to have been heavily inspired by the Matrix with the implication that you are in a series of simulated realities and the game is testing and/or training you for escape. Your ultimate goal as a character is open ended. You seem to be trying to escape "the Matrix" but your way of escaping involves almost slavish obedience to whoever is behind the SUPER HOT program within the game's world. You are playing a person playing a game about escaping their virtual world who is also being prepped for escape. It's a real onion. To go another level in the developer recently removed part of the game where you have to shoot yourself in the head to escape the simulation. The removal of the suicidal gesture has generated a wild amount of backlash in our real world as people feel like it removed a core aspect of the plot: the player character's blind faith in whoever is feeding them the SUPER HOT line. It's a weird thing to lose it over but I get it. There's nothing quite as infuriating as being told that you can't have a thing because it might cause you to harm yourself.
I'd recommend SUPER HOT VR if you can get it on sale. It took me around five hours to beat the game if memory serves and while it's full of alternate game play modes to keep completionists going I don't think it's worth the $24.99 asking price. Available here on Steam.
IRON NODER XIV: THE RETURN OF THE IRON NODER