"Superliminal" by Pillow Castle

This game is like Portal on dream logic. It was all a dream, but since that's the premise of the game, that doesn't bother me.

Superliminal is a puzzle game based around the concept that "perception is reality" (as you see very helpfully scrawled on walls and motivational posters and stuff throughout the game).

The basic mechanic, used in most of the game's puzzles, relies on forced perspective. Say you pick up a wedge of cheese, for example, and hold it up so it looks like it's the same size as a desk lamp. When you move away let go of the wedge of cheese, instead of being the same size as it was and being near you, it will be next to the desk lamp and proportionally as big. Such is the premise of the game, and it's a pretty fun one.

There's also other perception-based puzzles, like viewing 2D images from just the right angle so they look 3D (producing 3D objects) or taking a door off a wall and putting it somewhere else to make a doorway. And more, as well, though explaining most of the later ones would be kind of spoilery.

Really, Superliminal has two themes: the aforementioned "perception is reality" (which it doesn't really try to apply to real life, though it does make the point that how we view our problems can make a difference) and another one that boils down to "think outside the box" (which it does apply to real life). 

And now for the plot!

 

Basically, you the unnamed protagonist have signed up for SomnaSculpt, an innovative therapy technique that uses semilucid dreaming techniques. You're guided through your dream orientation by the Standard Orientation Protocol, a computer mind who I'm pretty sure the devs intentionally made to resemble GLaDOS (the antagonist of Portal).

 

Except the dream starts breaking down, and you eventually get lost inside your own head. This is when Dr. Glenn Pierce shows up (well, not in person; he talks to you pretty much exclusively through radios you randomly find). He has a lovely Scottish accent and, according to Plumy and Kittens (some pseudonymous relatives), sounds like he's narrating a documentary.

This is a videogame, and it's rated: E. I'd personally have maybe pushed it up to E10+, but "scariness" isn't actually one of the qualities the ESRB rates things on.

4 stars.

 

Favorite lines:

    People beyond this point with objects will be fined

    [one sign]

    People without items beyond this point will be fine

    [another sign right next to it]

    "Hello. My name is Dr. Glenn Pierce."

    [How Dr. Glenn Pierce always introduces himself.]

    "Hello. My introductions are redundant."

    [The Standard Orientation Protocol making fun of him.]

    Why are you like this?

    Clone an object way too many times

    [One of the achievement descriptions, obtained for cloning an object way too many times.]

(Endnote: The achievement for beating the game in under 30 minutes is called "Superluminal", which means "faster than the speed of light". I think it's hilarious.)