You only have a few days left to get this mind-bending Xbox shooter for free
It's short, sweet, and totally unique.
Xbox Games Pass — the Netflix for video games on the Xbox One — has a collection of more than 100 games that Xbox and PC users can download and play to their heart's content for a reasonable price of $9.99 per month. We’re talking AAA titles that were at the top of gamers’ wish lists when they were released several years ago. One of the trippiest first-person shooters in recent memory that found a huge following on VR will soon be leaving the subscription service.
Superhot for the Xbox One will leave the Xbox Games Pass library on June 15. The indie shooter had sold more than two million copies as of May 2019 and the virtual-reality version of the game has also helped popularize VR hardware among gamers. Superhot on the Xbox One is not compatible with any VR equipment, but its standard version is a testament to just how creative indie studios can get with common game genres.
Its developer — the SUPERHOT Team — originally developed the game for the 2013 7 Days FPS Challenge, a competition in which teams of programmers try to create a functional game prototype in only a week. This initial version of the game charmed so many people, that the team launched a Kickstarter campaign in May 2014 to make it a full-length title. The developers met their $100,000 goal in less than 24 hours and it was released on PC and Xbox One in early 2016.
Superhot shuns many of the expected features in a modern FPS game like hyper-realism and endless weapon customization. But it makes up for it with its unique retro-style and absurdly satisfying gameplay with a plot that can only be compared to an episode of Black Mirror.
All of Superhot’s gameplay is like an extended, slow-motion fight straight out of the Matrix series. Time in the game only moves when you move, giving players ample time to decide if they should duck, lunge, or just swing at the mob of incoming red enemies rushing towards them. The way time flows takes some getting used to, but once mastered, it’s hard not to feel like Neo.
Better think quick on your feet.
The only hitch in Superhot’s record is its all-too-brief 2.5 hour main story, which anyone can breeze through with minimal effort especially once you get in the flow of the gameplay. But Challenge Mode lets gamers replay levels in the campaign with new restrictions and goals, while Endless Mode lets competitive players see how many enemies they can take out in one go.
Superhot isn't a game you go to for a touching story or next-generation graphics. It's more of an arcade-y palate cleanser you beat once and then revisit alone or with your friends when you need a break from the usual shoot-em-up games in your library. Nonetheless, that makes it the perfect game to cheese through ASAP before it leaves Xbox Game Pass.
