Supernormal
- January 8, 2024
- Hitori de Productions
- 2h median play time
"Supernormal" is a single-player Horror Action game with a good plot and beautiful graphics, designed as the spiritual successor to "Allison Road." The game uses Unreal Engine 5 for hyper-realistic graphics and offers a dense atmosphere. You can solve the case using detective skills, communicate with paranormal entities through voice recognition, and experience two different endings based on the clues discovered.
Reviews
- The game features stunning graphics and a captivating atmosphere that enhances the horror experience.
- The use of voice recognition to interact with the ghost adds a unique and immersive element to the gameplay.
- Many players found the story engaging and appreciated the multiple endings, providing some replayability.
- The gameplay can feel repetitive and slow, often requiring players to backtrack between rooms without much guidance.
- Voice recognition functionality is inconsistent, leading to frustration when commands are not recognized correctly.
- Several players experienced technical issues, including crashes and performance problems, which detracted from the overall experience.
- story139 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it intriguing yet poorly structured, leading to confusion and a lack of depth. While some appreciated the dark themes and plot twists, others criticized the narrative for being nonsensical and underdeveloped, particularly in its handling of sensitive topics like mental illness. Overall, the story is seen as having potential but ultimately falls short, leaving players wanting more clarity and detail.
“The story is overall good especially when you find out the truth of what's going on; it's disturbing.”
“The feels in this game, it takes a pretty dark turn with a big plot twist.”
“Supernormal has a great use of immersive audio and a soul-grabbing spooky environment that gives you a suspenseful horror story as you discover clues and gain info.”
“The story also doesn't really make a lot of sense.”
“The ending is nonsense and both further abuses using mental illness as a lazy ending trope and throws a giant plot hole into the story at the same time.”
“Overall, the game looks nice and plays alright, but the story and scares are disappointing with a really shallow game loop in the second half.”
- graphics91 mentions
- 65 % positive mentions
- 31 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their stunning realism and immersive atmosphere, particularly in 4K ultra settings, with many players praising the depth of field and texture quality. However, some users reported performance issues, including frame rate drops and poor optimization, which detracted from the overall experience. Despite these technical shortcomings, the visuals are often described as among the best in horror games, contributing significantly to the game's eerie ambiance.
“The graphics are amazing, I especially like the depth of field in certain angles.”
“Stunning graphics and sound immerse you in the incredible atmosphere of a house with something evil.”
“These graphics, let me just say, are the best I've probably ever played in terms of horror games.”
“I was getting constant frame rate drops in 4K resolution with an RTX 3080 no matter what I selected in the graphic options.”
“Graphic settings also do not save and you can only select a setting between low and ultra and disable or enable motion blur and camera motion.”
“The graphics are also faded and the FOV is low with no FOV slider.”
- gameplay72 mentions
- 14 % positive mentions
- 69 % neutral mentions
- 17 % negative mentions
The gameplay has received mixed reviews, with many players finding it slow, repetitive, and lacking depth, often reducing the experience to wandering around and triggering events. While some appreciated the integration of voice recognition and jump scares, others criticized the mechanics as clunky and unengaging, leading to a sense of boredom. Overall, the game offers a visually appealing atmosphere but struggles to deliver a compelling gameplay experience.
“First time playing an Unreal Engine 5 horror game with walking simulator gameplay was quite an experience.”
“The gameplay loop becomes evident at the autosave point - and from there it's fun enough to keep you guessing until the end.”
“Very enjoyable .. quick 1.5-2 hours gameplay .. I loved the graphics .. enjoyable game to experience once.”
“In a game like this, it is frustrating to add a good/bad ending and have it be predicated on whether or not you get tapped by a ghost when the mechanic related to protecting you just doesn't work.”
“The gameplay is slow and repetitive to the point that it doesn't scare you anymore after the fifth jumpscare.”
“Lastly, the 'gameplay', if you can call it that with a straight face, is literally nothing deeper than wandering the house and hitting light switches.”
- atmosphere52 mentions
- 65 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and unsettling qualities, effectively creating a creepy and tense environment that enhances the horror experience. Many reviewers highlight the stunning graphics and sound design, which contribute to moments of genuine fear, although some note that the intensity can diminish over time due to repetitive scares. Overall, the atmosphere is considered the game's strongest aspect, despite some criticisms regarding its pacing and story.
“The game captivates with its immersive atmosphere, delivering moments of genuine fear that epitomize the essence of such experiences.”
“Beautiful, ultra-real environment that sets an excellent atmosphere.”
“The atmosphere is super immersive.”
“No suspense, no atmosphere, nothing.”
“The game had some moments that gave me chills and a very overwhelming atmosphere at first, but that quickly went away after the same scares were repeated again and again and I could differentiate between which sounds mattered and which ones meant nothing.”
“The atmosphere is creepy and eerie, like that of other psychological horrors, and adds to the spookiness.”
- optimization38 mentions
- 11 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 37 % negative mentions
The game's optimization has received largely negative feedback, with many players reporting poor performance, frequent crashes, and low frame rates even on high-end hardware. While some users found it playable and visually appealing, the consensus is that significant improvements are needed to enhance the overall experience. Overall, the optimization issues detract from the enjoyment of the game, leading to frustration among players.
“Not sure why there's bad reviews, the game seemed optimized well from my experience.”
“I'm running an RTX 4070 with an Intel i9 9th gen and I had no issues with performance.”
“The performance was fine running on high; I averaged 50-60 fps on a 2080 RTX GPU and i7 8700k CPU.”
“This is a poorly developed indie game that is not properly optimized.”
“The game is very poorly optimized.”
“Besides, it crashes way too much, the optimization is horrible and the game feels slow on purpose so you reach the 2 hours and you're not able to refund it.”
- replayability10 mentions
- 10 % positive mentions
- 60 % neutral mentions
- 30 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is a mixed bag; while some players appreciate the presence of multiple endings and different hauntings, many criticize the overall lack of significant variation, deeming it low or even nonexistent. The endings are often described as only slightly different, with some players finding the story nonsensical, leading to a consensus that the game offers limited incentive for replaying.
“There is replayability to be had with the multiple endings and different hauntings!”
“Low replay value since it is the same game, unless you wait months to replay it again.”
“There are also 2 endings, but the game has 0 replayability. The endings are barely different, and the story is legitimately nonsensical, especially if you get the good ending.”
“Other than that ending, I don't think there is any replayability value in this game.”
- humor10 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is primarily driven by the voice acting, which many players found to be genuinely funny, particularly the awkward and absurd comments made by the detective, such as his remarks about oddly placed bloody handprints. While some moments elicited laughter, the humor was also noted to have problematic elements, with references that could be considered racist. Overall, the comedic aspects provided a lighthearted contrast to the game's otherwise lackluster gameplay.
“The voice acting makes it so funny, lmao!”
“The dialog for the detective had me laughing.”
“A funny part was when Detective Wyatt commented on the bloody handprints on the toilet flush button, saying, 'This could be a crucial clue.' The placement of the bloody handprints was oddly amusing, found in areas that didn't make sense, like on the toilet seat and dirty plates.”
- music8 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game has received positive feedback, with players noting it as captivating and immersive, enhancing their overall experience. Many specifically praised the Minecraft soundtrack, highlighting its ability to keep them engaged.
“The graphics, sound, and music had us captivated and on the edge of our seats.”
“Really loved Minecraft music.”
- stability6 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The stability of the game has received mixed reviews; while some players experienced initial freezes and performance issues, particularly with frame rates often dropping below 90fps, others reported a smooth experience with no crashes or glitches. Overall, the game appears to have a few bugs but can run well under certain conditions.
“It's short, buggy, and lacks things to do.”
“I played on next-gen settings and high quality, and my performance was not that great. During initial gameplay, I encountered a couple of freezes, but after that, the game was okay, although I wasn't able to get more than 90fps during my gameplay, and most of the time it was below that.”
“It's short, buggy, and lacks things to do.”
- emotional5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Reviews highlight a strong emotional response to the game, with some players experiencing intense discomfort and motion sickness due to poor controls, overshadowing any enjoyment. While there are moments of fun, the overall presentation of the story has left many feeling uneasy and dissatisfied.
- monetization2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Users express concern that the developer's monetization strategy appears to prioritize profit over quality, labeling it as a "soulless cash grab." There is skepticism about the future direction of the game series based on this approach.
“This developer is planning on making more of these as a soulless cash grab.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game tedious due to its dated design, which limits player control and relies heavily on cutscenes. The reliance on numerous case-sensitive clues further complicates the experience, making it difficult for players to keep track of essential information. Overall, this leads to a frustrating and cumbersome gameplay experience.