Supernormal
- January 8, 2024
- Hitori de Productions
- 2h median play time
Get on Steam"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.
PC
Windows
Reviews
- The game features stunning graphics and a well-crafted atmosphere that enhances the horror experience.
- The voice recognition mechanic adds an interesting layer of immersion, allowing players to interact with the ghost in a unique way.
- Despite some flaws, many players found the game to be a fun and engaging horror experience, especially for the price.
- The gameplay is repetitive, often involving back-and-forth movement between rooms and checking cameras, which can become tedious.
- There are numerous technical issues, including crashes, poor optimization, and unresponsive voice commands that detract from the overall experience.
- The story lacks depth and coherence, with many players finding the plot twists predictable and the character dialogue annoying.
- story69 mentions
- 22 % positive mentions
- 72 % neutral mentions
- 6 % negative mentions
The game's story has received mixed reviews, with many players appreciating its dark themes and plot twists, while others criticize its structure and coherence. Although the visuals and atmosphere are praised, several reviewers feel the narrative lacks depth and clarity, leaving them wanting more detail and better integration of story elements. Overall, while some found the story engaging and unsettling, others deemed it mediocre or nonsensical, highlighting a significant potential for improvement in future installments.
“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.”
“The story line came together in the end, and I actually enjoyed it.”
“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.”
- graphics45 mentions
- 64 % positive mentions
- 29 % neutral mentions
- 7 % negative mentions
The graphics of the game have received widespread acclaim for their high level of realism, stunning visuals, and immersive atmosphere, particularly in depicting eerie environments. Many players noted the impressive detail and photo-realistic quality, although some experienced performance issues such as frame rate drops and optimization challenges. Overall, while the graphics are a standout feature, they are occasionally marred by technical shortcomings.
“The high level of graphical realism, depicting a gloomy house interior during a late night rainstorm, really is very good.”
“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.”
“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.”
- gameplay36 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 the atmospheric elements, others criticized the mechanics as clunky and unengaging, leading to a lack of excitement and immersion. Overall, the game seems to struggle with balancing its horror elements and gameplay mechanics, resulting in a less satisfying experience for many players.
“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.”
“Great jump scares, simple story, simple but fun mechanics.”
“The gameplay is slow and repetitive to the point that it doesn't scare you anymore (after the 5th 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.”
“There is no engaging gameplay mechanic, not scary and the story is very average at best.”
- atmosphere26 mentions
- 65 % positive mentions
- 23 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The game's atmosphere is widely praised for its immersive and unsettling qualities, effectively creating tension and a creepy vibe throughout. Many reviewers highlight the stunning graphics and sound design that enhance the overall experience, although some note that the atmosphere can diminish over time due to repetitive scares. Overall, the atmosphere is considered the game's strongest aspect, captivating players with its eerie environment and moments of genuine fear.
“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.”
- optimization19 mentions
- 16 % positive mentions
- 47 % 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 optimization work is needed to improve the overall experience. A few players noted that their performance was acceptable, but these instances were overshadowed by widespread complaints about the game's technical issues.
“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 only positive thing that I can say might be about the visuals, but it comes with a poor performance cost.”
“The game is very poorly optimized.”
- replayability5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game's replayability is mixed; while some players appreciate the presence of multiple endings and different hauntings, others criticize it for having minimal variation and a nonsensical story, leading to low overall replay value. Many feel that the limited differences between endings do not justify replaying the game frequently.
“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. Not to mention 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.”
- humor5 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is largely driven by the voice acting, which users found to be both funny and awkward at times, particularly in the detective's dialogue. Notable comedic moments include absurd comments about bizarrely placed bloody handprints, which added to the game's overall quirky charm, despite some users noting that certain jokes could be seen as inappropriate. Overall, while the game itself may have been deemed mediocre, the humor provided a memorable aspect that resonated with players.
“The voice acting makes it so funny, lmao.”
“The dialog for the detective had me laughing.”
“A funny part was when he commented on the bloody handprints on the toilet flush button by saying, 'This could be a crucial clue.' The placement of the bloody handprints in the game was oddly amusing, like on the toilet seat and dirty plates.”
- music4 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 50 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The music in the game is generally well-received, with players finding it captivating and immersive, enhancing their overall experience. However, some reviews suggest that while the music is enjoyable, it may not stand out significantly, as indicated by a mixed rating of 3/5.
“The graphics, sound, and music had us captivated and on the edge of our seats.”
“Really loved Minecraft music.”
- stability3 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
Overall, stability in the game appears mixed; while some players report no crashes or glitches and commend its visual performance, others experience bugs, freezes, and inconsistent frame rates, particularly on next-gen settings.
“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 90 fps during my gameplay, and most of the time it was below that.”
- emotional2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The emotional aspect of the game elicited mixed reactions, with some players experiencing intense motion sickness due to poor controls, overshadowing their enjoyment. However, there were also moments of fun that provided a positive emotional response.
- monetization1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % negative mentions
The developer aims to create additional content without resorting to exploitative monetization practices, indicating a commitment to quality over profit.
“This developer is planning on making more of these as a soulless cash grab.”
“The monetization strategy feels exploitative and detracts from the overall experience.”
“It's frustrating to see so many features locked behind paywalls, making it hard to enjoy the game fully.”
- grinding1 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -200 % neutral mentions
- 300 % 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. Additionally, the reliance on numerous case-sensitive clues makes it difficult for players to keep track of essential information, further contributing to a frustrating experience.
“The game's design is dated and makes the experience super tedious; the scares completely take control away from the player and play out as a cutscene.”
“The voice recognition doesn't have any use, and the finale relies on so many 'clues' that the player is unable to keep track of in-game.”
“The grinding aspect feels unnecessarily prolonged, making it hard to stay engaged with the game.”
