Editors Note: This article contains spoilers for Superhot and Superhot VR.
Superhot VR is being review bombed on Steam, after the developers removed “disturbing scenes” despite having already implemented a toggle for it.
The plot of the original Superhot featured a scene where players must shoot their own body. Likewise in Superhot VR, there is a scene where players must turn the gun on themselves and pull the trigger. Both games feature a “game within the game” narrative, and blur the line between the reality of the player’s character, and the Superhot game they are playing.
Superhot VR had originally been updated to include an option to “Skip disturbing scenes.” However, developer Superhot Team have announced another update, removing the scene all together due to the “sensitive time we’re living in.”
“‘Skip disturbing scenes’ toggle was added in a previous update. Considering sensitive time we’re living in, we can do better than that. You deserve better. All scenes alluding to self harm are now completely removed from the game. These scenes have no place in superhot virtual reality. We regret it took us so long.
We’re commited to shipping this update to all vr platforms.”
Since then, the game has seen a large number of negative reviews on Steam; but not affected the overall score thanks to anti-review bombing procedures. Over 400 negative reviews have been submitted in the last three days as of this time of writing, though the game still has almost 5,000 positive reviews.
The reviews criticized how it was hypocritical considering players can kill other humanoid enemies throughout the game (albeit, made of a red crystal-like substance that shatters), censoring the game several years after launch, and listening to outcry from social media rather than fans of the game.
A thread on Steam also discussed how the scenes were integral to the developer’s original vision, and how themes of losing sense of one’s self was a key theme of the game. The aforementioned was also deemed sufficient to many of the negative reviews and comments.
