Supraland

Genre: First-Person Platformer / Metroidvania

Players: 1

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Review:

Supraland, originally released on PC in 2019 and ported to multiple platforms including the Nintendo Switch in 2020, is… odd. This is a game that feels held together by spit and bubble gum, a game that seems like its creator just threw a bunch of random stuff at a wall to see if any of it would stick, and yet against all odds, it kinda’ works, resulting in a strange sort of first-person Platformer with Metroidvania elements that’s not quite like anything else out there.

The presentation here isn’t terrible, but it certainly doesn’t help the feeling that this game is just an experiment cobbled together from the leftover bits of other games. Players take the role of a Gumby-esque tiny plasticy red cutout of a man in a child’s toybox, and everything looks decent, but it also looks like it’s built from a bunch of bought assets, many of which don’t really go together. This is paired with a subdued piano soundtrack that, again, doesn’t really fit with the children’s toys theme.

The gameplay here rewards exploration and experimentation, as there are hidden upgrades seemingly everywhere, and players will find their abilities quickly expanding. The game is highly unpolished, but that’s also a part of its charm, as it gives you a feeling like every time you take advantage of its physics or level geometry to get somewhere new, you’re cheating the system, though I suspect the game wants you to exploit its eccentricities to uncover its secrets. The result is a game where it really does feel like just about anything could be waiting around the next corner, and that one area that seems just out of reach probably has a nice treasure waiting if you can just figure out how to trick the game into letting you up there.

Having said that, the lack of cohesion and randomness of the game combines with repetitive environments to make it pretty easy to get lost, and the janky nature of many of the game’s puzzles often make it unclear just what it is you’re supposed to do to progress. This is a game that does very little to guide its players or point them the right direction when they spent a bit too much time off the beaten path and lost track of where they were going in the first place.

There are a lot of criticisms one can make of Supraland. It doesn’t feel like a professional effort, it feels unpolished, unfinished, and has some serious flaws in its world design and signposting. Yet despite all of this, Supraland absolutely embraces a notion of true freedom, letting players truly feel like they can go anywhere as long as they can figure out how to do it. If that sort of unpolished freedom sounds appealing to you, you should definitely give Supraland a look.

tl;dr – Supraland is a First-Person Platformer with skill progression and a degree of freedom like a Metroidvania. This game is extremely unpolished, but that lack of polish is also a hidden strength, making players feel like they can do anything as long as they can just find a way to exploit the game’s imperfections. This is a highly flawed game, yet it’s still a joyous one well worth trying if you’re looking for a game that truly embraces exploration.

Grade: C+

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