SUPERHOT: The Card Game (One Couple's Review) | Too Many Games!!! (2024)

Game Overview
This card game attempts to simulate the video game which is a first person shooter/puzzle game. The trick to SUPERHOT the video game is that time only moves when the player moves and the game attempts to simulate that. The rules explicitly state that the game is primarily a solo game but it can be played cooperatively or competitively, building off of the solo system. In order to win the player must complete three rounds by completing the objectives each round.

At the beginning of the game the player(s) get a starter deck of eight cards. A line of seven cards from the system deck is set out and the starting objective is chosen. It is possible to veto this objective and get a new one, but the vetoed objective will be used automatically in the second round.

On a player's turn they choose to wait or move. If they wait then they may discard any number of cards to the objective discard, and then gain the first card in the line. If they move, then the player may play cards. The cards they play will either provide dodge points, hit points, or an ability of some sort. The center line of cards contains various obstacles. Some take dodge points, others hit, and still others either. To defeat an obstacle in the middle cards equaling the required value must be played. If this is done the player will be able to move the card to their new card area or send it to the objective discard.

After playing cards players will draw newly acquired cards and if they have less than four cards they draw up to four. Then players will gain cards based on the number of cards played. If a player played three cards they will gain the cards in the first three spots. If one of those spots is empty then it still counts as being gained. The gained cards go to the player discard and the played cards go to the player's used area.

At this point the player checks to see if they accomplished an objective or not. Then all of the cards left in the line will activate. Many of these will add bullets to the obstacle discard. The line is then refilled and if the system deck runs out the obstacle discard is shuffled. If a player ever gains bullets they go straight to their hand and if a player has a hand of four bullets they lose.

Once all objectives are completed a new round begins. The player takes all of the cards in their deck, used area, and discard pile to create a new deck. New objectives are put out with one more than the previous round and the game begins again.

The game ends when the last objective of the third round is completed or the player(s) trigger one of the many loss conditions. If played cooperatively it works the same except both players have their own decks and take turns. If played competitive, one player is the system and gets to make choices about how to make each round a little harder for the other players.

Our Ratings
We are using a custom rating scale. Each game will be evaluated by both of us on 1 to 10 scale in five areas. When combined, this creates a possible score out of 100.

Mechanisms/Rules
My Rating:
My Comments: I do have to give a caveat here that in general I do not like co-op games, and this contains some of the mechanisms I dislike the most. By design more plays of this are going to end in loss than a victory. I am also not a fan of this being a solo game with multiplayer tacked on. The competitive game especially is a bit of a joke.

Her Rating:
Her Comments: I found the rules and turn structure to be overly convoluted and it felt complicated just for the sake of being complicated.

Theme/Experience
My Rating:
My Comments: I feel like the SUPERHOT video game is a hard theme to try and capture in a card game, but I do think this game did the best job possible at that task.

Her Rating:
Her Comments: Going into this I did not know what the theme was and I could not figure it out from playing the game. Even when the video game was explained to me, I still am not seeing it.

Replayability
My Rating:
My Comments: How much someone replays this is going to depend on how much they want to try again and again to beat the game. I do not find losing fun, so I do not find this to be compelling to replay.

Her Rating:
Her Comments: There are people who enjoy pain, so there are probably people who enjoy replaying this game but I am not one of them.

Pacing and Flow
My Rating:
My Comments: This game has an odd turn structure to it, and even after playing for a while it can be hard to get the cadence down.

Her Rating:
Her Comments: This has the cooperative game problem where some turns are spent just treading water because a path to victory is not clear and likely not even there.

Fun Factor
My Rating:
My Comments: This game mixes boring and frustrating together equally. I do not find it fun at all.

Her Rating:
Her Comments: This is one of the most boring and least engaging games I have played in a while.

Final Score