Going Platinum: Leaving Superhot's Sequel Idle for Hours Might Be the Maddest Thing I've Done for a Trophy

Platinum Trophy #19: Superhot: Mind Control Delete

Date Earned: 16th July 2020

Dopamine Index:

Ah yes, Superhot: Mind Control Delete, another game I reviewed for Push Square. There's a pattern emerging in the games I've platinumed, isn't there?

If you don't remember this one, I wouldn't be surprised. For as much as people talked up the novelty and originality of the first Superhot, it really felt like Mind Control Delete came out to very little fanfare.

Perhaps people were just over the concept by that point? I don't quite recall, but the truth is that the follow-up is a bigger, and in some ways better, game than its predecessor.

It's still about killing red dudes made of crystal, and it's still about time (almost) stopping when you aren't moving. The difference is there's far more of it, and its structure is more interesting thanks to a less linear progression and roguelike elements.

The core of it is probably still the best part, though. Improvising with the weaponry available in each stage and reacting to threats as you face them, there's an elegance to these games that you don't really get anywhere else.

It's simple, but really well executed. The rules are very easy to grasp, but there's still plenty of challenge there, and you always have options to get out of sticky situations.

The Trophy list is pretty straightforward, with nearly all the trinkets awarded for progressing through the story. There is one for finding a hidden monitor, but that's not too tricky once you're familiar with each stage.

There is one Trophy that's a bit more bothersome. Well, it's just a time sink, really.

At a certain point in the game, you'll have to trigger a timer that lasts for two hours and 30 minutes. You need to wait that out, in real time, to get the Trophy and move on in the game.

For most, it's two and a half hours, at least.

For me, who played it before any post-launch or even day one patches, that timer was eight hours.

Eight!

I had to leave the game running for that whole duration.

I was baffled by this, but I couldn't look up anything about it, because the game wasn't out yet. I didn't know if I could pause the game, back out to the PS4's main menu, or go into rest mode — so I just had to ride it out.

What I wanted to do was go into my PS4's settings and change the time it takes for the console to automatically enter rest mode. I wasn't sure if exiting the game would interrupt or reset Superhot's timer, so I didn't try it.

The result was me, leaving the game running for eight hours, periodically waking up my DualShock 4 so the PS4 wouldn't go to sleep. It felt mad.

The eight-hour timer did make it into the final game, but it was quickly patched to the more reasonable two and a half hours that most people will experience.

It's just one of those things when you're playing games before they hit the public. You can't fall back on anything, because you're one of the first people (outside the studio) to play it.

I'm not sure I can recall anything more crazy I've done for a single Trophy than wait eight whole hours for a progress bar to fill.

It was memorable, at least. And again, the game itself is great fun.

Cheers, Superhot: Mind Control Delete.

Do you have the platinum Trophy for Superhot: Mind Control Delete? Tell us in the comments section below.