I remember a long time ago, there was someone talking about Anchorman, the 2004 Will Ferrell film. This critic said something like, "Yeah, Anchorman is funny, but I don't know if it's on the level of Ghostbusters, Airplane, or Planes, Trains and Automobiles."

My response to that was, "Yeah, I guess it's not as funny as three of the GREATEST comedies of the last thirty years. Good point."

Superliminal is going to draw comparisons to Portal and The Stanley Parable. Some people say it's invalid to directly compare games in criticism because the reader isn't guaranteed to have played those. But screw that, you've at least played Portal and I got points to make.

Portal, Superliminal and The Stanley Parable are all first-person puzzle games where an announcer is a constant companion. But Superliminal is not as sharply designed or as good at training the player as Portal. (There is one puzzle that I had to look up the solution for, and the game really could've stood to train the player better for that one.) Nor is Superliminal as thoughtful or devastating as The Stanley Parable, and it's not half as funny as either of them.

But not being as good as two earnest masterpieces is no big deal. I enjoyed my few hours with Superliminal just fine and was satisfied with it. It also doesn't really get as dark as either game, which is sort of a relief. The Stanley Parable's almost relentless futility isn't for everyone. Superliminal has a lighter tone and no chance to 'lose' or 'die,' I don't think.

The asking price is a bit of a lurch, more than either Portal OR Stanley, so I would wait for a sale. Nevertheless, Superliminal is bright, beautiful, mesmerizing... and sometimes disorienting. Don't sleep on this one.

Or if you do... don't forget to wake up.