Subsurface Circular

As someone who’ll take a concentrated dose of exceptional storytelling over an endless slog of repetitive tasks and quests, I can’t say that the brevity or the lack of replayability bothers me all that much. All I really want is to hear/read an incredible story — well, that, and a genuinely great follow-up to Thomas Was Alone. Luckily, Subsurface Circular delivers on both.

It might be a little short, but Subsurface Circular feels like it's found its forever home on the Switch.

Subsurface Circular has an engaging story with compelling characters that really makes you think about how you’ll meet your objectives. While the game is short, clocking in at around two hours, the story itself is enjoyable enough that you really don’t mind the short length. For six dollars, Subsurface Circular is worth checking out for the story alone.

Subsurface Circular is a lovely, short exploration game on the kind of people you might sit next to on a metro. It's thoughtful, engaging and thought-provoking.

I would fully recommend Subsurface Circular to anyone that enjoys purely narrative games. It’s a short game, but one that gives you a fully realized world in its short playtime. The storytelling method is a bit unconventional and is done well when other games could have easily made it too long. It’s a perfect title for a rainy afternoon play, or for a breather in between longer adventures.

The story and setting were interesting, but the scope of the gameplay was fairly narrow and the experience was not really repeatable.

Subsurface Circular does a good job with its graphics, sound, and storytelling. However, the brevity and lack of gameplay make it tough to recommend. It's clear that the developer is capable of something great but they stopped way too short to provide a meaningful and memorable experience.

I don't buy many indie titles, especially on release day. I normally wait to hear general opinion before making a purchase. Something about this game intrigued me, and even though I had never heard of it, I decided to give it a shot. I was pleasantly surprised by this little gem of story telling. It's unlike any other game I have played before, and to me, thats a good thing! If you like story driven, dialog heavy games, then I would recommend giving this one a look. I don't want to say too much for risk of spoiling the story, but you play a robot detective interviewing other robots on a subway train. As other robots get on and off the train, you chat with them, and a conversation you have with one robot influences what you can say to others. There are a few puzzles mixed within, and there is a hint system to keep you moving forward if you get stuck. I finished this game in one sitting, and I was satisfied that I got my money's worth when it was all said and done. This is not a fly by night indie title. The art design is top notch and Subsurface Circular is a polished game from top to bottom. It's refreshing to see a game developer willing to take risks, and make something that is truly original.

All in all, for it’s price point of €6.99 there probably isn’t a better quality indie title on the eshop. The story is well written and the puzzles are clever and intuitive. If you’re a fan of older BioWare games I think you’ll really enjoy Subsurface Circular. The game looks and runs great in both handheld and docked mode and during my 3 hour play through, I was always entertained and interested in the developing story. Personally, I found the ending the weakest part of the game but that may differ from player to player. I hope Bithell Games makes another short game in this world as it is extremely fleshed out and intriguing. Maybe something from the humans’ prospective!

For the price, it is a great game that will keep you entertained throughout. There are a few puzzles that seem like a sudden vertical ramp in gameplay although they also add a welcome switch up from the text based conversations. The game does a good job of convincing you there is a much bigger world outside of the train carriages.

Music and Art is great. But expected something more from the story (my fault probably). It's not bad, but I felt the conclusion was a bit weak.

Really really short game (well it is cheap also) and a bit linear/flat in storytelling (especially ending). I enjoyed a lot more Oxenfree which at least sold me a good "teenage" movie. Here nothing left at the end.