Super Cursor: A new and story-based maze adventure

Maze games are nothing new, with examples of them dating back to the 1950s. The early 2000s saw a huge boom for them, even going as far as birthing the now-infamous maze jumpscare meme. There are still many to be found on Steam and elsewhere, but none is more fascinating to me than Super Cursor. 

Super Cursor takes those beloved, familiar maze mechanics and adds in a Mario-esque storyline that drives you to find the kidnapped princess, held in the dungeon of the Dark Cursor King. There aren’t many reasons that I would willingly decrease the DPI of my mouse, but this game… Well, that button has never seen more use in its entire life, and I’ve had this mouse for years. 

Good news, there aren’t any jump scares (that I know of).

Obstacles and sharp corners

You know how maze games like this work by now, at least if you’ve done the basic introductory tour of the internet at any point in your life. You control your cursor around a tight maze, avoiding touching the edges and desperately trying to stay within the safe course. It’s like Operation, if you controlled it with your mouse. As soon as you touch the side or any obstacles, your own nose might as well glow red. 

For that reason, many people (myself included) would put maze games in the “rage” category. They make you inexplicably frustrated, because one wrong move and you need to start all over again. I’ve never been very good at them, either, which doesn’t exactly help in this scenario. 

However, Super Cursor is one of the more enjoyable experiences I’ve had while navigating through such tight corridors of safety. Rather than wanting to throw my computer out of the window, I found myself laughing every time I failed, and my determination to get through the maze only grew with each attempt. 

I’ve died 70 times, and I know this because the game keeps a count of how many times you’ve bonked your cursor noggin with the “Universe” count. Perhaps I should be ashamed of that count, but at least half of them can be attributed to the cat and his oddly timed attempts to snuggle. The rest are, sadly,  my own ineptitude. 

Don’t sneeze, blink, or tab out

There are very few games that require 100% concentration. Most can be left, tabbed out of, or paused, but Super Cursor is different. In a way, it holds you hostage, and strangely, that doesn’t feel like the worst thing in the world, even if it is a little annoying at times. Always remember to pause if you want to tab through windows!

Because your cursor becomes the character that you’re controlling in the game, you cannot use it for anything else. Tabbing out of the game and overlaying another window is near impossible, because as soon as you move anywhere over the game as it runs behind that window, your mouse is registered as part of the game and you’re pulled back in. 

If I have one recommendation, or perhaps I’m better off labeling this as a hack, it’s to go  into the settings and enable full screen mode. Why? Because everything gets bigger except your cursor. Bigger obstacles are easier to avoid, you end up with an increased amount of safe space, and everything just feels a little bit easier. 

I sneezed while playing Super Cursor. Want some advice? Don’t do that. Not only did I manage to crash out of the level, but I also somehow managed to knock my mouse across the desk and ended up with repeated failure noises that ended up sounding like World War 3 had begun inside my living room. 

With that said, developer Zenfuso has stated that there are a few segments of the game when the cursor will need to be removed from the game screen in order to progress, using computer settings to change how the game behaves. There are a lot of fun and interesting mechanics at play in Super Cursor.

Multiplayer: A test of friendship

Included as part of the Super Cursor demo is the online multiplayer mode. I’m not ashamed to admit that this is something you should only attempt with someone who won’t take you yelling at them to heart or be offended by the rainbow of terrible language that you end up spewing forth. I mean what I’m about to say in the best way: Multiplayer Super Cursor is a hilarious nightmare, and it will test your relationships. 

You can play with one other person, but you’ll both be controlling a single cursor, and this task requires an epic amount of communication, trust, and patience. The host player controls the horizontal (left and right) movement of the cursor, while the second player controls the vertical (up and down) movement. 

This seems like a relatively easy task in early levels, when obstacles are somewhat easy to avoid if you time your movements right. However, as soon as you reach a level that has fast-moving objects and a need for coordinated effort to get past them? You’re in for one hell of a testing time, and yet somehow it remains an enjoyable experience, as long as you have a strong relationship with your player 2 and a good sense of humor. 

If nothing else, Super Cursor has reaffirmed to me how strong my relationship with my fiancé is. 

Super Cursor releases on June 20, and the demo is available for all to try before fully committing themselves to the task of rescuing the cursor princess and all the rage that comes alongside that quest. You can also check out DevLogs from developer Zenfuso, which give some behind-the-scenes insight into the inspiration behind Super Cursor.