
When the truth is buried, go underground. Step into this new take on text-based adventure from the award-winning team behind Thomas Was Alone and Volume. A short story that hands you the fate of the world above, as a detective looking for answers on the Subsurface Circular.
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A detective stationed on the Subsurface Circular investigates a series of disappearances among the city’s robotic working class. Collect words and phrases, then use them in dialogue puzzles to uncover the world's secrets and determine its future.
This self-contained short story takes around two hours to complete and is split into several chapters. You can play the game in one sitting or, if you prefer, unfold the story in smaller pieces that can fit into a busier schedule.
Subsurface Circular is inspired by classic adventure games and modern dialogue systems, and developed by the award-winning team behind Thomas Was Alone and Volume.
Key FeaturesA polished, one-sitting game.
A graphical twist on the classic text-based adventure.
Uses 'Focus Points', a unique vocabulary-based inventory system.
Original soundtrack by Dan Le Sac.
Comprehensive art gallery featuring the detailed work that went into this world.
Unlockable ‘BithellBot’, our interactive take on a developer’s commentary.
If this game is ‘short’, what’s to stop me getting a refund when I’m done?
You’re browsing Steam, which means you understand the work that goes into games, and are in principle up for paying for ones that entertain you. We hope that after a bit of time with Subsurface Circular, you’ll feel good about the price you paid.
Why is the game only available in English?
As you can imagine, a text adventure game contains a terrifying amount of text, but more importantly, throughout the game we use the particular quirks of word ordering and double meaning in English to support the combination and recombination of threads. Put simply, other languages are going to be more than a straight translation: They’re going to need rewrites and changed design. Not impossible, but more than we could get done this time around.

Genres
Stats
All-time low is the lowest price we've recorded for this game since we started tracking it.
Languages: English
Engagement
Hours played at review time, across 41 reviews with recorded playtime.
Reviews
Themes across 41 recent reviews and how positive each mention is. A keyword signal, not full sentiment analysis.
positive critical· bar length = how often the theme comes up
Reviews
考虑到售价给个中评。 Subsurface Circular是一款互动小说,玩家扮演一个侦探机器人,在地铁上跟车厢里上上下下的其他机器人对话,解开近期频发的机器人失踪迷案。 游戏的玩法就是一直看对话,问到某些对话可以触发新关键字,然后可以用新关键字跟其他机器人触发新的对话,如此循环直至结局。 画面方面3D建模还算比较精细,但是由于视角固定且大部分时间光线相对昏暗,不同种类的机器人除了颜色以外又没有特别突出的特色,感觉制作组把好钢都用到了刀把上。 游戏没有语音,音乐和音效又比较单调,容易犯困。 作为游戏的重点,对话界面的设计方面有一个比较初级的问题:对话模仿即时通信软件,有类似“对方正在输入”的等待时间,但是一段话内容越长,等待输入的时间就越久。等的时间玩家无事可做,只能干瞪眼。 即使这样,单次通关的游戏时间也仅仅不到2个半小时,减去等待、过场还有一些“解谜”时间,这样的体量真的很难写好一个故事。加上没有什么有效的画面演出,整个游戏都非常平庸。
Loved the universe, felt lukewamm about most characters, strongly disliked others. Loved the game mecanics, hated the empty story. But I'm baised because I love everything Ai in fiction so, whatever. Bithel is brainwashed bout real world politics and this game also have huge blind angles and bias, but they are not so annoying and blantant, if not vilent, than in say Quanratine Circular. Here, the LGBT stuff make sense and fit the universe very well. It's very cool. And you're not going to read me saythis often. Sadly. What really annoyed about this game is how it's teks vs humans, and AI able to emulate feeling forcibly equelas to slavery and a need to make the world burn. That's. so old. And stupid. Imagine burning cars to give a voting right to every ChatGTP instance?
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Excellent detective story, fun gameplay and dialogue puzzles, get it!
Love it - Must play
This is a fun little detective game. Looks nice, sounds nice, and has some thought provoking ideas. Very well done, if short indie game.
Es ist schnell durchgespielt, aber ich habe an einigen Stellen gestockt und nachgedacht, das Spiel zieht einen wirklich rein und macht Spaß!
Good short read, definitely recommend
cool bite-sized narrative experience with an ending choice that actually made me sit down and think real hard for a minute
Great game. Not anything difficult, just a good relaxing puzzle and interactive story.
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Trends
Modeled estimate over time, reconstructed from Steam's monthly review histogram.
Audience
Estimated from the language of this game's reviews — a proxy for where players are, not official Steam demographics.
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