Shift 87 Review (Steam)

Shift 87 offers a visually appealing experience with decent graphics and a manageable download size of 6.8GB. The game supports Steam achievements, trading card drops, and full controller support, making it accessible to a wide range of players. It can be played with both a mouse and keyboard, and the extensive graphics settings allow for customization of resolution, refresh rate, fullscreen mode, dynamic resolution, brightness, shadows, volumetric fog, material quality, model quality, contact shadows, texture quality, mip map streaming, bloom, motion blur, vignette, film grain, screen space ambient occlusion, v-sync, FPS, and anti-aliasing. Additionally, the game settings include options for text language, crosshair visibility, toggle crouch, smooth look, field of view slider, dynamic sprint FOV, and subtitles enlargement slider. Controller settings offer invert axis and sensitivity sliders, vibration, and button remapping, while keyboard settings allow for mouse sensitivity adjustments and button remapping.

The core gameplay of Shift 87 revolves around a spot-the-difference mechanic, where players navigate the same area repeatedly, identifying and reporting anomalies such as missing, added, or misplaced objects. These anomalies are reported via a tool, and the game is played from a first-person perspective, enhancing its atmospheric quality. However, the game lacks a proper tutorial and does not provide adequate feedback on player performance, which can lead to frustration. The game’s difficulty is unpredictable; it can be completed in under an hour or potentially never finished, depending on the player’s ability to spot anomalies.

While the horror elements of Shift 87 are visually telegraphed and lose impact over time, the music and sound design contribute significantly to the game’s atmosphere, creating a sense of constant threat and unease. Despite its simple controls, which make it easy to learn, the act of reporting anomalies often feels imprecise, and the absence of accessibility or game-helping options can be a drawback. Players can zoom in with the camera to aid in spotting anomalies, and successfully finding anomalies allows progression to new areas. However, failing to find or correctly report anomalies results in being reset to the same area.

In summary, Shift 87 is a visually engaging and atmospheric game with a unique spot-the-difference mechanic. While it offers extensive customization options and simple controls, the lack of a tutorial, imprecise anomaly reporting, and the absence of accessibility features can detract from the overall experience. The unpredictable difficulty and telegraphed horror elements may also impact player enjoyment, but the strong sound design and immersive atmosphere make it a noteworthy title for fans of the genre.