Developer: Pixelsplit
Publisher:
Daedalic Entertainment
Platform: PC
Tested on: PC
Shift 87 – Review
Once again we enter a dark and spooky location to search for anomalies. This trend popularized by The Exit 8 continues to deliver new horror games for us to enjoy, with seemingly every horror dev wanting a piece of the very profitable pie that is the ‘observation horror’ genre. But don’t be fooled and think that every anomaly spotter is a low-effort cash grab. Because today, we’re looking at Shift 87 by established developer Pixelsplit. Their previous thriller Reveil got very decent reviews and it seems they want to continue delving into horror games. Shift 87 is a decent attempt at doing so, even if we didn’t find it as scary as it had the potential to be.
Story
In this specific game, spotting anomalies is your literal job. Rather than playing as some poor bloke who accidentally stumbled into a time loop, you specifically work for an agency that clears anomalous locations. You’re equipped with a handy tool that can erase these irregularities from reality and are trained to be cool under pressure, so really this is just another day on the grind for you as you work the titular Shift 87.
Graphics
As the screenshots show, Shift 87 looks great and is dripping in a dark and chilly atmosphere. What sets this game apart from others in the genre is that rather than being stuck in the same scenery for the entire time, you need to clear three different locations of anomalies. This was a nice change of pace, as it allowed the developers to show off three fully designed sets. The use of lighting was exemplary and as is common for observation horror, we loved the attention to detail when it came to making every location look realistic, giving us more small things to pay attention to and remember.
Sound
To further enhance the creepy atmosphere, Shift 87 has a tense soundtrack that keeps you on the edge of your seat. Again, because there are three different locations, the devs had the opportunity to experiment with different music and sound effects. The result isn’t bad, though we should note a few of the sound effects fell short because they were so cliché. We’re talking about creepy children’s laughter like we hear in every cheap horror game ever. Thankfully this was more the exception than the rule.
Gameplay
As mentioned, Shift 87 is an observation horror game that revolves around spotting anomalies in three different locations. If you see something that’s off, you need to use your device to call the anomaly out and proceed to the exit. There’s a chance that there are no anomalies at all though, so be careful that you don’t get paranoid. If you wrongfully point out something as an anomaly when it isn’t, your progress resets. The same happens if you miss an anomaly. For every location, you need to loop through it six times. The first time is a test run without anomalies, allowing you to observe and memorize the scenery in its basic state. After that, five successful loops need to be completed if you want to move on to the next place and eventually, win the game.
The reason we say Shift 87 isn’t scary is because the anomalies are a little lackluster at times. There are about 66 of them in total and they range from subtle changes like an item having moved or changing color, to very in-your-face things such as a creepy hooded figure suddenly standing in the middle of the room. While Shift 87 avoids growing frustrating by having anomalies that are so tiny you basically always miss them as some other observation horror games do, we also never found the anomalies to be very scary. The game was enjoyable because of the atmosphere, but we weren’t challenged or scared. If you don’t like jumpscares, Shift 87 will be perfect for you since there are almost none.
Overall, the game can easily be completed in less than an hour or two. What we will say is that we found the replay value to be quite high. If you do a perfect run and never mess up, you only see fifteen possible anomalies during a single run. This made us want to replay the game at least a few times to see what other strange occurrences we could experience. With the very low price of the game, we felt like we definitely got its worth out of it at the end of our explorations.
Conclusion
Shift 87 joins a diverse and ever-growing roster of observation horror titles that seem so popular right now. We’re happy it’s not just one of the pack, with enough small changes to make it stand out and not have us feel like we were playing yet another clone of a trendy formula. If you’re an intense horror fan, Shift 87 probably won’t deliver on the scares you’re looking for, though the atmosphere itself might be enough to send a shiver down your spine.
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