LIMINAL SHIFT

I like these sort of experiences and I like the feel and rooms of this one. It's really nice, and has some great bizzare things, but there are some big issues. No save function. With the maze like sections that are tedius and have no hints how to get out, there is no way to actually save if you do find something new, but need to get going in real life. You will have to start from that level from scratch again and pray you can remember where you were. Not good. No settings to increase run/walk/water walking speed. POOLS has this option and it works great, without a save funtion, this would at least make it easier to go through the same things over and over again quicker so it doesn't get mundane as it is. These are the only downfalls that really make this game fall behind others in the same genre and why I have to give it a negative review until a save feature and/or settings update happen...

It’s a bummer when a game’s aesthetic cheques are ones its mechanics can’t cash. Liminal Shift is, by all accounts, a lovely-looking game. It captures that uncanny, something-is-fundamentally-wrong-here vibe of the Backrooms with a level of fidelity that is genuinely impressive. It starts out with a lot of promise as becoming the gold standard of the genre, but once you’re actually in the thick of it, the experience starts to fray. The magic of a great walking simulator (especially one leaning into liminal horror) is deceptively obscured forward momentum. You want that creeping sensation of being hopelessly lost, yet you need to feel like you’re actually making progress through the nightmare. Liminal Shift has a habit of tripping over its own feet in this department. I spent an inordinate amount of time bumping into tedious mazes and backtracking through the same corridors until the atmosphere didn't feel haunting anymore. It just felt annoying. That mechanical friction is a real mood-killer. It’s hard to marvel at the haunting beauty of a liminal space when you’re annoyed that you’ve seen the same waterslide twelve times in five minutes. Then, in a weird bit of tonal whiplash, the game swings to the opposite extreme. Some of the most promising set pieces are so aggressively linear and brief that they’re over before the dread has a chance to settle in your bones. It’s a "blink and you’ll miss it" approach to level design that does a disservice to the experience. There is clearly a massive amount of talent at NextPhase Studios. They have the vision and the technical chops to build a world that stays with you, but Liminal Shift feels like a collection of ideas that haven't been rendered engaging. It’s a stellar tech demo but, as a finished product, it’s a bit of a miss. I’m definitely keeping an eye on whatever they do next, but I’m ready to leave this particular space behind.

Agonizingly slow movement + uninteresting poolrooms with the same cold white lighting everywhere = snoozefest Fortunately, Episode 2, aka Level 974 + pastel rooms + playground, was pretty nice. Almost enough for me to give this a thumbs up, but unfortunately, the movement is just WAYYY TOOOOOOO SLOWWWW. Like the slowest I've ever seen. The "run" is like a normal walk speed in other games. Jeez. I'm mostly giving it a thumbs down because of that. If it were simply faster, this would be a thumbs up. Why can't you add a movement speed setting?

Right of the bat, I wish there was a brightness setting, a way we could carry items (the elephant plush, giant rubber duck, plastic pot, trash bag, ect.) without having to hold down the clicker with your index finger the entire time (a simple one time pick up and put down click would have been preferable), and I wish more objects like the xylophone, microwave, wooden blocks, or oven were interactable. Would make it way more fun. Movement is slow even when sprinting. There are a number of times were I would make the wrong turn and wind up somewhere I had already been before and then have to make the long slow trek back, because 'sprinting' is so slow. It does not help that a few of the choices seem to loop you back to places you've been before! Would be nice if we could also jump. The levels are not randomly generated. Not the worst game but still could be better and more engaging. I wish I could give it a "maybe" review instead of yes or no

it's an okay game overall. I definitely would suggest some other liminal games over this one because I got lost in this one and then got frustrated doing what felt like an hour of backtracking. Also, in the first level (right when you no clip into the backrooms) there's way too much stuff. Yes, there's stuff in the backrooms, but it's not as much as is in this game. it makes it not feel liminal or even backrooms esk. The Pinkrooms (episode 2) was pretty cool, although that one DOES have an entity (although idk if it can hurt you? but it's horrifying). Overall, okay game. maybe like 5/10, It does run just fine, 0 issues with that.

[h1]A solid liminal gloomy roomy affair.[/h1] Liminal Shift is another game in a small growing sea of walking sim / low psychological horror games inspired by The Backrooms where the developer basically takes a bunch of stock Unreal Engine 5 assets, slaps them into a selection of thematic rooms with obscure or outright random object placements and layers an almost labyrinthian structure on top where you must navigate your way through to the eventual exit. Its strengths much like other liminal-esque games of this type are the visuals and general atmosphere. There are no jumpscares or entities / NPCs that come after you, but in spite of that the it always manages to evoke a constant tension and sense of dread that keeps you on edge despite knowing there's no outright over the top spooking coming. In terms of actual mechanics there isn't much to say since it's a walking simulator with a very light touch of problem solving involved - mainly hitting switches or navigating more mazelike areas, but it does that job well enough for what it is and if you've played similar titles then that experience is very much the same here too. If I had to nitpick a couple of points it would be around the walking and running speeds, which end up being incredibly slow in tandem with some larger rooms or drawn out sections, which can start to drag its heels in places. There's also a lot of looping segways where you can quite easily waste a bunch of time taking the wrong one of two turns and ending up going around in a circle and even double backing on yourself if you aren't careful. It means a more keen eye for detail is needed since areas can easily blur into each other. Some rooms towards the end also feel quite short-lived and would have benefitted from having some more content to go through in exchange for earlier rooms having their sizes trimmed down a bit. Some areas also looked a bit [i]too[/i] similar to that of Pools, although that's likely a natural consequence of using the same asset packs as each other with the same worldbuilding templates. I imagine that's probably only going to be more prevalent as I run through the various "Liminal" games that now exist on Steam. Despite these points they're only relatively minor grievances and they don't detract too badly from the core gameplay loop but could certainly be tightened up to round out the experience a bit better. In summary it's a solid effort and another good example for games of this specific type. If you can keep your patience on the more drawn out sections or indeed it's general pacing sometimes then it's worth a run through.

Tolles Spiel mit schöner Atmosphäre und vielen verschiedenen "Liminal Spaces". Ich würde es nicht als Horror bezeichnen, sondern eher ist der Gang durch die leeren Bereiche manchmal mit einem Unbehagen oder eigenartigen Gefühl verbunden, aber es gibt keine Monster oder Jumpscares - das Spiel baut auf Ästhetik - und die ist wirklich gelungen. Ich hab ca. 3 Stunden benötigt für das Durchspielen. Hab es übrigens komplett in VR (über UEVR) gespielt. Geniale Immersion! Ich kann es für alle die POOLS (super in VR) und generell Walking Simulatoren mögen empfehlen.

Невероятно вайбовая игра. Графика + звук - на лучшем уровне. Одна из лучших ходилок бродилок

和pools旗鼓相当

我是来感受气氛的，但你不仅气氛没给到位，地图也设计得又单调又弯弯绕绕的，总是会无谓地鬼打墙半天