Shift Quantum - A Cyber Noir Puzzle Platformer

This is one of those games where you'll probably know whether you're gonna like it or not just by watching the trailer. Chances are you're only checking the reviews to see if people had any issues with bugs or dodgy controls, or how easy/difficult the puzzles are. Well, seeing as you're here, I'll assure you that it plays like a charm. A perfect marriage of slick platforming and clever puzzles. I thoroughly enjoyed every minute of the 15 or so hours it took me to achieve 100%.

[quote][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: [b]IndieGems[/b] if you like and want to see more reviews like this one.[/url][/quote] [h1]Overview/Background[/h1] [i]Shift Quantum[/i] is a very well-made cyber-noir action-puzzler platformer that truly makes the player think outside of the box. You may remember the [i]Shift[/i] series, black and white flash games that contained mind-bending puzzles and had plenty of exciting music. Well, Shift Quantum is the successor and really brings back that similar gameplay in a much more polished fashion, with increased difficulty, more content, a level-editor, and lots of community-made puzzles that gives the player so much to look forward to. If there is any idea of the quality of game you are getting, keep in mind that this brought to you by [b]Fishing Cactus[/b], the same folks who made [i]Epistory - Typing Chronicles[/i]. [h1]Basic Premise[/h1] The story is simple, you entrust your life in a program called Axon Vertigo that promises you happiness. You connect to this puzzle-platformer and your goal is to solve puzzles, getting yourself to the Exit through appropriate use of the negative space. You shift between the positive and negative, while also turning the world upside down each time, so that you can move your way around and get to the exit. That is the fundamental idea behind the shifting. You find yourself thinking steps ahead about which parts of the negative space you could use to traverse through the levels. [h1]The Meat of the Game[/h1] The basic idea of Shift is simple to think about, brilliantly utilized, and very difficult to wrap one's brain around. There are locations that do not allow shifting, so you have to work around some lengthy pathways around some puzzles even though the exits are nearby where you spawn. There are some special blocks that physically alter your positive and negative spaces so that you can complete your puzzles. There are things to find on most levels, be it just a difficult to get to "glitch," a special person, or an item, etc. While optional, they do serve to provide the player with some glimpse of the underlying story. The difficulty ranges from easy to very hard, with a nice progression to allow the player's brain to become accustomed to this altered way of thinking. The platforming is straight forward, not designed to trick the player, merely to get you to the right location for a proper shift to continue your progression. There are some optional obtainable things that may be slightly tricky on the platforming part, but that is not the focus of this game. That is also much easier to do than most platforming type games. This is an extra feature and not a detriment to someone who does not enjoy action-platformer games. There are some time-sensitive parts, but these are often short and if you fail, you learn how to do that part and try again. Controls are simple and responsive. Controllers are supported. [h1]Art and Music[/h1] The artwork and music are both excellent. Everything looks and feels so polished. There have been some uniform-color games as of late, and I think the decision to keep the game almost completely in shades of grey is due to the simplicity of the appearance of the original Shift games. The background is very active, with a perspective that is constantly changing based on your movements. In addition, you really get the sense that there is a world out there, beyond the puzzles. The attempt to preserve that feel is evident in this game. The music is quite nice, very well made. It is mostly synthetic atmospheric music that is both relaxing and tense. Sometimes you are stuck on a puzzle with a soothing sound and it is very interesting to have these dicotomous ideas and feelings messing with your mind. [h1]Additional Features[/h1] There is a user-friendly level editor that many people like and can bury themselves within to perfect some extremely challenging levels to share with your friends and the rest of the Quantum Shift Community. The Community function serves to show all of the players the whole catalogue of these custom-made levels, and to experiement with them, to play them, and to rate them. Even so soon after the game's release, there are already a huge collection within. Even if you complete the game and feel like you wish to see more, just hop into the Community puzzle set and you will be occupied for as long as you wish. [h1]Difficulties (Potentially Hindering Your Enjoyment)[/h1] My only gripe with this game is the fact that I can't stop looking at the screen, and shifting causes the screen to rotate. This is at a set pace every time, but just at the right pace for my motion sickness to trigger. Now I learn to blink/hold for a second every time I shift. It would be great if there is an option to turn this screen rotation off and just do a instant screen transition from positive-upright to negative-downward without the rotation. [h1]Concluding Question[/h1] In this game that constantly asks you to look and think outside of the box, can you find happiness? [h1]Recommendation[/h1] [i]Shift Quantum[/i] is a revival of the [i]Shift[/i] series, bringing back everything the old games had to offer, with more polish, levels, difficulty, and exciting artwork and music. The controls are easy to learn and not too demanding, can be played by gamers of all ages. There are community functionality that allows for level creation and editing, and essentially unlimited puzzles to play and to share your own. Immerse yourself in this exciting adventure, filled with a constant need to think and plan ahead. I highly recommend this game! [quote]I received the product for free. I did not receive any compensation to write this review. The opinions represented here are entirely my own and were not influenced in any way.[/quote]

Shift Quantum is a puzzle 2D platformer game that follows the idea from the Shift Flash games. The main mechanic of the game revolves about using the Shift key which inverts you down on the platform you are standing combined with new gimmicks to keep the gameplay fresh. From the total of 120 levels you can expect to get stuck and come back at a later time to finish the puzzle, the later levels are definitely challenging. You will also find collectibles, called glitches in the game, which offer further challenge, but have no impact on the story or gameplay. The story is scattered throughout some of the levels where you will complete them with the help of an NPC. There are no collectibles on these levels and after you complete them you won't be able to replay them. While the game starts off making you think you can make choices, there is only one ending, which might leave you unsatisfied. I have to mention that the game is on the expensive side compared to other puzzle games. It also features a level editor. For achievement hunters: The hard part is completing all the levels + collectibles which I made a video walkthrough for. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mjns52iJ7Iw The remaining ones are easy like dying 100 times and playing community created levels.

[h1] An Piece of art from the developers of Epistory - Typing Chronicles [/h1] Even though I am not a huge fan of this genre, the fact that it was developed by Fishing Cactus convinced me buying it. Shift Quantum is a great [b]cyber-punk puzzle platformer[/b]. One of the great things is [b]difficulty being build up[/b] nicely. In the beginning you'll be introduced to the games mechanics, get a hang of the shifting. Once you get the hang of the shifting part the game will introduce various other elements. These elements will require out of the box thinking, especially when you start shifting the gravity and use the main shifting mechanic. Furthermore it is the most beautiful cyber-punk game I have seen ever seen. The environment is amazing and every detail is finished to convey in this big picture. To finish off, they have introduced a story that will leave you with a lot of questions during the gameplay. It keeps you going with the feeling you are doing the levels for a reason. [b]TL,DR: A Cyber-punk art piece with mind-bending puzzles [/b]

[code][url=https://store.steampowered.com/curator/32732116-IndieGems/]Follow our curator page: IndieGems[/url] for more reviews.[/code] Shift Quantum is a great rendition of an old puzzle-platformer “Shift” (not that old really but in 2018 flash games feel like old school). There have been dozens of games that utilize the core mechanics of “Shift” so most people are familiar with them. You shift between a regular and negative space. The world is flipped upside down after your shift. You have to use this ability on every level to reach the exit. The difficulty is gradually increasing. New elements, obstacles, traps, and objects you can interact with are introduced. [b]Shift Quantum[/b] can be frustrating at times, but it hard to put down. There is a good balance of puzzling, jumping and climbing. [b]Shift Quantum[/b] has a lot of handcrafted levels and even a cyberpunk story with cut-scenes. Almost every level has an additional challenge in the form of optional collectibles that you can try to get. Replayability is virtually endless thanks to the editor and a large selection of community made levels. They can be easily accessed from the main menu. Static screenshots on the store page do not look as attractive as the game in action. The animations are very smooth, sound effects are great and most importantly the music is fantastic. The soundtrack would fit any sci-fi game or a movie and is worth listening by itself. $20 for a puzzle game may be a hard sell. I think the price is justified, but if it seems too high for you, by all means, wait for a sale. If you enjoyed playing Shift back in the days or you like puzzle-platformers in general, you will definitely enjoy [b]Shift Quantum[/b]. Gameplay video: https://youtu.be/PSM0SwB4XyE [code]Disclaimer: A copy of the game was provided by the publisher, however, it did not influence my opinion in any way.[/code]

Shift Quantum is a decent puzzle game that offers 117 levels. I love such games that offer Unique Mechanics (like Hue, GOROGOA, Monument Valley, Framed and Old Man's Journey) that offer different perspectives. The early and mid-game puzzles are challenging but later ones SOFT LOCK you and require constant resets. That gets annoying. I've played games that either give an option to fix steps or resets without loading delays. Developers abandoned the server, level editor and community levels are DEAD! Devs aware since 2022, absolutely no input from them. WARNING! Related achievements UNOBTAINABLE! Overall a forgotten rough gem.

Game crashes almost exactly a minute after launch each time, and defaults to the wrong resolution, so I can't see a rather relevant portion of the screen. Completely unplayable, in the literal sense.

I played old shift game before around 10 years and i really love it. This game is a remake of shift quadrology from armorgames. I'm thai guys and i can buy cheaper than america zone (around 9 dollar) so i bought it quickly but 17.99 dollars for america zone is ver expensive, you maybe wait for steam summer sale. Recommended for old shift fan game and who want to play casual puzzle and who you are in the zone that can buy a cheap price.

Game closes all the time, in weird questionnaire before main menu when too slow but also when trying to exit first level. Unplayable, too bad. :(

5/10 - kinda meh. Pick it up if you haven't played the Flash game, but a fairly forgettable experience otherwise. The game is a "spiritual successor" of sorts of the original Flash game. The foundational mechanic of shifting between the black and white "portions" of the level is here, but with better graphics, cool soundtrack, some lore, and support for modern systems (although you need Proton to run under Linux). If you have not played the original Flash game, this is a perfectly fine substitute. But the game has many flaws, resulting in a "meh" experience. [list] [*] The servers for the community levels are down (there are complaints about this since 2022 in the Steam forums), killing replayability and making the four related achievements unachievable. [*] The lore/storytelling is confusing, and the "story levels" cannot be replayed unless I wipe out my entire save; so I cannot replay those levels to try to understand what is going on. [*] The platforming is awkward. In many instances I tried to fall down a gap, but ended up grabbing the edge of the adjacent block instead. If I jump and hit my head in the ceiling, the character keeps its upwards momentum, so if I continue moving horizontally until I'm not under the same block, the character noticeably raises in the air a bit. Landing on the side of a spike block does not kill you, allowing me to cheese at least one level. And the controls are not configurable, so e.g. I had to hold CTRL to move blocks around. [/list] The shifting mechanic is clever, but it carries this game, so given its flaws I cannot recommend it to a general audience.