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Empty Shift's itch.io pageResults
Criteria | Rank | Score* | Raw Score |
Audio | #130 | 3.585 | 3.585 |
Overall | #446 | 3.173 | 3.173 |
Theme | #467 | 3.132 | 3.132 |
Graphics | #478 | 3.321 | 3.321 |
Game Design | #481 | 3.132 | 3.132 |
Innovation | #487 | 2.981 | 2.981 |
Fun | #624 | 2.887 | 2.887 |
Ranked from 53 ratings. Score is adjusted from raw score by the median number of ratings per game in the jam.
How does your game fit the theme?
It has a calm beginning, leading to a horrific end
Did you write all the code and made all the assets from scratch?
I have written the code all by myself, and the story, characters, and the music are all by me, most of the other assets are from cc0 websites but some of them were made by me, for example the animated sprite of the main character was drawn by me while using a cc0 asset as a structure to not mess up the anatomy.
the websites which i got assets from are credited in game.
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Comments
I believe this game has a lot of potential if more time and effort are invested in expanding it. However, as it stands, it became repetitive by the second lab, where the same puzzle was reused. I really enjoyed the narrative elements—discovering objects, reading them, and uncovering insights. But by the third puzzle, which was significantly longer than the previous ones without a clear reason, it started to feel like a chore, even causing discomfort in my wrist. When I got to the fourth puzzle and realized it would require two minutes of rapid mouse clicking and intense hand-eye coordination, I decided to stop playing.
One thing that stood out as particularly awkward was the mixed control scheme. Using the mouse for movement but the keyboard for interacting, sprinting, and opening the inventory felt inconsistent and unintuitive. It would be better to choose one control scheme and stick with it—either a full point-and-click system or a keyboard-only setup. Mixing the two creates a jarring experience, forcing the player to constantly switch between control styles in a way that doesn’t feel fluid.
That said, I liked the nostalgic sound effects, especially in the menu, and the art was decent. The sprint mechanic felt awkward—having to press Shift and the left mouse button simultaneously for sprinting is counterintuitive. The default key layout was also unusual, with X and C for interaction and inventory, though I appreciated that you allowed key remapping for keyboard, at least—something many game jam entries overlook. I’d love to see this game evolve into a fully narrative-driven exploration experience.
Thank you so much for this awesome and honest comment!
ill make sure to come back to this game and make a big update with lots of overhauls and stuff as it was just a game i made in 7 days for this game jam that i didnt have time to work on lots of different aspects of it...
i will definitely read every comment in here again when the day comes to improve the game based on the feedback and also add on some new content to it!
I’m glad to hear you’re fired up!
Every name needs good movement and controls and this game definitely has that. The audio was also really good. Good Job
Gameplay is super nice and the controls are super nice keep it up!
So, I made my review in the form of a video review - Check it out :)
Thank you so much for trying my game and reviewing it! it means A LOT!
A pretty solid game. Only things that I didn't enjoy were that: the controls change in every new game(not a big deal but still), wished there was a button to stop digging trough the bin after finding the codes and wished you could go fullscreen. Other than that, the game was fun:)
im actually thinking of adding a button for that in a later update because i didnt have time...
thank you so much for this amazing review!