Mr. Shifty
Main game
3.24 average rating based on 89 ratings
- Developers
- Team Shifty
- Publishers
- tinyBuild
- Platforms
- Linux, Mac, Nintendo Switch, PC (Microsoft Windows), PlayStation 4, Xbox One
- Genres
- Adventure, Fighting, Hack and slash/Beat 'em up, Indie, Puzzle, Shooter
- Themes
- Action
- Steam
- View on Steam
Release Dates
User Stats
How Long Is Mr. Shifty?
Related Content
Oops, the game crashed, replay the frustrating level
Interesting idea that entertains for the first hour or two. You can teleport around (even through walls) and punch people.
But the game design quickly goes in a very frustrating direction: less checkpoints, more enemies, repetitive levels. The AI is terrible, you can always door/corner camp.
The game also tends to stutter at the moments where precise timing is crucial.
And the dialogue is probably written by a 16 year old.
And I never had a game crash on me this much.
3,5 stars
This review is for the PC (Microsoft Windows) version
At the first look, the similarity to Hotline Miami is obvious: a top-down, fast-paced action game where you die a lot and play the same level over and over again. Press Shift and look further to observe enemies' positions; same gameplay mechanic. However, there are some major differences. Neither the story is deep, nor the music is cool as in Hotline Miami. You can't use firearms either. On the plus side, AI is better, and what I mean by "better" is "more predictable", not "more intelligent". Because there's friendly fire and enemies are stupid enough to kill themselves, which makes the gameplay different from Hotline Miami and promises very fun and chaotic encounters.
There is a good progression system where the game gets tougher gradually and continues to throw you new types of enemies. I admit that it gets too difficult artificially towards the end. Still, it's not one of those difficult games where you have to play perfectly to finish. You can eventually clear all levels with some luck.
There are some moments where the objective is not very clear though. Should you run? Should you kill everyone? Do you have enough time to punch through the wall and …
At the first look, the similarity to Hotline Miami is obvious: a top-down, fast-paced action game where you die a lot and play the same level over and over again. Press Shift and look further to observe enemies' positions; same gameplay mechanic. However, there are some major differences. Neither the story is deep, nor the music is cool as in Hotline Miami. You can't use firearms either. On the plus side, AI is better, and what I mean by "better" is "more predictable", not "more intelligent". Because there's friendly fire and enemies are stupid enough to kill themselves, which makes the gameplay different from Hotline Miami and promises very fun and chaotic encounters.
There is a good progression system where the game gets tougher gradually and continues to throw you new types of enemies. I admit that it gets too difficult artificially towards the end. Still, it's not one of those difficult games where you have to play perfectly to finish. You can eventually clear all levels with some luck.
There are some moments where the objective is not very clear though. Should you run? Should you kill everyone? Do you have enough time to punch through the wall and escape? Sometimes you can just run past enemies but other times you have to kill every single one of them. I wish it was more obvious.
I'm glad such games still exist. Pure gameplay, very little story, and a game that doesn't take itself too seriously. One thing missing is a better checkpoint system. If the developers are happy the way it is now, then they could've put an easy mode where checkpoints were more frequent.
Overall, it's a very short and fun game.
Short and sweet little game. It is hard to not draw the obvious comparisons to Hotline Miami, but I believe the game does a pretty good job of differentiating itself. You have three core mechanics here: move with the analog stick, one button for punch/attack and one button for warp. Or "shift" rather I suppose. This is a type of game design I embrace and enjoy, and Mr. Shifty is great at making you truly master the small set of controls you are given, in a surprising amount of ways. You can destroy the environment, find things to pick up to get one shot kills, tackle the enemies in whichever order works best for you, or just straight up teleport around rapidly and attacking carefully. There is a great deal of player freedom in how to handle these room based scenarios, and virtually no hand holding. The plot is non existent, which is a good thing for a game like this, because the plot is not the focus, but they do work in a decent amount of entertaining dialogue, I chuckled a few times. The only issues I ran into were performance related, but pretty disappointing. While playing docked with …
Read MoreShort and sweet little game. It is hard to not draw the obvious comparisons to Hotline Miami, but I believe the game does a pretty good job of differentiating itself. You have three core mechanics here: move with the analog stick, one button for punch/attack and one button for warp. Or "shift" rather I suppose. This is a type of game design I embrace and enjoy, and Mr. Shifty is great at making you truly master the small set of controls you are given, in a surprising amount of ways. You can destroy the environment, find things to pick up to get one shot kills, tackle the enemies in whichever order works best for you, or just straight up teleport around rapidly and attacking carefully. There is a great deal of player freedom in how to handle these room based scenarios, and virtually no hand holding. The plot is non existent, which is a good thing for a game like this, because the plot is not the focus, but they do work in a decent amount of entertaining dialogue, I chuckled a few times. The only issues I ran into were performance related, but pretty disappointing. While playing docked with the Switch I experienced many frame rate issues and slow down, which is surprising for a smaller and simple game like this, and made me play most of the game handheld. If you are looking for something fun to sit down and actually play for a few hours, this game is a rewarding and satisfying experience.
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