XCOM meets The Thing in Critical Shift, a newly revealed turn-based tactics title
By Marco Wutz
Indie developer Rhinotales Studio has announced its turn-based tactical RPG Critical Shift, a game combining the chilling narrative of supernatural horror stories like Resident Evil and The Thing with the challenging combat of XCOM.
Players will take a team into an arctic research station following a distress call, trying to piece together what happened and contain anything unpleasant. Critical Shift’s story stems from the mind of Guiltythree, author of the popular web novel Shadow Slave. The narrative will throw players into “a dizzying vortex full of lethal danger, drama, treachery, and a whole lot more.”
Framing that narrative underbelly is robust turn-based tactical gameplay: Each character in the squad has access to several unique abilities and skills, but these alone won’t be enough to get back home safely. Players will need to explore and scavenge for resources, as the encounters inside the station will slowly bleed them dry.
Unlike XCOM, Critical Shift doesn’t feature any RNG-based elements in its combat system, so players don’t need to worry about missing any shots that totally have a 95% hit rate.
RPG elements are featured in the game as well. For example, players need to navigate the surprisingly complex politics of the station, where several factions have taken root. From an insane AI obsessed with creating flesh-metal-hybrids to a strange hivemind that turns people into mutated puppets, strange parties have divided the station between themselves and lie in conflict with each other. This can be exploited to gain an advantage.
Critical Shift will offer between 30 and 45 hours of playtime and is planned to be released on PC, PS5, and Xbox Series X|S later in 2025.
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