Gambit Shifter (PC) (2024)

Overview: A puzzle game that makes use of chess-like pieces. In each level, you start as a pawn and your goal is to capture the "king" in the level. More complex mechanics consist of transforming into other chess pieces (Rook, Knight, Bishop) and avoiding capture by enemy pieces.

---

20260329, 20260330:
I acquired this game in a Humble Bundle and made sure to install it on my Steam Deck prior to traveling. I previously played a demo of the game that featured 18 levels. I played it from 20260329 to 20260330, getting all achievements except for a hidden one.

Setup: Steam Deck

Steam Game Time: 3.5 hours

[20260404]

---

Thoughts:
Pros:
+ Simple

Neutral:
~ Dying results immediately in starting over, from which the player can still undo. Personally I'd rather not have it automatically start over, as the more likely action is to just want to undo immediately, and the time spent where the level restarts is annoying.

Rating: 4.2 out of 5

---

Summary:
Some levels force the player to use trial-and-error to some extent. And some levels don't, but trial-and-error is often the fastest solution. I only needed pen-and-paper to help with one of the puzzles. As such, overall the game was definitely on the easier side of puzzle games, but was fun while it lasted.

---

20260404:
I completed the hidden achievement. I had looked at the name of the achievement via Global Achievements. Then tried to infer what it meant.

Then I went on to play the first set of DLC puzzles.

Steam Game Time: 4.6 hours (cumulative game time) / 1.1 hours (session game time)

---

Gambit Shifter (PC) (2024)

Relevant Links:
Gambit Shifter (Wikipedia.org)
Gambit Shifter (PC) (MetaCritic.com)
Gambit Shifter (steamdb.info)
Gambit Shifter (Steam Store Page)