Nightmare Shift Review (Xbox Series X|S & PC)

Behind Nightmare Shift’s questionable performance and frequent technical stutters lies a serviceable indie horror that knows how to sever the cord between fact and fiction, reality and nightmare. With thanks to its plausible voice acting, believable stories, and routines that feel painfully familiar to the naked mind, Binary Lunar clearly has an idea of what makes a perfectly passable psychological horror. The question is, how does it fit into a field that is evidently had its fill?

If Nightmare Shift is anything at all, it’s an advocate for the art of monotony. Of course, this isn’t to say that it’s boring and without a beating heart. On the contrary, it’s a game that openly encourages the little horrors that come with the mundane—a routine, for example, that forces you to question your existence and the importance of such meager things. Rather than spoon feeding you nonsensical jump scares (not that it turns a blind eye to a few of these, mind you), it chooses to keep you in the dark, on the same beaten path, and on the same downward trajectory. Is there a point to your life, or are you merely traipsing the fine line between reality and fantasy? Nightmare Shift has a way of making you dwell on that question for a lot longer than the average therapy session. Weirdly, it conveys it rather well, too.

Nightmare Shift puts you in the shoes of Emma, a young woman who bides her time between two dull worlds—a dreary apartment building, and a motel. As the night clerk, she frequents a seemingly ordinary routine—a cycle that typically involves cooking at her apartment, checking in guests, and tending to minute matters around a motel after the eleventh hour. But of course, at no point does she believe that her routine is a significant one, much less one that has the power to change the world. In the dark, however, something watches from the walls, occasionally beckoning for Emma to lean a little closer towards the darkness.

Naturally, Nightmare Shift is a pretty standard indie horror walking sim, by which I mean, it looks like a fairly generic walking sim, and that it certainly plays like one, too. If, say, you’re not aimlessly roaming the back corridors of an eerie apartment complex, then you’re sinking your teeth into a dainty motel block, either rummaging around in the dark for items that can help you to complete basic puzzles, or conversing with enigmatic guests who, for some reason, have a lot more to share than the average night owl. Though, for the most part, Nightmare Shift feels like a familiar experience. It has puzzles, exploration, and a plot that is just about thick enough to keep you mulling over the fine details. Again, standard bits and pieces that shape a perfectly serviceable indie horror game.

It is worth noting that, as far as story beats go, the game doesn’t give you a lot to go on. In fact, most of the experience is without a formal structure or a sense of transparency. With a routine, you simply begin your journey with the same basic tasks—to cook, to work, and to do as any human would on a regular basis. However, as you begin to untangle its threads and slog through that same routine, it slowly begins to fall into place—a fear of the unknown, and a sense that something it isn’t quite right with the motel or the apartment. You push through, all the while the world gradually begins to feed you small pieces of the jigsaw.

Nightmare Shift doesn’t pretend to be something that it’s not — and that’s a good thing, given that countless horror games often try a little too hard to cram as much into its brief time on the screen as possible. Here, it’s a bit more to the point and easy to flow with. There are several light puzzles for you to complete, various breadcrumb trails to follow, and a loose plot that guides you through a long corridor of bleak moments and creepy encounters. Frankly, that’s all that Nightmare Shift needs in order to convey its message. It might not go above and beyond to deliver something that’s well above a textbook indie, but it keeps things to the dotted line, and that in itself is a breath of fresh air.

As I said, there are a couple of technical issues here that sully an otherwise great experience. Aside from the odd technical error, Nightmare Shift also harbors a few problems with its audio cues and its animation. For example, the characters often fail to translate the correct words, and certain passages of dialogue, rather annoyingly, often overlap the cutscenes and gameplay segments. In other words, it isn’t quite as polished as it should be. It isn’t terrible, but it does occasionally struggle to maintain a coherent narrative and fluid gameplay experience.

On the bright side, Nightmare Shift does have some good bones to it. Difficulties aside, it presents itself as a visually appealing game that has a good mixture of plausible characters, unsettling moments, and light puzzle elements to keep its fire burning. To that end, I’d happily chalk it up as a passable psychological horror that is more than capable of borrowing your attention for three or four hours. It might not be a masterpiece, but it gets the job done with the tools it has at its disposal.

Verdict

Nightmare Shift might suffer from a few teething problems and technical drawbacks, but all in all it serves as a perfectly passable psychological horror flick with a lot of interesting features. With some decent dialogue, a good combination of puzzles and tender moments, and a plot that meshes well with the underlying theme and characters, it quite clearly serves its purpose as a budget-friendly indie game. To call it a work of art might be an overstatement, but to give credit where it’s due, it does give its all to create a short, simple, unnerving corridor horror that works well in its own skin.