Developer: Bun Muen
Platforms: PC (Reviewed), Xbox Series X|S
Genre: Simulation
Publisher: Kwalee
Developed by Bun Muen and published by Kwalee, Shift at Midnight is a co-op horror game that blends tense detective work with plenty of creepy moments. Taking on the role of a late-night convenience store clerk, you’ll be checking IDs, spotting doppelgangers, and trying to survive each shift while uncovering a surprisingly engaging story. It’s a unique concept that quickly hooked me, and by the end I couldn’t wait to see what each new night would bring.
I loved this game from start to finish. Shift at Midnight can be played with 1-6 players. The game is mainly designed for up to 3 players, but it was recently updated to support up to 6 players. When it comes to servers and hosting, we had no connectivity issues at all, and there were plenty of public servers to choose from. The game also has in-game voice chat, which works perfectly. It’s clear with no noticeable delay and makes the game so much more fun, especially if you’re playing on public servers with random players.
There are two modes in the game, with Story Mode being the perfect way to experience it. The premise is simple but immediately gives you a reason to care. Your pet is sick, and you need to pay its medical bills, so you take on a dangerous job working the midnight shift at the Midnight Mart.
Your job isn’t as easy as it sounds. You’re tasked with finding doppelgangers by checking customer IDs, searching the database on the computer to verify relatives, and asking customers questions about themselves and their occupations. Anything that seems suspicious can be questioned, and while some doppelgangers are obvious, others are much harder to spot.
This game genuinely felt like we were roleplaying actual store clerks, while also getting into character whenever customers came in. The game constantly throws little surprises at you, and it’s even better when you’re playing with someone who scares easily. For instance, one night we got a phone call, and I read it out in a creepy voice just to scare my friend, only for it to lead into an even bigger jump scare.
The horror builds up in such a great way. I also really like how the game keeps the mechanics grounded in actually running the store. If you find a doppelganger, you shoot them, clean up the limbs, and then mop up the blood. It almost feels like you’re cleaning up a crime scene, but in this world it’s just another normal shift.
Every night you also receive important notices that you need to pay attention to. The game keeps building on itself as each night passes, and I loved how the story slowly unfolded. We absolutely fell in love with the game. I especially liked the variety from night to night—no two nights ever felt the same, which kept everything interesting throughout.
The visuals have a great retro-style aesthetic, and the sound design is fantastic when it needs to be. The only sound that became a little annoying was the automatic doors to the mart constantly opening and closing. Aside from that, the whole atmosphere is creepy and unsettling. Even some of the creature designs are genuinely disturbing. I also love how effortless the jump scares feel. They never rely on cheap scares or overdo them, which makes them much more effective because they’re rarely what you expect.
I’d honestly love to see another part of this game because the story unfolded so well. It puts you in the right mood from the very beginning by letting you pick your pet, name it, and immediately giving you a sense of responsibility. There’s also a good amount of replayability since customers seem to vary between playthroughs, and if you’re aiming to 100% the game, you’ll probably have to revisit it to meet every requirement. I loved every bit of this game.
We are thankful to have been provided with several codes to test out the game with friends. One of the players, Vroggo, had the following to say, “Shift At Midnight is an amazingly fun game. It is one of those spot-the-anomaly games that forces you to really pay attention to the details. As customers enter the store, players inspect and converse with them to verify whether they are human or a doppelganger before allowing them to leave. Incorrect deductions lead to a loss of the total profit made, and allowing doppelgangers to leave incurs an attack on the store after the shift or increases the difficulty of the attack, not to mention the variety of chores that need to be done to maintain the store, which favours a full lobby.
The fun of the game and its main feature is definitely its spot-the-anomaly mechanic. These differences can be spotted by cross-checking observations with the computer. Sometimes the differences are easy to tell, most other times subtle, and other times so absurd it comes off as comical. As players progress through the rounds, an influx of customers starts to come in more, so quicker deductions mean more profits made.
One other vital feature of the game is the attack of the doppelganger on the store. I found this very exciting and fun in the first few rounds of playing the game, and then it quickly became underwhelming. The difficulty scaling of the doppelgangers feels a little too easy. To the point where waiting out the doppelgangers seems entirely pointless rather than just going for the easy kill. It is something to improve on but does not take too much away compared to all the other fun aspects in the game.
One other thing I noticed was that the more sessions of the game I played, the easier it was to recognise which customer was a human or doppelganger. Despite that, I still had a wonderful 8/10 experience playing the game and would recommend this to others seeking a mix of both horror and comedy in running a gas station.”
Shift at Midnight is one of the most enjoyable co-op horror games I’ve played in a while. Between the tense doppelganger spotting, creepy atmosphere, and surprisingly engaging story, every night felt fresh and exciting. If you’re looking for a horror game that’s just as fun as it is unsettling, especially with friends, then Shift at Midnight is absolutely worth checking out!
Overall: 8.5/10
This is S & S. We are world game explorers. We play games. We have played over 10,000+ games! We travel, we write reviews AND we play more games!!!!
