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0 When I was a kid, my mom would take me to a big natural history museum close to our house. I remember feeling both enraptured and terrified by the taxidermy animals, with their frozen poses and glassy eyes. Sometimes I would wonder if they moved at night, or when I wasn’t looking at them. It was a strange atmosphere; a place of learning, yet with a sense of quiet, creeping dread. It’s a sense of horror that very few games have capitalized on, at least up until now.
The Third Shift is a survival horror game developed and published by Teebowah Games. The initial demo released all the way back in 2020, and I distinctly remember watching it back in high school. Development has been on and off for the past few years, but the game finally released this April, and I was excited to finally play it. But does it live up to the hype?
CROATOAN
Narrative
In The Third Shift, you play as the latest night watchman of the Roanoke History Museum. It should be a quiet, simple job, only slightly complicated by protestors sneaking in to vandalize the new Human Anatomy exhibit. You’re soon sent out to chase down one such protestor, only to find one of the muscular body exhibits missing. Its container is broken… from the inside out.
Your supervisor downplays the mystery, but it soon becomes clear that several exhibits are running around the museum. And unlike the characters in a certain film, these history pieces are decidedly not friendly. Will you try to solve the museum’s mystery, and the greater historical mystery of the Roanoke colony disappearance in the process? Or will you just try to get paid and get out?
I enjoyed the story for the most part, even if it did get a little predictable. But the game makes up for its tropey storytelling with an incredible, uncanny atmosphere, with prose that’s both humorous and horrifying. You’ll find notes scattered about that will either lay bare the dark secrets of the Roanoke History Museum, or tell someone off for not cleaning out the break room fridge.
Gameplay
Gameplay is pretty simple. Your primary focus is on exploration: moving around the museum, finding items, and solving puzzles. Movement is split between top-down, 2D, and first-person sections, using fixed camera angles like Resident Evil. There is no combat; when an enemy comes for you, you dodge, run, or die.
The game has an intentionally minimal HUD, which both helps and hurts it. The near-lack of gameplay indicators removes distracting elements and allows the player to drink in the game’s well-realized setting. However, it also makes it very difficult to keep track of the player’s health and stamina, since you have to shift to a separate menu to see it. There’s actually two different menus- one for the player’s health and inventory, and another to access the map- and switching between the two constantly got annoying fast. I feel like combining the game’s two menus into one would have improved the flow of gameplay.
I didn’t have many issues with the game’s pacing or difficulty up until I reached the final battle. It isn’t too challenging, but it’s very long and repetitive, and features a short minigame afterwards that can instantly kill you. Dying at any point sends you all the way back to the beginning of the battle, which was a real pain. I feel like a small autosave feature in between the sequences would be nice, especially since you’ve already been locked into an ending anyway.
I also want to bring brief attention to the “museum” aspect of the game, which is fantastic. A whole lot of love was put into designing the exhibits you flee through. If you have the time you should definitely read through the signs and descriptions. You’re going to learn about the colony of Roanoke, and you’re going to like it!
Graphics & Audio
The Third Shift has a unique graphical style that emulates the Game Boy, with a 15-bit color palette and an intentionally small screen. There’s also a plainly comical amount of shading options to choose from, though personally I stuck with the classic mucus-green. The pixel art is simple, but well-done, and many areas are dripping with atmosphere. The monster design in particular is fantastic, drawing on the uncanny horror of taxidermy and those creepy Human Anatomy exhibits. I don’t want to spoil the spooks you’ll encounter, but let me just say you’re going to learn to fear the human muscular system.
The soundtrack is pretty solid. The musical tracks are well-composed but didn’t really stick with me. The sound design, though, is delightful. Hearing monsters chatter and chortle in the distance as you flee from them greatly improves the tension.
Longevity
The Third Shift is a pretty short game; it took me about 3 hours to complete. However, there’s a lot of replayability. With branching paths, multiple endings, and all sorts of secret interactions, there’s plenty of material to keep you invested in repeat playthroughs.
Final Thoughts
The Third Shift is a pretty solid horror game. The gameplay loop is simple but enjoyable, and I found myself mostly invested in the story. The graphical style lends itself well to the horror, and the soundtrack is decent. Finally, while short, it doesn’t overstay its welcome and has quite a lot to see in repeat playthroughs.
I have to say, as much as I enjoyed The Third Shift, I didn’t find it too scary. There were a couple of solid jumpscares, and the atmosphere was fantastic, but I didn’t feel much looming dread outside of the worry that I’d fail the final minigame and have to redo the fight. Even so, I really enjoyed my time with it, and I’m sure plenty of people would find it more frightening than me. If you’re looking for a solid spooky time for a free weekend I’d suggest you give it a shot. I’m happy to award The Third Shift the Thumb Culture Gold Award and my recommendation.
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
If you enjoyed this review, why not check out my review of Angel Engine!
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