Alterium Shift
- July 5, 2023
- Mottzy
- 12h median play time
Get on Steam
Get on itch.io Store"Alterium Shift" is a classic JRPG with immersive 2.5D graphics and pixel art, featuring turn-based combat and dynamic quests. Choose from three unique characters, each with their own skills and elemental powers, to explore the magical world of Alteria and uncover its secrets. With branching storylines, the game offers a new experience with every playthrough.
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Reviews
- Alterium Shift offers a nostalgic experience reminiscent of classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger, with charming pixel art and engaging character designs.
- The game features a unique interlocking save system that allows players to switch between characters and experience different storylines, enhancing replayability.
- The developers are responsive to player feedback and actively work on improving the game, which shows their commitment to delivering a polished final product.
- As the game is still in early access, it suffers from various bugs, performance issues, and a lack of quality-of-life features, such as a quest log and detailed maps.
- The combat system can feel repetitive and lacks depth, leading to a less engaging experience over time.
- Some players have reported navigation difficulties due to unclear map transitions and environmental design, making it easy to get lost.
- story69 mentions
- 26 % positive mentions
- 70 % neutral mentions
- 4 % negative mentions
The story of the game is still evolving, with players expressing excitement for its potential as it features multiple characters, each with unique narratives and engaging dialogue that enhance replayability. While the main storyline is intriguing and offers dynamic choices, some players noted issues with pacing and a lack of navigational aids, such as a quest log, which can hinder the experience. Overall, the narrative is well-crafted and shows promise, but it requires further development and refinement to fully realize its potential.
“Aside from the obviously gorgeous visuals, the game has a fun spin on the story with multiple characters that go through variations of the main story.”
“The story unfolds through engaging dialogue and well-crafted lore, adding a compelling narrative layer to the strategic gameplay.”
“Engaging storyline and character development: Alterium Shift offers an engaging story with three unique characters, each with their own paths and storylines, adding considerable depth and replay value to the game.”
“The storyline could use a bit of sprucing up, and the characters could do with a bit more personality through interactions.”
“The story is far from complete, and every character playthrough will have a cliffhanger ending for now.”
“Sure, I can now choose a different character to explore the world at different points thanks to the unique character-specific ability, but even though the story and path are slightly different, you still get more or less the same experience.”
- graphics26 mentions
- 50 % positive mentions
- 38 % neutral mentions
- 12 % negative mentions
The game's graphics are widely praised for their stunning blend of retro pixel art and 3D backgrounds, evoking nostalgia while offering a fresh visual experience reminiscent of classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger. Players appreciate the unique character designs, vibrant environments, and engaging animations, all contributing to a visually appealing and immersive atmosphere. While some note limitations in frame rates, the overall aesthetic is considered well-executed and distinct within the genre.
“Visuals and aesthetic: the game successfully captures a retro JRPG feel with pixel art and 3D backgrounds, creating a nostalgic yet fresh visual experience.”
“The graphics are perfectly on-point for the era of games they're trying to evoke, with unique and well-designed sprites, gorgeous environments, and excellent sound design, complete with a musical score that pulls you into the situation without ever feeling repetitive.”
“Alterium Shift is a good old-style JRPG that features 2.5D graphics, a mix of pixel art and 3D.”
“Graphically, it is typical of the genre, but there are some really fun animations in battle.”
“The visuals are in pixel art, maybe not as excellent as in, for example, Dead Cells or Blasphemous, but still quite well made and with a 3D effect.”
“Now, the visuals are something else.”
- gameplay19 mentions
- 32 % positive mentions
- 53 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The gameplay is praised for its engaging blend of 2D and 3D art styles, strategic turn-based combat, and meaningful customization options that impact the storyline. Players appreciate the nostalgic feel combined with modern mechanics, though some map visibility issues detract from the experience. Overall, the game offers a solid mix of fun, challenge, and exploration, with potential for future enhancements as it continues to develop.
“The story unfolds through engaging dialogue and well-crafted lore, adding a compelling narrative layer to the strategic gameplay.”
“Customization and choices: players can customize their gameplay experience through meaningful choices that affect the storyline and have the opportunity to explore different character abilities and strategies in combat.”
“Tough but fair gameplay, amazing art design, and soundtrack.”
“The trees and buildings need a fade out so you can see what you're doing, as some portions of the maps are just too obscured by oversized art, and it detracts from the gameplay (looking at you, Summiton Woods!).”
“Sure, the story and pacing could use a bit more work, but the mechanics, the world, the art - it's all there.”
“The gameplay is classic of the genre, with a top-down view and turn-based combat.”
- music19 mentions
- 79 % positive mentions
- 5 % neutral mentions
- 16 % negative mentions
The music in the game receives generally positive feedback, with many praising its captivating and beautifully crafted soundtrack that enhances the overall atmosphere. However, some players find certain tracks repetitive, particularly during menial quests. Overall, the diverse instrumentation and engaging compositions contribute significantly to the game's immersive experience.
“Love it, great music, visuals, gameplay.”
“The soundtrack is great and I enjoy the battle sequences and puzzles.”
“The art and music are totally captivating; exploring the game is a super relaxing dose of escapism.”
“It's a witty game (puns and clever jokes galore), however, the looping soundtrack drove me crazy.”
“The soundtrack, as far as I've heard, is phenomenal.”
“There's a vast diversity in the music you'll hear, each track absolutely amazingly crafted for the game.”
- humor13 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The humor in the game is widely praised for its clever and nostalgic dialogue, reminiscent of classic JRPGs like Chrono Trigger. Players enjoy a mix of witty lines, playful dad jokes, and humorous interactions with NPCs and objects, which contribute to a lively and engaging experience. Overall, the game's unique sense of humor enhances its charm and encourages exploration for additional comedic moments.
“The game's sense of humor makes me want to leave no stone unturned for a bit of extra fun dialogue.”
“There is plenty of humor in the dialogue ranging from smart and clever to groan-worthy dad jokes.”
“Creativity and humor: 6/5 - objects make fun of you when you search them too many times + dad jokes, c'mon!”
- replayability5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 40 % neutral mentions
- 40 % negative mentions
Alterium Shift boasts high replayability due to its engaging storyline and character development, allowing players to experience the game from three unique perspectives. The optional save system further enhances longevity, making it a standout title in its genre.
“Engaging storyline and character development: Alterium Shift offers an engaging story with three unique characters, each with their own paths and storylines, adding considerable depth and replay value to the game.”
“The ability to play from three different perspectives in addition to the unique but optional save system gives the game longevity and replayability.”
“This level of replayability is rare, making Alterium Shift a standout title in the genre.”
- optimization5 mentions
- 20 % positive mentions
- 20 % neutral mentions
- 60 % negative mentions
The game's optimization remains a significant issue, with persistent performance problems such as frame rate dips and lengthy loading times, particularly in town areas. Additionally, critical quality of life features are lacking, including visibility for combat and navigation aids, which detracts from the overall experience. While some areas perform adequately, the overall technical execution is still in need of improvement.
“As far as performance goes, it's pretty good, although you can see that a few areas need to be improved.”
“However, a year later, the game is still poorly optimized, still missing critical UI features (combat has virtually no visibility to speak of), and the game is really struggling on a technical side with constant frame rate dips, loading on every screen transition including entering the same cookie-cutter houses. The maps of the overworld are bland and uninteresting to the point that the game becomes hard to navigate, and it is very unclear where the map will transition until you step on the transition point and see a loading screen.”
“Performance issues in some areas and missing quality of life (QoL) features, such as the display of enemy HP bars, logbook/bestiary to see what your current mission is, or to get more information about enemies.”
“The game chugs when in town.”
- character development3 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
Alterium Shift features an engaging storyline with three unique characters, each offering distinct paths that enhance depth and replayability. While the character development is praised for its potential, the early access version requires refinement in areas like combat and navigation. Overall, the character designs are well-received.
“Engaging storyline and character development: Alterium Shift offers an engaging story with three unique characters, each with their own paths and storylines, adding considerable depth and replay value to the game.”
“While the game shows great potential with its unique storytelling and engaging character development, the current early access version may still need polishing to address issues like the combat system's repetitiveness and navigational challenges.”
- atmosphere2 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
The atmosphere of the game is highly praised for its adventurous quality, enhanced by a captivating original soundtrack that complements the exploration experience. Players are thoroughly enjoying the immersive environment it creates.
“I'm loving the adventurous atmosphere and have been having a blast exploring the world.”
“The OST is wonderful and really matches the atmosphere of the game.”
- stability2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 100 % negative mentions
The game exhibits significant stability issues, including severe UI bugs when switching between save files and frequent freezing that can result in lost progress. Additionally, players have reported confusing mechanics related to save file interactions and unexpected game overs, suggesting that the game may still be incomplete. Overall, while it has charm, the stability problems detract from the experience.
“Has a lot of cute ideas and a certain amount of charm, but it's also really buggy with severe UI issues when switching between separate save files for characters. It has some confusing concepts, particularly how multiple save files somehow interact. Additionally, it either gives you a sudden game over after a certain bandit-cave section without explanation, or that's just the game not being finished yet, especially since it hasn't received an update in over a year.”
“It's a decent RPG game, but it has a repetitive bug where the game suddenly freezes and you lose all your progress, so make sure to do lots of saves every now and then.”
- grinding2 mentions
- 0 % positive mentions
- -50 % neutral mentions
- 150 % negative mentions
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a mix of engaging mini-games and repetitive tasks, such as fishing and completing chores, which evoke nostalgia and humor. While some enjoy the variety and character interactions, others may view the chores as tedious. Overall, the grinding contributes to character development and world-building, though it can feel monotonous at times.
“Grinding for levels feels more like a chore than an enjoyable part of the game.”
“The constant need to grind for resources and experience can become tedious and repetitive.”
“Engaging in mini-games and other activities just to level up feels like a forced way to extend gameplay.”
- emotional1 mentions
- 100 % positive mentions
- 0 % neutral mentions
- 0 % negative mentions
While the game delivers an emotional narrative, players note a lack of replayability and navigation tools, which can detract from the overall experience and leave them feeling lost after completing the story.
