EMPTY SHELL on Steam - User reviews, Price & Information

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EMPTY SHELL will throw you in a dark industrial environment, a secret facility on a Japanese island. Each volunteer has signed a contract for a "recovery operation" without being privy to too many details. A tense roguelite survival horror with a top down perspective.

EMPTY SHELL is a action roguelike, rogue-lite and shooter game developed by CC ARTS and published by Hyperstrange.
Released on October 16th 2023 is available only on Windows in 8 languages: English, Italian, German, Russian, French, Spanish - Spain, Japanese and Simplified Chinese.

It has received 605 reviews of which 537 were positive and 68 were negative resulting in a rating of 8.3 out of 10. 😎

The game is currently priced at 7.19€ on Steam with a 40% discount.

The Steam community has classified EMPTY SHELL into these genres:

Action Roguelike Rogue-lite Shooter Top-Down Horror Action-Adventure Rogue-like Action Controller Story Rich Pixel Graphics Atmospheric Sci-fi Adventure Dark Old School Survival Horror Retro Singleplayer Combat

Media & Screenshots

Get an in-depth look at EMPTY SHELL through various videos and screenshots.

EMPTY SHELL screenshot
EMPTY SHELL screenshot
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EMPTY SHELL screenshot
EMPTY SHELL screenshot

System requirements

These are the minimum specifications needed to play the game. For the best experience, we recommend that you verify them.

Windows
  • OS *: Windows 7 or higher
  • Processor: Intel Core 2 Duo or AMD equivalent
  • Memory: 4 GB RAM
  • Graphics: Intel Graphics HD 2GB or equivalent
  • DirectX: Version 11
  • Storage: 290 MB available space
  • Sound Card: Onboard audio is enough

User reviews & Ratings

Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.

April 2025
This game is a hidden gem. You play a "volunteer" stuck on a weird island, marching through experimental facilities with creepy monsters. The game takes inspiration from other rogue-lite games -- the most notable being Teleglitch -- but has its own distinct identity, partially because of how much it leans into survival horror. It's also a little more forgiving than other games in the genre, as you don't need to restart from the beginning after dying on a level. Instead, you start with a randomized slate of weapons, and you can find the dead body of your previous volunteer, complete with a selection of key gear items and your power-ups. "Finding your body" becomes a key part of the mechanics, as failing to locate it requires you to restart the level from scratch. It adds a whole bunch of tension, as you build up your power-ups, inevitably die, and then scramble to find your corpse. I played the game on hard and can testify that it's not for the squeamish. You're going to die. A bunch. But the levels always feel possible, and you're continually pushing a little further as you master the layout. The level and enemy variety keeps the game interesting as you advance. I saw a couple of reviews complaining about the "repetition," but you have dozens of mini-bosses with unique patterns. You have a tentacle Cthulhu man that drops boxes on your head. You have this grotesque thing called the "scissors" that caused me to frantically drop my drones whenever it appeared on the screen. On top of that, the levels are all a little different. My favorite level has you walking through a forest, and zombies will suddenly appear out of the trees to attack you. Another great level takes place on a train, where you're facing waves of enemies coming out you from all directions. One has you scrambling about a cave with a drone that serves as a flashlight. There's plenty of variation. I suspect many people just didn't get through the first couple of levels and then complained about "repetition." A couple of little quirks that I think they could work on for their next game: 1. Your body visually faces the direction you're moving, which isn't ideal for a twin stick shooter. Your body should always be facing your aiming cursor in these games -- it does that when you're aiming the gun, but the game is heavily dependent on melee. The devs need to take some inspiration from Hotline Miami. I had a number of situations where I got smacked by an enemy simply because I had to take a second to figure out my aiming direction. 2. The "gas mask" level was annoying at times because you frequently needed to pause in the clean air spots to recharge. A better mechanic would be to have the mask slowly deplete and then quickly recharge. I realize that we're playing a deliberately hard game, but the problem is that it's not fun to stand around for a minute watching a meter slowly increase. Everything else here is top notch. Enemy design, sound, graphics all work together to form a nice package. Highly recommended.
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Feb. 2025
This game rules. It delivers on being as cool as the store page suggests. The gameplay is great, the sound design and atmosphere stay tense, there's a good variety of environments and enemies, and somehow the lore is excellent to round it out. I'm actually surprised by how hard it delivers on the premise. The levels feel handcrafted (at least on this run), so I'm excited to see how much the randomization actually changes. I'd recommend keeping the scanlines and the pixelation on (at least on low) - it has a strong aesthetic style which is worth committing to.
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Jan. 2025
Good action-roguey in the vein of Teleglitch. Visuals and atmosphere really shine. More approachable for the casual crowd since there's essentially a checkpoint after every level. Honorable mention for polish like the bestiary, game modes, etc. Still suffers from some fundamental flaws. Enemy roster is very uneven, everything is either cannon fodder or a mini-boss, no in between. Run and dodge mechanics certainly 'work', but are probably an unnecessary layer the game didn't really need. Inclusion of drones and turrets makes me suspect the devs recognized problems in the combat and balance, but didn't figure out how to organically correct them. Overall a fun time and worth trying if you're into these kinda games. Just don't think it stands up to the masterpieces of the genre.
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Dec. 2024
So the game is fun. It reminded me of Teleglitch as soon as i've seen the trailer. The aesthetic of black and white only + filter makes it seem like we're watching through a cctv or a satelite. Enemies are weird and interesting. Weapons are nice, especially if you wanna play with melee (i do recommend grabbing the old axe asap from the store). There is no crafting like in teleglitch, but the game compensates with having lots of ammo around (or at least thats how i feel, most of the small fry enemies are easy to dispatch with the better melee weapons). Overall it's a solid, fun game. Story is grim and unsettling, combat is fun, and graphically it looks nice.
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Sept. 2024
This is such a great survival horror action roguelite. I just wish I were a bit better at it (“Nightmare” difficulty is kicking my patootie, hard). Fans of top-down action and/or survival horror might really enjoy this. The aesthetic and sound design are top-shelf, and the controls feel really tight. It runs really well on steam deck. My only suggestion would be to new players-take a look at the options menu. I personally play with most of the visual aesthetic options set to “clean”. I understand that the developer was going for atmosphere here, but certain visual effects might not work for certain players. The options exist to change that, and the developer deserves credit for making that available.
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Frequently Asked Questions

EMPTY SHELL is currently priced at 7.19€ on Steam.

EMPTY SHELL is currently available at a 40% discount. You can purchase it for 7.19€ on Steam.

EMPTY SHELL received 537 positive votes out of a total of 605 achieving a rating of 8.31.
😎

EMPTY SHELL was developed by CC ARTS and published by Hyperstrange.

EMPTY SHELL is playable and fully supported on Windows.

EMPTY SHELL is not playable on MacOS.

EMPTY SHELL is not playable on Linux.

EMPTY SHELL is a single-player game.

EMPTY SHELL does not currently offer any DLC.

EMPTY SHELL does not support mods via Steam Workshop.

EMPTY SHELL does not support Steam Remote Play.

EMPTY SHELL is enabled for Steam Family Sharing. This means you can share the game with authorized users from your Steam Library, allowing them to play it on their own accounts. For more details on how the feature works, you can read the original Steam Family Sharing announcement or visit the Steam Family Sharing user guide and FAQ page.

You can find solutions or submit a support ticket by visiting the Steam Support page for EMPTY SHELL.

Data sources

The information presented on this page is sourced from reliable APIs to ensure accuracy and relevance. We utilize the Steam API to gather data on game details, including titles, descriptions, prices, and user reviews. This allows us to provide you with the most up-to-date information directly from the Steam platform.

Additionally, we incorporate data from the SteamSpy API, which offers insights into game sales and player statistics. This helps us present a comprehensive view of each game's popularity and performance within the gaming community.

Last Updates
Steam data 03 June 2025 11:10
SteamSpy data 06 June 2025 04:22
Steam price 14 June 2025 12:35
Steam reviews 12 June 2025 06:03

If you'd like to dive deeper into the details about EMPTY SHELL, we invite you to check out a few dedicated websites that offer extensive information and insights. These platforms provide valuable data, analysis, and user-generated reports to enhance your understanding of the game and its performance.

  • SteamDB - A comprehensive database of everything on Steam about EMPTY SHELL
  • SteamCharts - Analysis of EMPTY SHELL concurrent players on Steam
  • ProtonDB - Crowdsourced reports on Linux and Steam Deck EMPTY SHELL compatibility
EMPTY SHELL
-40% 11.99€ 7.19€
8.3
537
68
Game modes
Features
Online players
12
Developer
CC ARTS
Publisher
Hyperstrange
Release 16 Oct 2023
Platforms
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