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 11.99€ on Steam, but you can find it for 0.40€ on Eneba.
The Steam community has classified EMPTY SHELL into these genres:
Media & Screenshots
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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 10 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.
Means to an end If you play video games long enough, there comes a certain point at which you come to realise that for all the back story, personality and unique traits that player character may have, they are ultimately a toy with no moral weight behind them. The gravest crime imaginable against a character in most cases can be unmade at a simple press of “load game”, allowing the player to avoid consequences. Of course, the games employ tools like immersion or suspension of disbelief to get the player properly invested, which is frankly more appealing than taking a digital meat suit for a crash test. However, Empty Shell instead embraces this notion to set a properly hopeless tone to events of the game – you are an employee with a number and your only significance as an individual is the list of the tasks you manage to accomplish. Sent to investigate a secret research facility located on a remote Japanese island, you are forgotten the moment you fall, as the next employee is sent in your place. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3642932852 Shell to be discarded Empty Shell is a top-down survival horror, leaning heavily into rougelike elements. What personally attracted me to trying the game was the striking black and white visuals, which fit really well with industrial interiors of the facility. Taking into account the company sends the player for “recovery operation” with gun in hand, you would be correct to assume this is not the survivors being recovered. Instead, the player attempts to reveal the fate of the facility while struggling to survive against the island’s increasingly more bizarre inhabitants. One volunteer at a time, as completing the game is no easy task. Let’s get the rougelike elements covered first. Most importantly, to properly set the difficulty level, volunteer death is permanent. For the most part, all the equipment and upgrades are lost too, however in Dark Souls fashion, the player has a chance to find the previous volunteer’s body and retrieve some resources from it. Contrary to Dark Souls’ soul retrieval, the corpse will be located in a random part of the facility, or sometimes won’t be present at all, making this mechanic a welcome boon, rather than something that could be relied upon. Notably, the game is structured around levels and the progress is saved upon completing one – meaning that in case of untimely demise only the current level needs to be replayed, rather than the entire run. The downside is that the player needs to do so with measly default equipment, which is considerably more challenging. Axe me a question Speaking of the equipment, the facility quickly turns out to be an uncomfortably lively place and most of the exploration is done knee-deep in blood. To fend off dozens of enemies, Empty Shell provides a wide selection of weapons, divided into several categories. Most importantly, the volunteer can have a single melee and ranged weapon equipped at once. Admittedly, when a wave of bodies charges you down, a shovel may not be the most intuitive of choices. Despite this, once coupled with dodge roll (which includes invincibility frames), melee is surprisingly relevant survival tool as ammo is limited, especially on higher difficulty levels. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3642933135 Once you do need something shot, the armoury is surprisingly large, and guns are primarily diversified via ammunition calibre they use. Empty Shell starts off relatively mundane – with machine guns, shotguns and rifles – usually trading off fire rate for power the larger calibre offers. However early on, you may come across a laser gun and more exotic options like fire and lightning weaponry are available further down the line. On that note, there are multiple weapons in each calibre, adding extra nuance of accuracy, ammo capacity and reload times. It is already a solid selection, which is further expanded upon by devices and gadgets. The former are varied high-tech gizmos, which can be purchased in level transition menu using money collected from corpses of your foes . Devices recharge with time and one of the cheapest examples is the shield, granting the player momentary invulnerability. Gadgets in turn are consumable weapons, such as automated turret or a gun-carrying drone circling the player. Being relatively rare, they add extra firepower much needed in challenging fights. White smear on the ground It is time for the big question – how do all these elements fall into place as a horror game? Despite being a combat-heavy title, Empty Shell does a good job at creating a choking atmosphere and oppressive environment. Most of the levels play across narrow, inhospitable corridors of the facility and somewhat barren interior comes together well with minimalistic artstyle. Small touches such as static noise generated by nearby enemies (occasionally easy to miss amidst the mess fights leave behind) and “detached” point of view from the top which appears to be via lens of an industrial camera, fall neatly into place with theme of remote control present in the game. All of these give a lingering unpleasant quality to the events unfolding, which helps build tension. On the sidenote, while I am generally fond of this title’s visuals, do bear in mind they are tiring for the eyes after a longer session. https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=3642933347 Fear, being a the ever subjective topic, is a different story. To give credit where it is due, encounters get increasingly bizarre as the game progresses, introducing a curious hint of the unknowable into the mix. Then again, if there is anything to be genuinely afraid for, it is the life of your character and all the goods you’ve managed to carry thus far. Simply put, if you manage to survive a few levels without dying, your volunteer will snowball into a beast of a man, armed to the teeth and probably with several statistic boosts such as increased health or armour capacity. A natural consequence of such system is plain “bigger they are, harder they fall”, thus there is a lot of tension as your hard-built champion becomes grievously wounded. And wounded they will be, as Empty Shell is an ambush predator by choice, filled to the brim with surprise enemy attacks and occasional boss popping up where you least expect it. To put things mildly, normal is highly recommended difficulty setting for getting to know this challenging game. Whereas “nightmare”, while not inventive in naming, truly means it, with multiple threats able to one-shot you into oblivion before you had the chance to process what happened. C:\root\system\shut_down All things considered, Empty Shell is not a groundbreaking game, however it has the right mix of solid gameplay, atmosphere and distinct style to make it stand apart from the competition. I can comfortably recommend the title to all fans of indie and survival games, as in my opinion Empty Shell deserves a far wider recognition than it has received thus far. Despite the game’s humble reception, a sequel is already in development, promising more goods to everyone who enjoyed the first instalment.
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A very simple, but punishing game. Combat is very good, lot of space for skills and timing. The art/atmorphere is astounishing. The roguelite reward are a little disappointing, since the best one is the first one u get. Still, very much worth it.
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Fun game, if you have played Teleglitch, this is a lot like that. Haven't finished it yet, but leaving a review to say: Yes, there is actually a story, unlike what other reviews have said. No, it's not so light and sparse that it's impossible to understand. You just have to actually read the lore notes and etc around to figure it out. Just keep collecting them, as they are seemingly randomized to an extent where you'll find em, but I almost skipped out on an enjoyable game reading other reviews saying it was story-less.
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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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This game is in my top 5 the boss fights feel just the right amount of difficulty and exploration feels very nice as well one thing I do wish for is the ability to mark things on the map
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Frequently Asked Questions
EMPTY SHELL is currently priced at 11.99€ on Steam.
EMPTY SHELL is currently not on sale. You can purchase it for 11.99€ 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.
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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 | 05 March 2026 07:13 |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 14 March 2026 08:39 |
| Steam price | 15 March 2026 20:34 |
| Steam reviews | 15 March 2026 16:01 |
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
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Game modes
Features
Online players
3
Developer
CC ARTS
Publisher
Hyperstrange
Release
16 Oct 2023
Platforms
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