Rogue Shooter: The FPS Roguelike
A fast-paced mashup of roguelikes and first-person shooters.
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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 4.91€ on Steam with a 59% discount, but you can find it for 0.28€ on K4G.
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
Steam Price & Best Deals
User reviews & Ratings
Explore reviews from Steam users sharing their experiences and what they love about the game.
I played this game on and off over the course of the last 2 years and finally decided to beat it, and holy hell it was definitely worth it. EMPTY SHELL is basically hotline Miami but with a horror and inventory management twist. If you enjoy top-down shooters you'll love this game. On my first playthrough I played on NIGHTMARE difficulty which is the hardest difficulty. Probably wasn't the best decision for a first playthrough, but I felt like since the game is a survival horror game it should be as hard as possible. NIGHTMARE was incredibly unforgiving, but strangely enough, it felt right. Sure, there were SOME levels that were making me contemplate even finishing the game due to some unlucky encounters or bad map generations, but I decided to persevere and eventually manage the beat the game. The feelings of satisfaction I felt after finishing a really difficult level felt great. I feel like if I had played on normal difficulty or below, the game would not have felt right. Basically what I'm trying to say is if you you're gonna play EMPTY SHELL, play it on at least hard difficulty for the best horror experience. Anyways, here's some nitbits about the game that I enjoy. Scavenging, finding weapons and managing your inventory feels great. It really makes you think about how you want to play around things. Do you want to keep your low damage, but consistent rifle. or do you want a high damage rocket launcher that only has 2 rockets in it? Do you want extra medkits, or do you want another gun? I know it doesn't sound very impactful, but inventory management in this game is actually pretty well-designed and I have to give the devs some credit. Some enemies are absolutely terrifying (especially on NIGHTMARE). Don't want to give any spoilers, but there is one particular enemy in the game that I despised Scissors that is incredibly fast, has a ton of health, and one shots if you don't have armor on. I hated this enemy at first, but as I kept playing, I began to always prepare for the inevitability of its appearance, so I would always save my strongest gadget, usually a turret or a drone, and proceed to mow down the buffoon on sight. Its the moments like this that made EMPTY SHELL so unique. I could go on and on about the things I loved about this game, like the computer terminals and the level designs... But I'm lazy, so you just have to take my word for it and give EMPTY SHELL a try, you won't regret it...
tldr; fun game but roguelite elements are pointless and should be negated with modifiers It's a fun and entertaining game, the only main issue that comes to mind is I have no clue why this had to be a "roguelite", it doesn't add anything and only serves to ruin all progress if you die once late in the game, especially on harder diffifuculties. I highly reccomend using the recover all inventory modifier if you're playing on hard or nightmare. You still lose secret related items from previous levels even if you have the modifier on even getting the item related to the secret. The only thing roguelike about it is recovering items from your previous character and slightly different level layouts (that contain all the same rooms anyway). A full run is multiple hours long with break points and roguelikes are about multiple runs you can complete in one sitting with overarching progress. You can't unlock devices for new runs since you can't game over, only restart an entire playthrough.
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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Frequently Asked Questions
EMPTY SHELL is currently priced at 4.91€ on Steam.
Yes, EMPTY SHELL is currently available at a 59% discount. You can purchase it for 4.91€ on Steam.
Yes, 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.
Yes, EMPTY SHELL is playable and fully supported on Windows.
No, EMPTY SHELL is not playable on MacOS.
No, EMPTY SHELL is not playable on Linux.
This information about EMPTY SHELL is not available yet.
This information about EMPTY SHELL is not available yet.
No, EMPTY SHELL does not support VR.
EMPTY SHELL is a single-player game.
No, EMPTY SHELL does not currently offer any DLC.
No, EMPTY SHELL does not support mods via Steam Workshop.
No, EMPTY SHELL does not support Steam Remote Play.
Yes, 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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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 | 30 August 2026 06:12 UTC |
|---|---|
| SteamSpy data | 09 September 2026 14:07 UTC |
| Steam price | 12 September 2026 10:34 UTC |
| Steam reviews | 10 September 2026 05:45 UTC |
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
6
Developer
CC ARTS
Publisher
Hyperstrange
Release
16 Oct 2023
Platforms
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