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Shift Shaft

Match 3 with a twist

Ratings

Age

9+

Category

Puzzle

Languages

English

Shift Shaft is a unique puzzle-adventure where players manipulate both their character and the board itself. By rotating the environment and matching groups of three or more rocks, you must navigate deeper into the mine while avoiding hazards. Each run offers opportunities to collect gems, upgrade your miner's stats, and discover over 30 different items, blending match-3 mechanics with strategic roguelike progression.

Dinsun Expert Review

Our Expert Score

87/100

Shift Shaft is a brilliantly executed 'thinking person's' matching game. It takes the familiar 'match-3' trope and flips it—quite literally—on its head by introducing board rotation and character movement. You aren't just matching colors to clear space; you're matching rocks to carve a path for your miner through a hazardous shaft. It feels more like a tactical roguelike than a casual puzzle game.

The meta-progression is what keeps me coming back. Collecting gems to upgrade your stats and unlocking over 30 unique items creates a 'just one more run' loop that is incredibly satisfying. You have to think several turns ahead: 'If I rotate the board now, will that boulder fall on me or clear the path to that upgrade?' It’s a game that rewards patience and foresight, offering a level of depth that is rare in the matching genre. Highly recommended for fans of games like Grindstone.

Dinsun reviewed on: Fri Feb 02 2024

Features

1

Unique board rotation mechanic

2

Roguelike item progression

3

Over 30 unlockable items

4

Strategic character movement

5

Challenging environmental hazards

Tips & Walkthrough

Gameplays

Screenshot

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Q&A

No, it combines matching with board rotation and character movement, requiring much more tactical planning than a traditional match-3 game.

Ratings & Reviews

Super love this game!
Sun Mar 20 2022 RaevynReaper

From my AppRaven review- This is a pretty cool match game! I’ve not played one with a rotating board mechanic like this, and it definitely makes you think a little more than your standard match three game. It does have roguelite progression, so you’re expected to die to be able to progress further. If that’s not something you’re into, you might still find some interest in the rotating board mechanic. Your main goal is to make it to the mine shaft to descend another level. In each level, you have goals to reach to unblock the mine shaft. These include killing enemies, collecting a certain amount of the colored rocks, among other goals. You use the rotating board to help you make your way towards or away from enemies, rewards, power ups, and the mine shaft. The board rotates by sliding either left or right on a hieroglyphic bar at the bottom of the board, and you have to keep in mind what’s around you as you rotate. Once you die, you respawn back at the main menu to use gems you collected to power up before your next run. All in all, I’m pretty impressed and really enjoy the graphics, too. I’m stoked to see what the future may hold for this game. It’s got potential, for sure.

Great! Plz add mid-run save if app quit
Sun May 08 2022 WRS15743

Everything about this game is awesome, from the great design, good tutorial, clever concept (that no one has ever done before), to fair monetizing with no ads or IAP. I applaud the developer for this. The game is also good on storage and battery. I also appreciate the no data collection. I only docked one star because if you close the app mid-run it doesn’t save. I know it’ll save if you keep it open in the background, but some of us have to turn our phones off, or we only have a few minutes here and there to play, so not saving at any given moment makes me play less because I’m afraid I won’t be able to finish. I hope you can add at least a menu option to save before quitting. I’ll play a lot more often if you can do that. Great game overall, though, and I do recommend it!

More gems!!
Wed Mar 30 2022 Crot3000

Unique game rogue-like play mechanic. The rotating is really unique. First few levels feel like candy crush remix and then the puzzle play kicks in. Building the players base stats by collecting gems gives each run a purpose, even if I didn’t make it to the boss level. Have unlocked most items at this point and still cant put it down.

Proper good
Tue Mar 25 2025 KeenCommander

A rare hidden gem of an premium iOS games. Hats off to whoever designed this, it’s clever and entertaining. Little difficult to pick up on the strategies compared to some other roguelites that I’ve played but it’s a solid game. Certainly worth $3.

Hooked!!
Wed Jun 08 2022 hdizzle02

I never play phones games but wow I’m hooked on this game. It’s easy enough to get into it for a newb like me but strategic enough to really keep you invested. And all upgrades are earned through playing the game itself! So fun.

Fun game that makes you think!
Wed Apr 06 2022 emuhleecee

I really enjoy match-three games but haven’t played one with a rotating board! The concept and monsters added to it makes it a challenging and fun way to pass time. What a fun game :)

Super fun game
Wed Apr 13 2022 zho_324

This is my favorite phone game hands down! It’s well designed, the graphics are dope, and the mechanics are well explained and intuitive. Well done making this game! Everyone should try it!

Fun and Unique Concept!
Sun Mar 20 2022 mojojojoee

The rotating of the screen was a really fresh and unique concept. It made each level so fun to play. I was hooked from the beginning.

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