Shift

Shifting platforms are tricky. They move all the time, with no indication where they’re going to go next and no way to predict it. So you have to make a few assumptions, get in a groove, and then hope everything works out. In this puzzle game by armorgames.com, you’re given a set of shifting platforms that could go in any direction—and even stop completely—but once you start moving on them, they keep moving until they hit something on the side or at their end point. To make your way through, you’ll need to be careful and plan ahead… or risk getting stuck in an endless loop! The goal is to reach the highest score possible—so how will you do it?

Shift is a platform game from Armor Games that challenges you to use your brain instead of your brawn. You can’t actually control the player character directly; instead, you control the world around him. By using arrow keys to move up and down, you change the terrain beneath him to make him climb up, or slide down. This mechanic makes it so that even when you’re not trying to collect anything, you’re always making progress. It’s all about the brain work here; there are no items to collect, no enemies to defeat. In fact, the only thing you can do is move up and down with the arrow keys—that’s it!

Shift starts out simple: with only one dimension to worry about, it’s easy enough to get through the early levels just by moving back and forth as needed. (The left-right arrows also affect the terrain.) However, as more terrain types are added in later levels—lava and bouncy platforms in particular—the game really starts to test your problem-solving skills. You’ll have to keep a close eye on what kind of terrain your player is standing on and try a different combination of left-right movements until you get where you want to go. If you’re struggling with a particularly tricky.