Shift Happens similar games & best alternatives

Shift Happens - Trailer
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Shift Happens

PlayStation 4, PC (Microsoft Windows), Xbox One, Nintendo Switch • 2017

Should you play it?

Shift Happens is a cooperative platformer for two. You and a friend shift your mass, throw each other and puzzle your way through four stages of stylized imaginary worlds. Including the occasional backstabbing and taunting. Play with a friend on a couch, online or even special singleplayer levels.

What works

  • Fun and engaging co-op gameplay
  • Unique size-shifting mechanics
  • Humorous and lighthearted tone
  • Good puzzle variety and challenge
  • Accessible controls and visuals

Things to keep in mind

  • Some bugs and occasional lag in online co-op
  • Repetitive elements in later levels
  • Singleplayer mode less enjoyable
  • Lack of level editor or extended content
  • Some frustrating physics glitches

What to play next

Top picks

Games that feels the closest overall

  • Moving Out

  • Rayman® Origins

  • Rayman® Legends

  • Fling to the Finish

  • SOS OPS!

  • KeyWe

Less competitive

Games that feels like Shift Happens but with less competition against others

  • PHOGS!

  • Pode

  • The Adventure Pals

  • Klonoa Phantasy Reverie Series

  • Degrees of Separation

  • That One Otter Game

More survival-focused

Games that feels like Shift Happens but with a stronger survival pressure

  • Muffin Knight

  • BattleBlock Theater®

  • Ms. Splosion Man

  • Struggling

  • Aegis Defenders

  • Wildfire

Choose your own criteria ->

From the same developer

From the same developer, ranked by motivational fit.

  • Goodbye Deponia

  • Chaos on Deponia

  • Anna's Quest

  • The Night of the Rabbit

  • Deponia: The Complete Journey

Similarity map

How to compare these games

Compare nearby games

Each card is a nearby game on the similarity map, compared with Shift Happens. Swipe sideways to move between games. Titles already listed in What to play next are left out.

  • Cover and title: open that game’s page.
  • What works / keep in mind: the same highlights as the desktop comparison panel.
  • Bars: the main motivational differences versus this game.
How to use the graph

Similarity map

Each dot is a game placed from its motivation profile relative to this page’s game. Direction shows which motivation differs most; distance along that axis shows how large the gap is.

  • Purple star: this page’s game at the centre — everything is relative to it.
  • Direction: each axis is a main motivational difference vs this game (e.g. more / less competitive).
  • Distance on an axis: how large that difference is (ring scales show +/− points).
  • Coloured chips: click to highlight games that mainly differ on that motivation; click again to reset.
  • Dotted line: link between this page’s game and the one selected for comparison.
  • Hover a dot to preview that game in the panel on the right; click to keep that comparison.
  • Scroll or double-click the chart to zoom.

How to read the map This is a polar difference map: direction = which motivation differs, and distance = how much (same units as the sidebar deltas).

Swipe to compare nearby games with Shift Happens. These titles are not in What to play next.

Shift Happens: Less representative of its motivational profile, with noticeable differences. Motivations that often define this kind of title include Cooperation, Fellowship, Intimacy, Leadership. Here, the score leans higher than usual among comparable games on Competition. It leans lower than usual among comparable games on Violence, Survival.

Last update: 21/08/2026