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Shade Shift
by ZotaGame0 likes0 plays
Thirty slide-and-exit puzzles: shove coloured blocks across a grid until each one escapes through a matching door that is wide enough for it.
What is Shade Shift?
Shade Shift is a logic puzzle about momentum on a grid. Every block you shove keeps sliding until something blocks it, and it can only escape through a door of its own colour that spans its full width, so the real trick is choosing which block acts as a wall for another. The run is 30 stages long, from a 5×5 starter with three blocks to 7×8 boards carrying nine, with fixed easels, one-way rail blocks and five colours by the end.
Updated
How to play Shade Shift
Goal: Get every coloured block off the grid, ideally in the minimum number of shoves.
- Swipe a block in any direction, or tap it and use the arrow pad; it travels until it hits a block, an easel or the edge.
- At the edge, a block escapes only if a door of the same colour on that side is at least as wide as the block.
- Shoves that move nothing are free, and the undo button rewinds one shove at a time.
- Rail blocks, marked with a double stripe, only travel along their stripe; easels never move at all.
Controls
| Key | Action |
|---|---|
| Swipe or drag a block | Shove it that way |
| Tap a block · arrow pad | Select, then shove |
| [ ] · arrow keys | Select · shove |
| UZ · H · R | Undo · hint · restart |
| PEsc | Pause |
Tips & tricks
- Before you shove anything, match each door to a block: a block with no door on a side should never be aimed at that side.
- Need a block to stop mid-lane? Shove a different block into the square just beyond it first.
- Clear the lane of a rail block early, because it has only two ways to move and can lock a whole column.
- On boards with five colours, read the symbols on the doors: circle, triangle, square, diamond and star match their blocks.
Frequently asked questions
Who is Rivet in Shade Shift?
Rivet is the boxy paint robot with a lime visor who sits in the panel next to the grid. Rivet comments on each shove, cheers with a raised roller when the grid is clear, and turns the antenna light pink when a hint finds no way out from your current position.
What is the minimum number of shoves in a Shade Shift stage?
It ranges from 4 on stage 1 to 19 on stage 29, and it comes from an exhaustive search of every possible shove. Hitting that number earns three stars; you get two stars if you stay within the minimum plus half of it, and one star for any finish.
Why won't a long block leave through its own colour in Shade Shift?
The door is narrower than the block. Doors only let a block out when they span its whole width on that side, so a three-square bar needs a door of at least three squares. Look at the other edges for a wider door of the same colour.
Is there a way to see the perfect solution in Shade Shift?
Yes, once you clear a stage. The win screen offers a replay button that plays the shortest route from the starting layout, one shove about every half second, so you can compare it with your own run.
Can a Shade Shift stage become impossible?
It can after certain shoves, but you never fail: there is no timer, undo works on every shove and restarting is free. When the solver finds no route from where you are, the hint tells you to rewind a few shoves.
