Kazakhstan-based independent studio Rhinotales has opened the first public test of Critical Shift, its single-player tactical role-playing game set inside a compromised Antarctic research facility. The September 14 build is available through the game’s Steam page and covers the first three missions, which the studio estimates at roughly two hours. Players can enter ICE-1’s surface area, administrative offices, and warehouse while trying six members of the planned 11-person operative roster.
The announcement calls this a public demo, but Steam presents it through the Playtest system. That distinction affects access: the store asks players to request entry, while the developer’s Steam announcement says approval is automatic and requires no form, key, invitation, or queue. The full game is not on sale, and the main store page still gives its release date as to be announced. Rhinotales’ press material targets a PC launch in 2027 and says console versions are planned, but no console platforms or dates are confirmed.
Turn-based battles connect to real-time exploration
Critical Shift divides its action between grid-based, turn-based combat and real-time movement through the facility. In battle, range and positioning shape weapon value: rifles favor distance, shotguns favor close quarters, and attacking can trigger an immediate counterattack. Initiative determines turn order. The design therefore asks players to account for the enemy response rather than treating every available shot as free damage.
Outside direct attacks, noise and other distractions can draw enemies into traps or push hostile groups into conflict with one another. Equipment and abilities can scout ahead, while ammunition and medical supplies are deliberately limited. The public build is a useful test of whether those systems remain understandable when exploration changes into combat. It cannot establish the balance or variety of the promised full campaign, which Rhinotales describes as more than 30 handcrafted levels and over 40 hours.
Six operatives make squad composition testable
The available characters cover distinct tactical and narrative roles: squad leader Bear, biohazard specialist Diver, occult expert Bishop, marksman and explosives user Goblin, hacker-engineer Rook, and physicist Saint. Players choose whom to bring, then develop a roster and improve weapons. The wider setting adds mutants, security machines, survivors, paranormal artifacts, and an artificial intelligence that creates flesh-and-metal hybrids, according to the storefront description.
Rhinotales says the story was written with Guiltythree, author of the web novel Shadow Slave. The complete game is planned to include more than an hour of hand-painted two-dimensional cutscenes and over two hours of motion-captured in-game scenes. Those figures describe intended scope, not content delivered by the current test. The studio also explicitly warns that the playtest may contain bugs, unfinished elements, and balance problems.
What players and small studios can learn from the test
Players should approach this build as feedback-stage software rather than a polished vertical slice. Steam lists Windows 10, a six-core 64-bit processor, 16 GB of memory, a GeForce GTX 1650 or Radeon RX 570 with 4 GB of graphics memory, and 40 GB of storage as minimum requirements. The page does not list macOS or Linux support. Its mature-content notice covers blood, corpses, mutated creatures, armed combat, injuries, death, and potentially disturbing experimental or paranormal imagery.
For an indie team, the release is a practical example of using Steam Playtest to distribute a demo-like experience without treating it as a separate finished product. Automatic admission removes approval friction, while the playtest label preserves an honest warning that the build is still being evaluated. The three-mission boundary also gives feedback a shared reference point: reports can identify the operative, encounter, resource state, and transition involved instead of commenting on an undefined portion of the game.
The immediate value is therefore concrete but limited. Players can now test the relationship among squad selection, positioning, scarce supplies, environmental manipulation, and exploration at no purchase cost. Rhinotales can observe where those systems fail to communicate or balance correctly before release. Claims about a 2027 launch and later console editions remain plans, and the absent date on Steam is the safer guide for anyone deciding when the complete game will actually be available.