The Game Census
EMPTY SHELL cover art

EMPTY SHELL

CC ARTS · Hyperstrange · 2023-10-16

SteamGOGPlayStation StoreMicrosoft Store

ActionAdventureIndie

Modes: Single player · Perspectives: Bird view / Isometric

Releases: Mar 12, 2024 (Nintendo Switch), Oct 16, 2023 (PC (Microsoft Windows)), Jul 23, 2024 (Xbox One), Jul 23, 2024 (Xbox Series X|S), Jul 23, 2024 (PlayStation 5), Jul 23, 2024 (PlayStation 4)

EMPTY SHELL will throw you in a dark industrial environment, a secret facility on a Japanese island. Each volunteer has signed a contract for a "recovery operation" without being privy to too many details. A tense roguelite survival horror with a top down perspective.

EMPTY SHELL is an Action, Adventure and Indie game released in 2023, priced at $11.99, with an estimated owner base of 20,000 .. 50,000 and a review sentiment of Very Positive (88% of 853 reviews).

1
playing now
88%
positive of 853 reviews
Very Positive
steam's rating (official)
20,000–50,000
owners (SteamSpy est.)
4.48★
PlayStation Store rating (101 ratings)
platinum
deck/linux tier (ProtonDB)
Verified
Steam Deck (Valve)
SteamOS: Playable
$11.99
steam price (US)

1 players in-game as of 2026-10-14 21:00 UTC (census sample)

Empty Shell will throw you in a dark industrial environment, a secret facility on a Japanese island in the middle of nowhere. Each volunteer has signed a contract for a "recovery operation" without being privy to too many details. They said the facility had been abandoned for decades, but once in place it was immediately apparent that something was wrong. Discover the dark secrets of the facility's years of operation, up until the accident that led to the extreme consequences you are involved in. Every time you die, you will control a new volunteer sent to the place. Your starting equipment (Storyline via IGDB)

Health check

Quietly active
  • · 1 players in-game at the last census sample.
  • · 65 reviews in the last 8 weeks (~8/week).
  • · Review velocity down 40% vs the prior 8 weeks.
  • · Top 16% of 27,817 Action games in the census by review count.

Health tier since 2026-08-31

Estimated sales: 17k–38k copies

Review-multiple estimate from 853 total reviews — how this is computed.

Current store prices

GOG$4.89-59%
Microsoft Store$15.99

Deal snapshots via CheapShark, refreshed daily.

All-time low: $4.89 at GOG (2026-06-17) · bundled 3×via IsThereAnyDeal

12-month high $11.99 · on sale 65 of 104 observed days · at its all-time low (census price snapshots)

Review momentum

PositiveNegative
12712720232026Week of 2023-10-01: 127 positiveWeek of 2023-10-01: 21 negativeWeek of 2023-11-01: 63 positiveWeek of 2023-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2023-12-01: 46 positiveWeek of 2023-12-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-01-01: 41 positiveWeek of 2024-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-02-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 33 positiveWeek of 2024-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2024-04-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2024-05-01: 6 negativeWeek of 2024-06-01: 20 positiveWeek of 2024-06-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-07-01: 15 positiveWeek of 2024-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2024-08-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2024-08-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2024-09-01: 17 positiveWeek of 2024-09-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-10-01: 11 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 19 positiveWeek of 2024-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2024-12-01: 12 positiveWeek of 2024-12-01: 4 negativeWeek of 2025-01-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-01-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-02-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-03-01: 13 positiveWeek of 2025-03-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-04-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 10 positiveWeek of 2025-05-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2025-06-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-06-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2025-07-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2025-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-08-01: 35 positiveWeek of 2025-09-01: 8 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 7 positiveWeek of 2025-10-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2025-11-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2025-11-01: 3 negativeWeek of 2025-12-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 3 positiveWeek of 2026-01-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-02-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-02-01: 2 negativeWeek of 2026-03-01: 5 positiveWeek of 2026-03-01: 5 negativeWeek of 2026-04-01: 4 positiveWeek of 2026-04-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-05-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 14 positiveWeek of 2026-06-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-07-01: 9 positiveWeek of 2026-07-01: 1 negativeWeek of 2026-08-01: 6 positiveWeek of 2026-08-01: 3 negative
Weekly review counts (Steam review histogram). Positive above the line, negative below.

Players online

902026-09-15 06:00 — 6 players2026-09-16 15:00 — 9 players2026-09-17 22:00 — 7 players2026-09-19 06:00 — 4 players2026-09-20 13:00 — 5 players2026-09-21 21:00 — 2 players2026-09-23 04:00 — 2 players2026-09-24 12:00 — 3 players2026-09-25 19:00 — 2 players2026-09-27 03:00 — 3 players2026-09-28 10:00 — 1 players2026-09-29 18:00 — 1 players2026-10-01 01:00 — 1 players2026-10-02 09:00 — 4 players2026-10-03 17:00 — 2 players2026-10-05 01:00 — 2 players2026-10-06 08:00 — 2 players2026-10-07 16:00 — 6 players2026-10-08 23:00 — 3 players2026-10-10 07:00 — 2 players2026-10-11 14:00 — 4 players2026-10-12 22:00 — 4 players2026-10-14 05:00 — 0 players2026-10-14 21:00 — 1 players
Concurrent players, hourly average, last 30 days (census samples).
453Oct 2023Aug 2026Oct 2023 — avg 45 · peak 121Nov 2023 — avg 11 · peak 31Dec 2023 — avg 12 · peak 26Jan 2024 — avg 12 · peak 33Feb 2024 — avg 6 · peak 17Mar 2024 — avg 12 · peak 44Apr 2024 — avg 5 · peak 16May 2024 — avg 7 · peak 26Jun 2024 — avg 5 · peak 19Jul 2024 — avg 7 · peak 22Aug 2024 — avg 4 · peak 9Sep 2024 — avg 13 · peak 67Oct 2024 — avg 5 · peak 24Nov 2024 — avg 6 · peak 18Dec 2024 — avg 6 · peak 18Jan 2025 — avg 4 · peak 12Feb 2025 — avg 3 · peak 14Mar 2025 — avg 4 · peak 15Apr 2025 — avg 3 · peak 8May 2025 — avg 6 · peak 17Jun 2025 — avg 10 · peak 25Jul 2025 — avg 5 · peak 15Aug 2025 — avg 19 · peak 90Sep 2025 — avg 5 · peak 16Oct 2025 — avg 5 · peak 14Nov 2025 — avg 5 · peak 15Dec 2025 — avg 5 · peak 13Jan 2026 — avg 4 · peak 18Feb 2026 — avg 3 · peak 8Mar 2026 — avg 4 · peak 13Apr 2026 — avg 4 · peak 12May 2026 — avg 3 · peak 9Jun 2026 — avg 8 · peak 24Jul 2026 — avg 5 · peak 12Aug 2026 — avg 4 · peak 13
Monthly average players (source: steamcharts.com) — history via steamcharts.com; live census sampling since Aug 2026.

Price history

$11.99$4.892023-10-162026-10-152023-10-16 — best price $10.792023-12-11 — best price $11.992024-03-04 — best price $9.592024-03-26 — best price $9.592024-05-29 — best price $11.992024-07-18 — best price $11.992024-08-21 — best price $11.992024-10-08 — best price $11.992024-11-05 — best price $11.992024-12-04 — best price $11.992025-01-03 — best price $11.992025-02-13 — best price $8.392025-03-13 — best price $7.792025-05-01 — best price $7.792025-06-18 — best price $7.192025-08-08 — best price $11.992025-09-09 — best price $5.992025-09-29 — best price $5.992025-10-14 — best price $5.992025-11-05 — best price $11.992025-12-24 — best price $5.992026-01-21 — best price $11.992026-03-02 — best price $5.992026-03-19 — best price $5.392026-04-07 — best price $5.992026-04-27 — best price $11.992026-06-02 — best price $11.992026-07-09 — best price $11.992026-08-01 — best price $11.992026-08-27 — best price $4.892026-09-01 — best price $4.892026-09-06 — best price $4.892026-09-11 — best price $4.892026-09-16 — best price $4.892026-09-21 — best price $11.992026-09-26 — best price $11.992026-10-01 — best price $11.992026-10-06 — best price $11.992026-10-11 — best price $4.892026-10-15 — best price $4.89
Lowest recorded price across tracked stores, per day (census snapshots).

Completion

60+
achievements tracked
74.4%
earned "IT BEGINS"
7.8%
median achievement earned by

Global achievement rates from Steam.

Details

WindowsFull controller supportSingle-playerSteam AchievementsFull controller supportSteam CloudSteam LeaderboardsFamily Sharing

8 supported languages: English, Italian, German, Russian, French, Spanish - Spain, Japanese, Simplified Chinese

Console footprint

PlatformPlayers trackedCompletionTrophies/achievements
Steam (Steam)9801%81
PS5 (PlayStation)721%47
Xbox Series, Xbox One (Xbox)701%46
PS4 (PlayStation)729%47
PS4 (PlayStation)20%47
Switch (Nintendo)20%0

Players tracked by Exophase (achievement/trophy trackers) — a sample of the player base, not total sales.

Player tags

DarkActionHorrorSci-fiShooterTop-DownAdventureControllerRogue-likeRogue-lite

Census log

Computed from census-recorded observations only — dates are observation dates.

Recent updates

Players also track

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Similarity via IGDB.

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