SHAFTED

SHAFTED looks like a joke first and a game second, and that is exactly its pitch. By our assessment, the title suggests a rough, crude sort of action or humiliation comedy, the kind that depends on tone more than on elegant mechanics. The downside is that this sort of name can only go so far if the actual play is thin, because the joke cannot keep carrying the whole experience. In practice the game will live or die on whether the moment-to-moment actions are sharp enough to justify the attitude around them. It sits in the awkward space of irreverent indie titles that rely on style, shock, or awkward humor more than on broad appeal. SHAFTED will make sense to people who like rude premises and do not need the surface to be polished, and it has little reason to chase anyone else.