Shift Out

Shift Out borrows the sliding motion of 2048 and points it at a different problem. Swiping moves the entire board in one direction, but instead of merging into bigger numbers, matching tiles eject through coloured gates at the edges.

Because the swipe is global, you never move a single tile — you move all of them. A swipe that lines up the two tiles you wanted also rearranges everything else, and the tile you had carefully positioned three moves ago goes wherever the swipe takes it. Thinking in terms of the whole board rather than individual pieces is the adjustment most players have to make.

Gates are colour-specific, so a tile can only leave through a gate that matches it. That turns each swipe into a routing question: the swipe that clears one colour may push another away from its only exit. On tight levels the order of swipes matters far more than the number of matches you can see.

Chaining is where the move limit becomes survivable. Setting up a single swipe that ejects several tiles at once, rather than clearing them one at a time, is what fits a level into its budget. Those chains rarely happen by accident — they come from arranging the board over two or three swipes before committing.

Arrow keys or a mouse swipe on desktop, and swipes in any direction on mobile. Every level has a move limit and every tile must be cleared. Runs in the browser with nothing to install. 2048 is the obvious neighbour if you prefer merging to routing.

Levels never run out. They come in bands that run from a short tutorial up to insane and nightmare, and after the nightmare boards the game keeps dealing remixed hard boards: a late board mirrored or turned, recoloured and given one extra grey block, never the same board twice in a row. The first boards are 3 by 3 with three tiles; the last are 6 by 6 with fifteen or sixteen. About halfway through, fixed grey blocks appear. They never move and they split a row or column in two, so tiles pile up against them and only the tiles on the gate side can leave. Several tiles of one colour packed against their gate leave in the same swipe, and clearing two or more at once shows a combo.

Hearts measure how close you came to the shortest solution: clearing within one move of the best possible earns three hearts, two moves over earns two, and anything slower earns one. The move limit is separate. A swipe that moves nothing costs nothing. Run out of moves and the level fails, and you can retry. Each level gives two free undos and one free hint. The hint finds the quickest finish from your current board, shows the arrow and plays that swipe. Restart is always free.