ActionAdventureFree To PlayIndieEarly Access
The Parallax Effect
Hooks you right away
Gets good instantly from the first hour
Started playing 39% of owners
Steam reviews 47% positive of 239
What the data shows
- 37% of first-hour reviews are positive — about the same as players with 3+ hours (37%).
- The opening is criticised more than in 90% of games we track.
- Few early reviews, so this is a rough estimate.
- Only 39% of owners have even the first achievement — the rest barely played.
When it gets good
Share of positive reviews by how many hours the reviewer had played when writing the review.
before it gets good opening up fully opened up
Based on all 241 Steam reviews in every language. Almost every game is rated lower in the first 2–3 hours: that window includes refunds and quick first impressions. What matters is how deep the dip is and how fast the game recovers.
Where players quit
Share of players who started the game and reached each story milestone. 100% is the most common achievement (39.2% of owners), so people who bought the game and never launched it don't count.
Story milestones aren't labeled yet; all achievements are listed below.
All achievements (20)
- Chimera Find your way to the Chimera wilderness. 100%
- Explorer Find something to aid your survival. 77%
- Nutritional Consume something that affects your statistics. 65%
- Spotlight Find and equip a flashlight. 52%
- Medic Heal yourself from injury. 42%
- Hunter Kill an animal and harvest its corpse. 21%
- Lab Rat Inject yourself with an unknown serum. 19%
- Militarised Arm yourself to the brim with some high powered weaponry. 18%
- Night Owl Survive your first night. 18%
- Not Alone Meet another survivor of The Parallax Effect. 17%
- Civilisation Find The Red Shield survivors camp and introduce yourself. 15%
- Builder Construct and place a plot pole to stake your claim on the Earth beneath you. 14%
- Ignition Construct your first campfire to stay warm. 11%
- Raider Take out an armed hunter. 11%
- Slayer Take down a mutant a live to tell the tale. 10%
- Bedtime Construct your first home point. 9.9%
- Armoured Have a total armour rating of 30 or more. 9.4%
- Assistance Call in some support from above with a signal grenade. 9.4%
- Biohazard Enter the deadzone surrounding Pierce Military Base and search for loot. 9.4%
- Hiker Cover a total distance of 10 kilometers on foot. 9.2%
Steam page Updated: 2026-10-22.