Mimic Shadow

The game

You run the upper reel; your shadow runs the lower one, living your last four seconds. Crates, spike beds, rolling walls and sweeping searchlight beams come at both of you at once — and every dodge you make now becomes a dodge your shadow has to repeat, so the screen shows you the hazard you will have to survive in four seconds. Survive to the 60-second final curtain with both figures alive. It is shot in film noir: bone-white and ink-black high contrast, venetian-blind shadows, film grain and a single deep crimson accent, framed in a 4:3 letterbox.

How to play

• Arrow keys (or WASD) move the hero up, down, left and right inside the upper band.
• On phones, use the on-screen d-pad, or press-and-swipe on the picture itself as a virtual stick.
• P (or Escape) pauses the projector; Enter, Space or a click starts the film and restarts after a fall.
• Your shadow mirrors, with a 4-second delay, exactly what you did — plan a path that is safe twice.
• The crimson dashed “×4s” marker and the sprocket strip show the hazard waiting where your shadow is headed; it turns solid crimson on danger.
• If either you or the shadow touches a hazard, the reel ends — the HUD counts your time in the picture against your best run; the goal is to reach 60 seconds.