After just over a year in Early Access, Metric Empire is finally ready to unleash the finished version of Battle Shapers, a new first-person shooter about blasting robots and saving the world.
The world in question is called New Elysium, and it’s a bold and beautiful sci-fi city made up of diverse futuristic biomes. It’s an intricate world, with multi-leveled areas filled with fun details and new places to explore.
Be the Battle Shaper
The game casts you in the role of Ada, a highly-upgradeable reactivated bot known as a Shaper. Ada has been brought back and tasked with reclaiming New Elysium and you, along with a little flying robot dude that floats around homebase, must battle your way through waves of corrupted robots and giant bosses to do so.
The main focus in a game like this is always on the combat. In this regard, Battle Shapers is great, not just because of the nippy controls and the tactile gunplay, but because there’s great variety in terms of your arsenal. There are loads of different weapons to unlock, and they feel unique and specific to this world, which only helps with the sense of immersion.
On top of the ever-expanding gunrack, there are also abilities that you can bring to bear during battle. These are on a short cooldown timer, and you can only carry one at a time (at first, but you can unlock new options over time using currency collected in-game). There are opportunities to change up your choice, and it’s always worth picking abilities that suits your playstyle. For example, you might prefer to keep your enemies at range with grenades and pistols, or you could opt to ground slam the floor and set everything around you on fire, and then mop up with a shotty. Decisions, decisions.
Action with a dash of adventure
One of the things that I liked the most about Battle Shapers is the little platforming sections between the battles, which act as a nice change of pace and a palate cleanser. In these little passages of play, you’ll be hopping between platforms, shooting little triggers, and dodging laser traps.
Then, once you’ve done your platforming duty, it’s back into the arena, where the combat is, at times, ferocious . There are loads of different enemy types to battle, and you’ll have to mix up your battlefield tactics if you’re going to cope.
Flying robots can carry explosive barrels, or throw shields around other enemies. There are these horrible heavy units that carry miniguns, and melee units that pounce on you like a long-jumper. With your two guns and special abilities, plus any environmental traps that you can take advantage of, you must use all of your skills to blast your enemies while avoiding damage.
It’s a roguelite, so you don’t have infinite health. Instead you have a shield that protects you, and then a health bar after that. Happily, your shield can be replenished by punching enemies when they’re on their last legs, which creates a nice back and forth where you must dash in for melees to finish off your foes in order to claw some shield back.
Getting down to the core of things
There are four different cores, which, when equipped, change up your character’s abilities with new tactical options. On top of that, there are so-called core enhancers, and these allow you to further specialise your build. I really liked the way this system worked, and I was able to find some really cool synergies, such as stackable damage buffs and explosive takedown moves.
Making the most of your various abilities and enhancements is key to survival, as one would expect. There are boss battles every couple of floors, and these are TOUGH. These battles take place in small arenas, and the bosses have several phases to navigate. Naturally, it’s not uncommon to die in one of these encounters, and when that happens you’re sent back to your main hub.
Between attempts, you can unlock new weapons, abilities, and more. There are loads of different things to work through, which broadens your tactical options in-game and gives you a nice sense of constant momentum. It’ll take you hours and hours to unlock all the new gear, and I can see people having lots of fun working through the unlocks.
With lots to do, great combat, interesting progression and nuanced traversal, there is a lot to like about Battle Shapers. I really enjoyed the range of weapons and the feel of the gunplay, and I think it’s fair to say that the presentation is pretty great too. I’ve not even covered the latest additions to the game, including the new difficulty system added as it hits version 1.0 (it’s called The Phantom Code update).
All in all, Metric Empire has done a great job here, and if you’re a fan of roguish first-person shooters, this one is well worth keeping in your sights.
Battle Shapers is out now on PC (Win) and I played the game via access provided by the developer. It’s also worth noting that there’s a free demo, so you can try before you buy.
