Champion Shift finally answers the question we’ve all had in our hearts, which is, “What if King Arthur could turn into a car?” It’s a cultural artifact, basically, and it also happens to be a brand-new game that just hit Early Access. But why should you care?
The concept is suitably absurd, but it says nothing about the actual gameplay. The eagle-eyed among you will have noticed the title, so yes, this is a survivors-like. That means you’re in control of how you move when you dodge and when you turn into a car, but not necessarily when you attack. You can change the direction you’re aiming in as you’re moving, though, which is nice. Then, it’s just a matter of killing waves of enemies and the odd boss.
As you do this, you’ll gain experience points, health drops, and car energy, and you can then use the XP to choose new skills as you level up. These skills give you more weapons or passive buffs, and then you just keep going until you die. What’s interesting about Champion Shift, though, other than the whole legendary figures turning into cars, is that you get missions as you go, and once you’ve finished three missions and killed a boss, you go to the next level.
The result is a survivors-like that feels a bit more focused. You’re not just killing things for the sake of it – you’re trying to power up enough to take out the next big boss and then make it to the next level. It’s great to feel like you’ve got more of a purpose, and it’ll help a lot more people mesh with it. There’s also a strong sense of meta-progression.
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Not only can you unlock new characters and abilities by reaching certain levels or killing a set amount of special enemies, but you can also spend special points in between runs to upgrade your passive stats like your health, knockback, and so on. It’s a good system, and while it’s a little slow at the moment, it’s also a game in Early Access, so it’s likely to change.
On top of all of that, it’s got four-player co-op, which means you can go online and play with your friends or a group of randoms. That being said, the randoms I’ve played with have all died before leveling up, so maybe the skill level out there is just really bad. It’s still an immense amount of fun, though, and it’s absurdly cheap, which is always nice.
Also, there’s no other game where you can pair Athena up with Sun Wukong and then just go to town on a bunch of enemies while also becoming cars and using Ymir’s frost breath and a bird with the power of the Sun God Ra to smite things. It’s just pure fun, and if you’re looking for a game to jump into as and when you feel like it, get Champion Shift, then get some friends to get it, and then just enjoy the carnage.
Champion Shift is in Early Access now.
