Battle Shapers Preview (PC): Fight Corrupt Robots and Their Powerful Overlords

Battle Shapers from indie developer Metric Empire gets the character progression from Hades but does everything else differently. A fast-paced roguelite at its core, Battle Shapers players from the first-person perspective and has you step into the shoes of Ada, one of the last remaining androids who has been awakened for a final mission.

Although her memories seem to have been wiped or just temporarily blocked, Ada is slowly regaining her powers run after run. Just like in every other roguelite, you get to keep some of the things you find during a failed run. In Battle Shapers, Turinium is the most important item in the game because it allows you to unlock new weapons, abilities, and talents.

The in-game currency can be found in loot boxes throughout the levels, but they also drop from enemies that are killed with a takedown. Sometimes when an enemy loses its entire pool of health, it’s susceptible to a takedown, which means that a melee attack will kill it while replenishing Ada’s shields and dropping Turinium.

It’s one of the core combat mechanics in Battle Shapers, one that allows you to survive without having to use health potions or anything similar that would replenish your HP. It is also important to use takedowns only when you need to replenish your shields because doing that while your shields are at maximum won’t give you any bonuses.

Combat is fast-paced and quite smooth, except for some occasional freezes that made me lose some runs. Depending on which weapon you use, there are different tactics to adopt. The powerful shotgun will require Ada to take on enemies up close, while the shock gun can be used from afar. Although the build I’ve played only has big area with a boss at the end, there are already quite a few guns available to unlock.

Every time you start a new run, Ada gets to choose here primary and secondary power cores, which are definitory for the playstyle. Throughout the run, she can enhance these power cores with special abilities that can lead to powerful combos. Power core enhancements also add points to your shield or health, depending on which ability you decide to go for.

At the end of the zone, Ada must face an Overlord, which is basically a boss that has unique powers. Before you get to face a boss, though, the game gives you information about its powers so that you can somewhat prepare for what’s to come. Each Overlord drops a power core that can change Ada’s combat abilities, thus offering new combat playstyles.

The game has an addictive gameplay loop, as runs aren’t that long. It takes probably 10 minutes to reach the first boss, and that fight can either end in 15 seconds or 2-3 minutes if you’re well-prepared to take it down. The most important thing is that I did not feel that I lost any progression, even after a failed run.

Thanks to the pretty balanced progression system, you’ll always find ways to improve Ada’s arsenal, powers, and survivability abilities. Not to mention that unlocking new weapons can really make your future runs much easier, especially if you manage to pick these up in the earlier levels.

But Battle Shapers is not just a mindless first-person shooter where you can shoot your way out of every sticky situation. You can be easily overwhelmed if you’re staying in just one place, so being mobile is of utmost importance. Also, your melee attacks can knockback enemies, so finding the right time to punch an enemy to make it ricochet into others leads to some pretty awesome moments. Same goes for takedowns as enemies punched can be directed into other attacking robots.

Speaking of which, robots come in different sizes and shapes. Flying drones, traditional Gundam-like robots, or turret robots are just some of the enemies that I encountered in the first zone. They also have different powers, so knowing which ones pose a threat and need to be removed first can go a long way.

Conclusion

Battle Shapers shapes up to be a pretty interesting sci-fi roguelite. It already has a solid gameplay loop and the formula, while not really original, seems to have been well executed. I’m not sure if the final build will have any voice acting, but I did miss it in this preview version.

I had a lot of fun switching my Android’s power cores, trying to find unusual combos to destroy the corrupted robots. The most important thing is that I felt that Ada was becoming more powerful each time I unlocked something, be it a new weapon, new ability, or new talent.

I’m very curious to see how Battle Shapers turns out in the end, but that will probably take another year or so. If you’re just like me, you can wishlist Battle Shapers on Steam right now, the game should enter Early Access sometime in Q3 2023.