Champion Shift is a Vampire Survivors game that I’ve had quite a bit of fun with over the last few weeks. This is partly because it’s a solid top-down automatic shooter with roguelike elements, and mostly because you can transform into a goddamn car.
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The problem is that you are one of many legendary characters (you start as King Arthur Pendragon) who work together to make your way through crowds of cyberpunk creatures. Mowing down waves of mobs and completing other objectives on each stage’s map will gradually grant you random weapon and skill upgrades before you take on more tough bosses.
As with Vampire Survivors, shooting is automated, although you can aim some weapons with a little more precision depending on your attack style. You can also take advantage of cooldowns, which is useful for escaping hordes of enemies. Most importantly, however, the next button instantly turns you into a speeding car that can blast through enemies and add your own customizations, such as machine guns, rockets and blades. Your car mode cools down on a fairly generous timer, and I found that I could usually make my way through enough enemies to collect items and fill the bar without having to revert to human form for a while.
Champion Shift has only been in early access for a few months, arriving on Steam back in April, but developers SRG Studios have now made it available in full version 1.0 today, June 21st. The full game follows the game’s biggest update yet released earlier this month, which added Jesse James to a roster of mythical heroes that already includes the likes of Sun Wukong, Athena and Gilgamesh, introduced seven up-to-date stages – plus a stage select option – and relics that can be collected for eternal stat upgrades that carry over between streaks.
Personally, I’ve only played solo so far, which I’ve really enjoyed (thanks to the lovely Jason Coles for putting this on my radar), but Champion Shift also lets you fight with up to four people in online co-op op. The separate maps connect into a set of branching paths, leading to the final boss – which I haven’t reached yet – although you can apparently continue playing as long as you survive through the increasing difficulty levels as well.
Changing a Champion only costs a fiver on Steam – it’s also cheaper now due to the sale. If you’re even remotely intrigued by the idea of King Arthur meets Transformers, I’d say it’s definitely worth buying.