Nothing like a good first-person punch.
. You play as Ada, a combat android who handles like Overwatch's Doomfist and looks like Mega Man Zero's forgotten daughter, and who's been tasked with junking out-of-control robots—in part with her giant mechanical fist. That fist has become my favorite melee weapon of the year so far.
Guns all have small magazines and awkwardly long reload times, and are used best in short bursts to set up foes for Ada's prize-fighter fist. Before each run, Ada can switch out her core, which represents a subclasses that determines Ada's passive and active combat abilities. I gravitated to the Overdrive core, which gives Ada badass Wolverine claws that let you attack while dodging, buffing damage and movement speed for every foe you tag on your path.
The demo, a preview of the upcoming early access release, set me up against Volt Colossus, a narcissistic centurion made of constantly gyrating Tesla coils who repeatedly FaceTimed me to brag about how cool and badass he is. Battle Shapers is presented with Blizzard-like polish: I like the way a section of the screen will quickly cut to show the enraged reactions of the area boss when you clear an area quickly, and how Ada chirps back at them like a forgotten '90s anime heroine.