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0 Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate is an action roguelite adventure by Moving Pieces Interactive. It was previously only available on the Epic Games store for PC or Xbox One/Series X|S but as of August 12th is now available via Steam. Though simply named Shoulders of Giants at its prior release, the title has been updated to reflect the Ultimate changes that have been made to the game since then.
Frog and Robot – another Dynamic Duo Adventure
There have been many video game duos over the years: Ratchet and Clank, Sam and Max, Jak and Daxter, Kratos and Boy, etc. Though the Froggie in Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate would assert that the robot is the sidekick, I think an argument could definitely be made for the latter. When you think of other game duos, who are the most memorable to you? Let me know in the comments. That is after checking out my thoughts on the game below!
Gameplay
Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate is referred to as a roguelike, but it is technically a roguelite. I’ve brought up the difference in a prior review but just want to touch on it again here. The primary difference between the two is that a roguelite is less punishing, as it gives players the ability to obtain certain progress to use in fresh runs. This is the case of the gameplay loop in Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate. Each run brings new weapons, cores (to modify starting abilities and the look of your robo friend), as well as experience to put towards permanent skill upgrades.
The objective in Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate is to defeat the encroaching forces of Entropy. You do this by traveling to select planets, defeating the forces there, and earning HEAT for your success. You also lose HEAT if you die on a planet. When selecting a planet, each shows information about what environmental factors to expect as well as possible rewards to earn. Each planet also displays how many levels are within that run so you kind of get an idea of length ahead of time. The abilities you find during each run make each one unique, as you may not always have the same as a previous run or the next. Each encounter has you switching between mostly melee attacks as the robot, and attacking from range as the frog.
Completing a run awards you with experience, weapons, and new cores depending on the planet. You can also find bonus objectives throughout Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate that increase rewards at the end of your run. Putting your hard earned experience toward skills seems to be the best route for further progress. Through the skill tree you obtain buffs to not only your frog and robot abilities, but also to different aspects of the game. Such as how many planets are available to choose from when selecting your next run.
I only really have one major complaint with Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate. That complaint is that there is no map or some sort of compass to give you a better grasp on where you’ve been and where you need to go. Enemies seem to spawn continually, so stopping for combat and getting turned around was fairly easy to do. Some levels I could have spent half the time in if I actually knew where I was going and not wandering around.
Graphics & Audio
Looking at Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate gives me Risk of Rain 2 vibes. They definitely share the same aesthetic if nothing else. The UI is fairly simplistic as well, as are the polygon enemies and environment. But the overall feel is good, especially with the game being on Unreal Engine 5. The level environments portray the setting of a small section of a much larger world very effectively. I primarily spent my time in the game on my Steam Deck, but obviously desktop play provides a bit more sharper detail.
Cores and paint jobs provide some visual customization in Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate. Applying paint jobs sets to both your robot and frog in a matching style. However, there doesn’t seem to be further customization beyond that and the weapons you use. What is there is sufficient in my opinion and to be honest, more than I was expecting.
Audio in Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate is subtle. The majority of sounds heard are of the constant battle with enemies. The background music is light and I mainly just heard it when hanging around the hub world.
Longevity
I honestly feel I have only scratched the surface with Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate thus far. With the number of different weapons, cores, and skills to upgrade (and craft) there is definitely a potential for a serious time sink there. I am not sure how much time it takes to get to the end of the game, but I imagine it will take a good chunk. Thankfully the randomness of levels and available abilities will provide enough variety to get you to power through.
Final Thoughts
Overall, Shoulders of Giants: Ultimate is a solid entry to the roguelite library in my book. The gameplay loop may feel somewhat repetitive at times, but that’s kind of how roguelikes and roguelites are generally built. With only some minor frustrations, the game provides plenty of variety in both structure and building your character to suit your style.
I feel this game is worthy of the Thumb Culture Gold Award!
Disclaimer: A code was received in order to write this review.
If you enjoyed this review, check out my other reviews here.
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