The roguelike field is overflowing with truly excellent games, so it can be hard to stand out. Well, what if you played as a frog that stood on top of a giant mech with a sword? That’s the core premise of Shoulders of Giants, and even if that’s all the game did right, we’d be tempted to talk about it.
However, it’s not the only thing the game does right. In fact, Shoulders of Giants is one of those games that we think it’s really strange that nobody talks about it more. First of all, it’s co-op, and we love a good co-op roguelike, because dying a lot with a friend is the best way to mimic human interaction, or something.
The froggy side of things handles the ranged combat, while your mech buddy will do all the melee and movement. As you play through each world, you’ll upgrade both characters with new abilities which include, but are not limited to, being able to summon a garbage truck to run over your enemies. The skills here are very inventive, and the enemy designs can match them pretty comfortably too.
The worlds are also really easy on the eyes, the music is great, and each run feels very different, thanks to all the weird power-ups. You’ve also got a very clear meta-progression system thanks to your hub world being based around becoming more powerful overall, which helps alleviate some of the stresses that roguelikes induce in some players.
We just think it’s neat, and if you’ve been waiting for a roguelike that does things a little bit differently, then Shoulders of Giants is a great shout. Also, and we can’t stress this enough, you get to play as a frog with a gun on top of a mech with a sword.
