{"id":1133728,"date":"2026-02-03T22:34:15","date_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:34:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.polygon.com\/?p=527684"},"modified":"2026-02-03T22:34:15","modified_gmt":"2026-02-03T22:34:15","slug":"tankhead-is-a-terrific-roguelike-vehicular-combat-twist-on-shadow-of-the-colossus","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/tankhead-is-a-terrific-roguelike-vehicular-combat-twist-on-shadow-of-the-colossus\/","title":{"rendered":"TankHead is a terrific roguelike vehicular combat twist on Shadow of the Colossus"},"content":{"rendered":"
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We\u2019re roughly two months into 2025 now, and we\u2019re already spoiled by the plethora of great new video games to choose from. Even still, there have been more than a few titles released late last year that slipped off our radar and nevertheless merit attention. TankHead<\/em>, a roguelike vehicular combat adventure that stealth-dropped on Epic Games Store back in December, is one such game.<\/p>\n

Created by Toronto-based indie studio Alpha Channel, TankHead<\/em> centers around Whitaker, a digitized human consciousness housed within a drone body. Set several years in the wake of a cataclysmic event, TankHead<\/em> has players controlling Whitaker as he ventures into the \u201cEvent Containment Area\u201d \u2014 an irradiated region where ordinary humans can no longer survive \u2014 on a mission to return to the site of his former home, the fabled floating city of Highpoint.<\/p>\n

To do so, you\u2019ll have to take command of a modular light-armored tank and hunt the TankHeads \u2014 drone weapons haunted by the errant ghosts of their former operators \u2014 in order to pierce deeper into the ECA and reach Highpoint. Naturally, this is easier said than done.<\/p>\n

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After linking up with a smuggler operating out of a derelict landship, you\u2019re tasked with recovering the cores of three extremely powerful TankHeads. Once you find and repair your own tank, you\u2019re deployed to the outer rim of the ECA in search of abandoned transfer stations housing the remnants of each TankHead\u2019s \u201cpersona shadows.\u201d After recovering these, you\u2019ll be able to activate a \u201clure\u201d designed to summon the Tankhead, triggering a boss battle. You\u2019re not alone in the ECA, however, as each of the game\u2019s three open-world areas is littered with roving battalions of heavily armed drone tanks and other threats that\u2019ll stop at nothing to eliminate you on sight.<\/p>\n

When you start out in TankHead<\/em>, you\u2019re relatively underpowered compared to the enemies you encounter in the field, to say nothing of the techno-organic beasts you\u2019re tasked with slaying. Luckily for you, there are various depots of weapons, vehicle parts, and resources scattered throughout the world you can loot and recover to upgrade your own tank and abilities until you’re strong enough to hold your own against anything the ECA can throw at you. The three resource types you collect throughout the game include scrap, which can be used to repair your tank in the field; chips, which can be recovered from dead androids and terminal stations to be spent to upgrade your perks and abilities at your base; and E-115, a miraculous energy source that can be used to purchase new weapons and armor to outfit your own tank.<\/p>\n

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