{"id":838214,"date":"2025-12-12T06:35:57","date_gmt":"2025-12-12T06:35:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts"},"modified":"2025-12-12T06:35:57","modified_gmt":"2025-12-12T06:35:57","slug":"five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\/","title":{"rendered":"Five of the Best: Shape changes or shifts"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts.jpg\" \/> <\/p>\n<p><em>Five of the Best is a weekly series for <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/subscribe\"><em>supporters of Eurogamer<\/em><\/a><em>. It&#8217;s a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It&#8217;s also about having your say, so don&#8217;t be shy, use the comments below and join in!<\/em><\/p>\n<p><em>Oh and if you want to read more, you can &#8211; you can find <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/topics\/five-of-the-best\"><em>our entire Five of the Best archive<\/em><\/a><em> elsewhere on the site.<\/em><\/p>\n<p>We&#8217;re well aware of our human capabilities, so games often deliver fantasies about going beyond them. We play characters with extraordinary acrobatic abilities, or with incredible strength or martial prowess, and sometimes, we play as characters who have powers we could never have. Mixed within this is the fantasy of becoming something completely different and changing entirely from a human into something else, and that&#8217;s what I want to get at here. Ever since Altered Beast, and probably for far longer, we&#8217;ve had games that allowed us to change shapes and access new abilities as we play. We&#8217;ve even had games take us to inorganic places, with mech suits and more. Shape changes can be the ultimate power-up. The question is, which are the best?<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.eurogamer.net\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\">Source<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It&#8217;s a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked. It&#8217;s also about having your say, so don&#8217;t be shy, use the comments below and join in! Oh and if you want to read more, you can &#8211; you can find our entire Five of the Best archive elsewhere on the site. We&#8217;re well aware of our human capabilities, so games often deliver fantasies about going beyond them. We play characters with extraordinary acrobatic abilities, or with incredible strength or martial prowess, and sometimes, we play as characters who have powers we could never have. Mixed within this is the fantasy of becoming something completely different and changing&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"excerpt-more\"><a class=\"blog-excerpt button\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\/\">Read More&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":838215,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[230],"tags":[259,2916,585,317,8712,11551,3198,7174,79,773,8767,75,977,10211,10474,8711,8673,13,1391,59,136,3532,736,844,44,45,168,34,8773,54,1325,12000,516,8851,6755,12001,3987,99,534,4616],"class_list":["post-838214","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-eurogamer","tag-action-adventure","tag-arkane-studios","tag-baldurs-gate-3","tag-bethesda-softworks","tag-bird-view-isometric","tag-blitworks","tag-dishonored","tag-dungeonsdragons","tag-fantasy","tag-first-person","tag-full-product","tag-indie","tag-larian-studios","tag-midway","tag-mossmouth","tag-multiplayer-competitive","tag-multiplayer-cooperative","tag-nintendo","tag-nintendo-3ds","tag-pc","tag-platformer","tag-playstation-vita","tag-ps2","tag-ps3","tag-ps4","tag-ps5","tag-racing","tag-rpg","tag-side-view","tag-single-player","tag-spelunky","tag-spyhunter-2","tag-strategy","tag-strategy-turn-based-strategy","tag-the-legend-of-zelda-majoras-mask","tag-the-legend-of-zelda-majoras-mask-3d","tag-third-person","tag-xbox","tag-xbox-360","tag-xbox-series-x-s"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Five of the Best: Shape changes or shifts | Arcader News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It&#039;s a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Five of the Best: Shape changes or shifts | Arcader News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. It&#039;s a series that highlights some of the features in games that are often overlooked.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/news\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-12T06:35:57+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/arcader.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/05\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"480\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"270\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Arcade News\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Arcade News\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"headline\":\"Five of the Best: Shape changes or shifts\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-12T06:35:57+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":212,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Action-Adventure\",\"Arkane Studios\",\"Baldur's Gate 3\",\"Bethesda Softworks\",\"Bird view \\\/ Isometric\",\"BlitWorks\",\"Dishonored\",\"Dungeons&amp;Dragons\",\"fantasy\",\"first-person\",\"Full product\",\"indie\",\"larian studios\",\"Midway\",\"Mossmouth\",\"Multiplayer Competitive\",\"Multiplayer Cooperative\",\"Nintendo\",\"nintendo 3ds\",\"PC\",\"Platformer\",\"PlayStation Vita\",\"PS2\",\"PS3\",\"PS4\",\"PS5\",\"Racing\",\"RPG\",\"Side view\",\"single-player\",\"Spelunky\",\"SpyHunter 2\",\"Strategy\",\"Strategy: Turn-Based Strategy\",\"the legend of zelda: majora's mask\",\"The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask 3D\",\"Third Person\",\"Xbox\",\"Xbox 360\",\"Xbox Series X\\\/S\"],\"articleSection\":[\"Eurogamer\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/\",\"name\":\"Five of the Best: Shape changes or shifts | Arcader News\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2024\\\/05\\\/five-of-the-best-shape-changes-or-shifts.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-12T06:35:57+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/arcader.org\\\/news\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/8460f5e5076b52fb2369f2f7ce6f2839\"},\"description\":\"Five of the Best is a weekly series for supporters of Eurogamer. 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