That up there may look like an everyday spaceship to the untrained eye, but it’s actually a Champion – an upgradeable unit controlled solo by a “Champion player” in the next expansion for Arcen Games’ AI War, Ancient Shadows. Champions gain exp, and can explore entirely new parts of the galaxy where “the AI cannot reach”. Destination: Zion in The Matrix, then.
Not exactly. There’s more on Arcen’s site: “Splinter factions of humans, zenith, neinzul, and spire all dwell in those backwater nebulae. Some are hiding. Some are plotting. Some have gone totally insane. It is there, in the shadows, that your champion can find relics from the ancient race which constructed it.”
Friends can control Champion units in multiplayer, or they can be added to other player slots in your single player game. Elsewhere there are to be new AI and map types, as well as more ship classes, more music and a number of sub-races to be found doing the dwelling in the backwaters mentioned above.
Arcen note that the expansion is still in beta, but pre-orders and demo play are now open. And if we know Arcen, there’ll be plenty more updates still to come.