ShadowCaster

ShadowCaster is a first-person/role-playing video game from 1993 developed by Raven Software. It was released by Origin Systems after Electronic Arts acquired them. A CD-ROM version was released in 1994, featuring two additional levels with new monsters, and replacing text boxes with FMVs and spoken narration through CD tracks.

The player takes the role of Kirt, a human with powers of shapeshifting. Among other forms, Kirt can become a huge cat-like animal, a floating tentacle-wielding gazer, and a dragon. In the beginning of the game Kirt finds out that he is not in fact human, but comes from a parallel world where there was a war raging between shapeshifters for centuries. Kirt, and his grandfather, are the last of their kind, and now the evil ones have found them. Kirt's grandfather opens a portal back to the homeworld, and that is where the story begins. Kirt's mission is to stop the demons once and for all, but first he will need to awaken his innate shapeshifting powers, which is where the obelisks come into play. Going up to one of these and touching it will unlock a new form, and the first is the cat form. Few video games have made the concept of shapechanging the center of their gameplay; The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask and Kameo: Elements of Power are later examples of this.