Developer: Archmage Labs
Publisher: Archmage Games Studio, Ultimate Games
Platform: PC, PS5, Xbox Series X/S
Tested on: PS5
God Of Weapons – Review
The Survivors-like genre has been booming ever since the release of Vampire Survivors. We have had the opportunity to play through cool releases such as Nordic Ashes: Survivors of Ragnarok, Deep Rock Galactic: Survivor, and Achilles: Survivor, which are all titles we still play from time to time today. Sadly, there are also a lot of subpar entries in the genre, so we are always a bit sceptical when a new ‘Survivors-like’ hits the market. In the case of God Of Weapons, this is different, however, as the game already made its name on PC several years ago, and has now been ported to Xbox Series X/S and PlayStation 5. As this port has been handled by Ultimate Games, a publisher with not the most spotless track record, we were wondering if the console debut of God Of Weapons would still manage to impress.
Story
Even though the shop page refers to ascending the tower of Zhor, an evil entity that has plunged the world into darkness, there is pretty much no story that is actually present in the game. You select a character, walk through the door or portal to start your run, and that’s about it. It’s all about the gameplay here, and for a title that’s similar to a Vampire Survivors-like experience, that is more than enough.
Graphics
God Of Weapons’ graphics aren’t exactly mind-blowing, but everything still looks quite good. The game has several characters you can choose from, all with different outfits. These outfits look rather detailed, and so do all the different movement and attack animations. With a title such as God Of Weapons, it’s to be expected that there is a wide arsenal of weapons to choose from, and these all have unique attack animations. While most of these effects are still somewhat basic, it becomes a rather impressive sight the more weapons you equip during a run. The enemies also have neat designs, and the included DLC does add some more enemy variety. The stage designs, however, are very monotonous, which probably has to do with the tower setting you find yourself in. This is also something we saw with Nordic Ashes’s DLC, Remnants of Corruption, which also suffered from a lack of environmental variety.
Sound
Just like the game’s graphics, the sound design was decent but not truly amazing. The soundtrack is a bit generic, and we quickly turned on our own music to play in the background. The current track keeps repeating every floor, and it gets old rather quickly. The sound effects, however, are rather satisfying. It’s very pleasant to hear your ever-growing arsenal of weapons go off against the increasing horde of enemies.
Gameplay
God Of Weapons is a Survivors-like game with a twist. You will still have to avoid hordes of enemies out for your blood, but you’ll have to commit yourself to proper inventory management in-between floors of the tower. Proper inventory management is the key to survival here, as you’ll need to fit as many weapons and other items as possible, as these will make you stronger and stronger. It’s a simple premise, but it will take you some time to get the hang of things.
When actually battling enemies, the gameplay loop is very similar to other Survivors-like games. You’ll run around, evade, and dodge enemies, while your weapons will attack targets around you automatically. You’ll collect experience and gold from killing enemies. Leveling up will increase your base stats but will also allow you to unlock new slots in your inventory. Gold can be used to purchase items in-between floors, which you can slot into your inventory. At the beginning, your arsenal is fairly limited, but you can unlock new weapons and items in the hub in-between runs. If there are a few items you don’t want to see during runs, you can simply choose not to unlock them. Depending on what goals you achieve during a run, you can also unlock new character classes and their subclasses.
As stated several times already, God Of Weapons’ original twist is the inventory management component. At the start of each run, you’ll have a small inventory, which can store around two weapons and a starting relic. Every time you level up, you can add a few squares of your choosing to expand your inventory. Then, at the same time, you can also purchase new items and weapons to slot in said inventory. You can rotate items to fit them, and you can swap places freely. You cannot drop one item over another to pick up the second item, but you’ll have to place an item outside of your inventory for a moment if you want to do this. You can also combine weapons to create a higher-tier version, granting you more space and a better weapon in the process. This system is a very interesting addition to the general gameplay loop of a Survivors-like game, as it puts your grey matter to work. It’s very satisfying if you can slot that item you needed to get bonuses from other adjacent items. Another cool feature is that you can lock items in the shop, making sure you’ll still have them on offer in the shop after you come back from clearing the next floor.
While in general, the port feels polished, the controls feel a bit wonky when it comes to the inventory management aspect. Picking up items doesn’t always feel very responsive, and the menus are awkward to navigate. Even so, after a few runs, you’ll be used to the controls for the most part, but we can imagine that inventory management on PC would be a lot easier than it is on console.
Conclusion
God Of Weapons is a great Survivors-like title that has a very pleasant gameplay loop thanks to the inventory management component. While the audiovisual presentation didn’t immediately blow us out of the water, we still had a blast thanks to the intense combat and the many classes and items to unlock on subsequent runs. If you’re a fan of the genre, this title has a lot to offer. If you’re fans of titles such as Save Room, and haven’t tried a Survivors-like yet, we can still recommend looking into this one.
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