Armatus enters a crowded market with swaths of roguelite third-person shooters vying for gamers’ attention. While it’s hard to say how it will fare as a full release, this demo provides a brief look at what a Warrior’s typical day is like in post-apocalyptic France.
Armatus is a Dark Roguelite Shooter Set in Post-Apocalyptic Paris
Armatus’s story takes place after a mysterious event rips reality apart, ultimately dooming humanity. As the last Warrior of a mysterious order, Zamina will direct you on comms and provide exposition on how Paris became a haven for demons.
Initially, Armatus tosses a couple of choices of guns and a minor Blessing your way before you enter The Scoured Path, where you’ll get right to work reducing the amount of demons in the world with bullets or your trusty scythe. I did not find the guns offered or the alternate abilities, such as slowing time or throwing your scythe boomerang-style, impressive or unique. Additionally, considering how early and often flying enemies show up, I question the decision to have such a focus on melee, which includes Celestial Glyphs and Blessings you can pick up. Though I was able to damage flying enemies with my melee ability, it was inconsistent, and in roguelites, that can be death in itself.
Though purging demons is definitely the name of the game in Armatus, you’ll find yourself escorting Lost Shades who act as mods like Halo’s skulls, deciding how to spend Quintessence, destroying demonic eggs, and performing ritual burns. While I didn’t find a great variety of differences in objectives, it’s fairly clear that this is an extremely limited slice of the game. Strangely enough, this is even to the point that I was unable to see how the roguelite elements work, making my experience more of a Roguelike with this demo.
Counterplay Games does provide a prompt stating that Furium will allow the Warrior to get ever-closer to the Sunless Gate on a run-by-run basis, but I don’t know if Furium also fuels meta-progression, or if it is some other element that I didn’t have access to, like Dark Matter.
Roguelites can very easily devolve into RNG (Random Number Generation) dependent affairs, to the point that not starting or getting access to certain abilities or options can make entire runs pointless. It is hard to say where Armatus will land, but I think the developer should address several issues before launching. Currently, there is no way to “reroll” any options, which is common (if not necessary for success) in many roguelites. The game’s dark atmosphere is quite moody, but the UI should be given another look at, as the interact button is nearly invisible when trying to use The Outpost. Enemies will drop currency and Blessings during combat, which will disappear if not picked up fast enough. While I would understand if currency disappeared after a period of time, as that is just a choice some developers make, it feels wrong to deny the player a Blessing just because they’re busy fighting for their life against hordes of demons. Considering how punishing some roguelites become, I am not looking forward to having to make a tactical error and possibly end my run because I needed to grab a Blessing.
Lastly, it’s pretty brazen to only have enemies attempt to move out of your crosshairs when you are scoped. If enemies did this periodically or just randomly, it would just make it so that players have to keep in mind there’s a chance they’ll miss and watch out for a potential juke. As is, enemies instantaneously know to dodge when you’re scoped on them, which feels less like compelling gameplay and more like cheap 90s Beat ‘Em Up AI.
It’s important to remember this is just a demo, and Counterplay Games has time to refine the gameplay loop before release. If they do, the horrific enemies and mysterious narrative could provide a compelling experience.
Armatus launches in 2026.
