When it comes to reviewing new games in the Vampire Survivors inspired auto-shooting genre – which are currently appearing at a rate of 2-3 per week on the digital storefronts – my line of thought is to seek out what makes an entry stand out from the countless others out there. In some cases, the main gimmick is obvious, such as a unique theme or online play, while other times there’s the need to dig a little deeper. We haven’t seen two almost indistinguishable yet, although at the rate new entries are being put out, it seems inevitable that day will come.
Not today though. Initially, it seems that God of Weapons is doing enough to get by simply by boasting polished presentation, featuring smooth visuals with subtle lighting and an interactive frontend instead of dull menus. Then came the realisation that this edges more into roguelike territory, pitting your character (with the default selection including a knight and a warlock, with a barbarian soon joining) against waves of enemies that last 40-60 seconds – with the goal being to reach wave 20 and defeat a boss. Also of note is the isometric viewpoint, complete with the ability to manually zoom in and out.
None of these features end up defining God of Weapons, as there’s something far more innovative holding everything together. The focus here is on inventory management, featuring a system similar to the classic Resident Evil games, along with the indie puzzler Save Room – which was heavily inspired by Capcom’s horror classics. Simply, the inventory is mapped onto a grid with each weapon or piece of armour taking up a certain amount of squares, with powerful weapons taking up several and stat-boosting trinkets just one or two. Upon levelling up, more squares can be added to the grid, expanding it vertically or horizontally. Between waves new items can be purchased from a random selection, while unwanted items can either be sold or combined with duplicates. There’s plenty of scope to become overpowered by managing the inventory proficiently, and that’s the draw here.
This means just as much time is spent managing the inventory as it is auto-shooting and dodging enemies. To succeed you’ll need to rotate items to maximise space, ditch outclassed items, and find a balance between ranged and melee weaponry. Discovering ‘wiggle room’ for an additional trinket is curiously compelling. Trinkets usually boost a couple of stats while decreasing one or two, so there’s the ability to start formulating ‘builds’ quite early on too, becoming a life stealer, a speedy melee attacker, or a projectile flinging fanatic. There’s a breakdown of your current stats, helping to track and plan things, and many of the achievements/trophies are for becoming OP in certain areas.
So far so good. However, the actual auto-shooting aspect is where cracks start to appear. Nothing is fundamentally flawed, but you will likely be left wanting for more variety within the environments – with the tower simply consisting of either rectangular or square rooms with identical backdrops – and perhaps a slightly brighter colour palette. It does at least have a few surprises in store, such as crumbling scenery that falls from above and the presence of harder ‘Elite’ enemies that usually spew projectiles in ‘bullet hell’ style formations.
Even though enemy spawn points and projectiles are clearly marked, along with the contents of breakable barrels, this is a very dark game – and the darkness can lead to taking a hit or two. Foolishly dash through a bunch of enemies and you’ll take 2-3 hits. Acceptable, but the same goes from trying to escape from a corner, which doesn’t seem quite as fair considering the small arena sizes. Thankfully health pick-ups and instant level up tokens appear often.
From the character selection pool an armoury can be accessed, which unlocks new items that you’ll then start to see in the store. Permanent upgrades can also be acquired, while new character classes unlock upon hitting milestones, with some being easier to master than others, each having an assortment of starting weapons. To unlock every character will take quite some time, and there are a handful of difficulties to play through – with a typical run lasting 30-40 minutes, depending on how long you dabble with the inventory. Incidentally, when playing on Xbox it seems that by restarting the entire game upon death a ‘continue’ option will appear on the main menu. I’m not sure if this was a glitch, a cheat, or a design oversight (by default there are no continues) but it did help make progression smoother.
Recommending God of Weapons basically comes down to two things. Firstly, are you still enjoying the current auto-shooter trend? Secondly, do you find managing the inventory in Resident Evil et al a compelling diversion? If the answer to both is “yes!” then this is well worth seeking out. If the answer to both happens to be a resounding “no!” then it’s likely the inventory management aspect will feel like it slows the pace significantly. It’s an extra layer of depth that some won’t care for, but enough to make this a multifaceted experience all the same.
Archmage Labs’ God of Weapons is out now on PS5 and Xbox Series. Published by Ultimate Games. A PC version launched in 2023.