God of Weapons Review

Are you a big fan of fighting through hordes of enemies at once? Are you also a big fan of organisation puzzles? Well, I have been playing Archmage Games Studio’s God of Weapons, which looks to combine the two. The question now is if this is a god you want to praise, or is it one better lost to history?

Recently, there’s been an interesting increase in games that list themselves as “action roguelikes”, with the most well-known arguably being Vampire Survivors. These series focus on putting the player on large maps against an endless horde of enemies to level up and find new equipment. This is the kind of title that God of Weapons aims to be, but some differences help it to stand out. 

First things first, however, what is the plot? You are one of a select group of heroes who need to climb the tower of Zhor to reclaim the last light of the world. That’s all we’re given here, and arguably, we don’t need more than that. The plot of God of Weapons is more there to set the scene, rather than keep you invested in the characters or the lore. The real focus here is on the gameplay loop.

When you start a run, you first have to pick your chosen hero and starting armament. There are a fair few to choose from, but the majority of them need to be unlocked, so you’ll only be able to choose three. While the theory would be that the choice of hero would represent your play style, that isn’t really the case. There is a clear benefit to some heroes over others, and I never found much reason to experiment or try other characters beyond the ones I found that worked. 

From there, you’ll need to climb the tower floor by floor, fighting through hordes of enemies as you go. Each level is a locked-off area where numerous different monsters will spawn. One thing to note is that you don’t actually attack yourself; it’s all automatic. Instead, your focus is on moving to avoid getting swarmed. It can be pretty entertaining, even challenging on later floors, but the lack of input might turn some people off. 

God of Weapons tries to differentiate itself from other games of this genre by changing how you gather weapons and items. At the end of each round, you’ll be presented with a selection that you can spend the gold you earned on. You’ll usually have enough gold to purchase something each round, but you need to make sure you have the room for them. 

Your character can take as many weapons as you can afford and fit into your inventory box. This box, much like Leon’s briefcase from Resident Evil 4, is made of a series of squares. However, at the end of each level, you can add up to three new squares to expand the area you have to work with.

While your inventory does get bigger, everything you can buy takes up a variable amount of space and in a variety of patterns. So it becomes a game in itself to fit everything you want. You also have the option to combine three of the same weapons into an upgraded version, but due to the options being randomised at the end of each floor, it doesn’t come up much.

The choices offered to you are certainly varied, but for the most part, all the weapons do one of three things. They’re either focused on melee, range, or magic, with each having a different speed, while also doing a different amount of damage. However, you’ll usually just pick either the most upgraded or the most expensive, and there’s no real reason to experiment.

Graphically, God of Weapons is impressive; the motion all feels natural alongside a strong, slightly cartoony art direction. Sure, the levels and the enemies can get repetitive, but you won’t mind seeing them all again. The same is true for the weapons, but alas, it is all window dressing on that end, as most will act the same way as the others. For instance, the giant flaming axe will act the same as the axe you got at the start.

God of Weapons is the kind of title that you can just sit down to play for a few hours, and there is strength in that. However, it does mean that it can get repetitive, plus the slow progression can lead the game to drag for a bit. With that said, if you like Vampire Survivors and others in this genre, or just want something uncomplicated, then God of Weapons is worth your time.