Godfall developer Counterplay Games reportedly shut down earlier this year, so seeing it abruptly reappear with Armatus, a full-blown roguelite shooter coming to PC and consoles in 2026, may be considerably of a shock.
A trailer, together with every little thing from far-along cinematics and tense gameplay, materialized throughout at the moment’s November 2025 Xbox Accomplice Preview. It’s undeniably received that Godfall aptitude to it, as its foremost character will be seen smashing and blasting their manner by a post-post-apocalyptic Paris.
It’s not typically a sport developer seemingly closes down solely to reemerge months later with a brand-new online game for PC, Nintendo Swap 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Collection X | S. We sat down with Counterplay studio head and artistic director Ming Zhang to study extra about Armatus, its roguelike gameplay, and what it’s been like for the workforce to proceed its work when these rumors have been kicked up. You may see the full interview under.
IGN: To set the stage, inform me about Armatus and this trailer we will see. What are gamers taking a look at on this first trailer?
Ming Zhang: What you see on this trailer is snippets of gameplay, largely with a little bit little bit of cinematic footage from our sport. You recognize, it has been plenty of years in the making, and that is Counterplay’s subsequent entry in our love of visceral fight. You see a few of the talents, a few of the enemies, and a few of the cool strikes that you will be you are going to have the ability to do, on this case.
What are you able to inform me, in a little bit extra element, about its gameplay, its story, and, particularly, the world it takes place in?
Zhang: It is a third-person roguelite shooter, and with a view to construct the world, what we did, is we took the idea of city fantasy, which is the grim supernatural beneath the actual world, and we took it to the nines. What occurs in the post-post-apocalypse of an city fantasy world? Properly, , the actual world form of begins to interrupt aside, and beneath, all the supernatural stuff begins to spill forth, proper? When you concentrate on, ‘What’s a metropolis that evokes basic but additionally fashionable, and has all the proper tone and tambre, even un-supernatural?’ It might be Paris. Ranging from there, we then stated, ‘Properly, what’s the form of character that we’d have deliver right here? We needed to create the supernatural character, who was highly effective and had entry to those celestial talents that you’d be capable to use, however we additionally needed to take the sound and fury of contemporary firearms and put that in the palms of this supernatural being. So, you have received the magic and the firepower, and put it collectively.
I noticed The Vanishing is what triggered this Paris to appear like this. What are you able to inform me about that occasion and the way it resulted in one thing like that?
Zhang: There’s one thing about the phrase spoiler that’s developing (laughs), so you will should, you will should play and discover out, however it’s the pivotal occasion. That kicks off the sport.
That is completely honest. You talked about it a little bit bit there, however what else is it about Paris that makes it the location you go to for this as an alternative of someplace else round the world?
Zhang: Paris simply has unbelievable visuals, as a metropolis. Once more, while you assume city fantasy, it is unattainable to keep away from lots of the gothic undertones. The structure of the metropolis already evokes the feelings that we needed from these from the supernatural aspect of the world, so combining that actual world with the supernatural was an enormous a part of the setting as nicely.
I am curious if you happen to can inform us extra about the totally different instruments gamers can have at their disposal. Are there totally different weapons, weapon modifiers, or talents? What can we usually sit up for?
Zhang: This can be a run-based sport, and the main, I say, technique of fight that the participant has is, after all, your gun. So, you have got your gun, it is possible for you to to shoot it, however you even have a melee weapon at your disposal, and you’ve got a number of locomotion kits and several other talents that it is possible for you to to choose. Certainly one of the issues that was actually vital to us was that gamers do that factor that we internally name ‘inventive expression by fight,’ the place not solely is it that, you have got all these superb instruments that you should use in your in your participant package, it is that you just get to customise the participant package that you take on the run as you play every run. Simply as it is vital to have visceral constancy in the gameplay, it was vital for us to have the construct craft to associate with it.
Armatus is described as a third-person, roguelite shooter. Are there any particular video games that impressed Counterplay when crafting its gameplay?
Zhang: We have now lots of references, as all sport designers do. I believe you will should play and uncover all the references, however I believe followers of the style can be very happy with what now we have to supply.
I do not know if perhaps you’d have the identical reply, then, for a few of the totally different motion pictures, books, and video games or reveals that impressed the story and universe this takes place in?
Zhang: Properly, one in all the issues that we all the time look for at Counterplay, and we have carried out this since the starting, was fascinating style blends. With out getting too nerdy (laughs), we all the time look for combos. We all the time look for the chocolate and peanut butter or whatnot, and so I believe lots of the enjoyable in doing that’s for our gamers to determine it out on on their very own, however I believe you will see the inspirations worn fairly closely on our sleeves.
Roguelite, I believe, is a time period that lots of people hear, and so they really feel like in the event that they’ve performed one, they’ve performed all of them. What does Armatus do to face aside from different rogue lights and shooters?
Zhang: I have a tendency to consider roguelite as a design framework. It might be like saying, ‘If you happen to performed one RPG, you performed all of them.’ The design framework is the factor that you just scaffold the sport on prime of, but it surely’s not the solely factor in the sport. As we emphasised, our sport actually sings while you get into the fight. Artistic expression by fight is a core pillar of what we needed to do. If you happen to got here into this sport and also you simply needed to slaughter demons utilizing talents and weapons and melee, that is the sport for you, and if you happen to needed to be the form of one who strategically picks each single improve with a view to hit the excellent mixture and eradicate rooms that manner, that is additionally the sport for you. In order that’s form of how we give it some thought.
How lengthy is your common run going to be? Is that this the form of factor the place you’ll be able to play fast run earlier than mattress, or do you really want to sit down down and lock in for hours and hours?
Zhang: We’re nonetheless engaged on the sport, so I desire to not give a quantity at this at this level, however what I’ll say is, like many video games which have come earlier than and after, each in the third-person motion style, as nicely as the roguelite style, the decisions that you just make have a huge impact on how a lot you are able to do.
I believe at the finish of the trailer, you tease a boss combat. I am not wanting for specifics right here, however are bosses one thing gamers can sit up for in Armatus, and what are you able to inform me about them?
Zhang: Yeah, bosses are positively part of the sport. Thanks for that. Bosses are positively part of the sport, and we name them Larger Demons. What they symbolize is, if you happen to consider the demonic incursion that is taking place in Paris, in the post-apocalypse that we talked about, the Larger Demons are the ones that anchor. They’re extra strong than the different ones. They’re larger, they’re scarier, they’re figures of nightmare, and I believe gamers can have a good time being killed and killing them as nicely.
So would you name Armatus a very tough sport, then, or is that in the palms of the participant by totally different choices?
Zhang: I believe that is going to be as much as the participant, however I suppose you will have to attend and see on that one, too.
What are a few of the classes the workforce discovered from, particularly, Godfall, as a result of it is very easy to check these two, that the workforce introduced into the improvement of Armatus?
Zhang: I believe the largest one is that this: Popping out of Godfall, one in all the issues we persistently obtained suggestions on, and it was virtually all constructive, however mainly the huge dialogue level was the place to begin in the sport felt virtually primordial. Then, as you unlocked strikes in the talent tree, abruptly you have been doing this and also you have been doing that. The fight in that sport felt like a dialog with the builders. Once more, I am paraphrasing, , one or two opinions right here, however that was a significant supply of suggestions we received throughout the board. Followers actually resonated with the dynamic fight that we had in Godfall, and so they actually favored this dialog with the developer-style of play that that they had. So as we moved into our subsequent mission, we stated, ‘Hey, we did it for melee. Can we pull it off for shooters as nicely?’ So we took that, and that is the place this emphasis on construct craft comes from.
I noticed lots of rumors earlier this yr that Counterplay had shut down, and sitting right here now, that is clearly not the case. So, I am curious when you’ve got any touch upon that scenario you’d wish to share, and extra particularly, what it has been like for the studio to see these rumors swirl whereas figuring out full nicely that Counterplay’s subsequent sport may be very a lot nonetheless in improvement, regardless of that.
Zhang: I believe most of the studio was too busy engaged on the sport (laughs) to essentially take note of rumours that do not actually apply to their day-to-day. I believe the solely remark I actually have on it’s, the announcement and future launch of Armatus is a celebration of Counterplay Games, of our camaraderie, and this workforce that has gone by thick and skinny collectively. It means the world to us that gamers are going to have the ability to see this sport. They’ll play it, and we expect that individuals are going to have lots of enjoyable. So, my remark is, go play Armatus, after which you’ll be able to inform us how you are feeling about, proper? (laughs)
Shifting again to the sport itself, I could not inform based mostly on the trailer alone. Is that this a wholly single-player expertise, or are there any multiplayer parts, even scoreboards, or something like that?
Zhang: It is a single-player sport, and as for options, once more, we’re, we’re nonetheless in improvement, so wait and discover out.
I get it. It’s onerous to speak about these items when the items are all the time transferring, I am certain.
Zhang: I believe it is tougher to not discuss these items, proper? That is form of the problem right here.
PC, PlayStation, and Xbox variations are on the manner, however I additionally noticed {that a} Nintendo Swap 2 model is in improvement. Had been there any challenges in bringing Armatus to that console, and is the Swap 2 model anticipated to launch at the identical time as different platforms?
Zhang: Sure, they’re all anticipated to launch collectively. The problem with these items is all the time optimization, however if you happen to’ve seen Godfall, a PlayStation 5 launch title, that, if there’s one factor that we do nicely, it is optimizing sport techniques.
Is there something about Armatus that you just wish to discuss or that you really want gamers to know now that they are lastly seeing what this appears like?
This sport is a love letter to motion fight in all its kinds. It is a love letter to the city fantasy, gothic horror inspirations that we see in so many video games and fiction throughout, and the factor that’s most vital to us right here at Counterplay is for gamers to see this letter that we have written. So, I can come up right here and yammer about techniques and options all day lengthy, and all I might be doing is making guarantees to the viewers, however the promise I’ll make is that if you happen to play our sport, you are going to have a extremely nice expertise of butchering all these demons.
Michael Cripe is a contract author with IGN. He is greatest identified for his work at websites like The Pitch, The Escapist, and OnlySP. You should definitely give him a observe on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).