Arms of God Preview: Can a Good Roguelike Be Made Solo?

Back in the day, the success of indie games like Balatro and Manor Lords—and even earlier, Undertale and Minecraft—sparked discussions about possibilities that had once seemed unimaginable: soon, games might be created by a single developer, without massive budgets or marketing campaigns. Since then, countless indie developers have been chasing that dream—creating a game that would be enjoyable not only for themselves, but for other players as well.

Today, we're taking a look at Arms of God, a dark action roguelike currently available in Early Access and developed by a solo creator. Let's see what this new contender for the "auto-shooter king" title has to offer, what its prospects look like, and whether the developer may have taken on a project that exceeds their capabilities.

The auto-shooter genre has been booming in recent years, largely thanks to Vampire Survivors, which launched in 2021 and made waves with its surprisingly simple formula. Players fend off massive enemy hordes while their character attacks automatically, leaving them free to focus on dodging incoming threats and collecting resources scattered across the map. This gave rise to the modern auto-shooter genre—also commonly referred to as Bullet Heaven (the opposite of Bullet Hell) or Survivors-like, after Vampire Survivors.

In recent years, developers have begun combining auto-shooters with other genres, including RPGs, tower defense games, mech simulators, and even first-person shooters. Arms of God is one such hybrid.

Solo developer Dark Jay Studio has fused together mechanics from auto-shooters, roguelikes, and RPGs. From classic auto-shooters such as Vampire Survivors, Brotato, and Halls of Torment, the game borrows its isometric perspective and wave-based combat against ever-growing enemy swarms. From Hades and other roguelikes, it takes procedurally generated levels and the loss of progress upon death — you'll have to restart the stage from scratch, and any loot you've collected is gone. Diablo is the obvious inspiration behind the game's grim visual style and environments, which range from ancient graveyards to castle libraries. The enemy designs feel heavily influenced by DOOM, as does the game's brutally straightforward premise: slaughter demons from Hell. Meanwhile, the protagonist's Templar knight aesthetic and the story's religious themes may stir nostalgic memories of Dante's Inferno. And if action games are your thing, we've also put together a large list of the best action-adventure games on our website.

Let's take a closer look at how this blend of mechanics from three different genres works in its current state.

What makes the auto-shooter genre so appealing? First and foremost, it's the sense of progression. You start out weak and vulnerable, but with each new run you become stronger, gradually transforming from prey into a god of war.

Arms of God delivers that feeling quite well. You play as a warrior of the Templar Order whose mission is, naturally, to cleanse the world of demons. Each level — there are currently four available in Early Access — consists of 15 stages. In every stage, the player must survive for a set amount of time while fighting off hordes of enemies. Souls dropped by slain demons can be spent on character upgrades, making your warrior progressively stronger. At the same time, however, survival timers grow longer and enemy numbers continue to increase. At the end of each level awaits a boss; defeating it completes your current "crusade" and unlocks the next area. By the way, if you're looking for bloody games, we have a list of brutal and bloody games on PC and consoles.

Secondly, auto-shooters thrive on tactical minimalism. Arms of God can be played with one hand: all you need are movement controls and a single ability button for actions such as dodging or strafing. The classic strategy of running circles around the map while mowing down enemies works here just as well as it does in the genre's other heavy hitters. Thanks to its simple controls, the game is also an excellent fit for handheld systems such as the Steam Deck and ASUS ROG Ally. You can find the best games for Steam Deck, Asus ROG Ally, Lenovo Legion Go on our website.

Third, auto-shooters have always been known for their replayability, and Arms of God performs well in that department too. The main reason is the game's signature weapon fusion system. Instead of wielding a single weapon, your character can equip and use five at the same time. Weapons can be upgraded and merged together in creative ways. For example, you can combine an assault rifle with a crossbow, add explosive effects to a sword, or apply incendiary ammunition to an electric shock weapon. The result is a playground for absurd builds featuring lasers, swords, and shotguns dealing three different damage types simultaneously — holy, fire, and electric.

As you can see, Arms of God hits the mark when it comes to the core qualities that make a good auto-shooter. But surely a game about a holy knight bearing the cross must have a few sins of its own...

The first level of Arms of God creates a somewhat misleading impression. Valuable weapon upgrades rain from the sky, and even players new to the genre may find themselves thinking, "I can probably finish this whole game in one evening." That's exactly the trap. The game lures you in before dropping you into a much harsher reality on the second level, where loot becomes significantly less rewarding, enemy hordes grow too large to fit on the screen, and weapon progression slows dramatically. It's as if the first level represents the honeymoon phase of your relationship with the game, while the second is what comes after the wedding. If you are interested in complex games, you can take a look at our TOP with the hardest games of all time.

A significant portion of the available weapons offers little practical value in combat, many upgrades (such as "Speed +4%") feel more cosmetic than meaningful, and character selection affects little beyond a passive ability. All of these issues can be summed up in a single sentence: the game's balance still needs a lot of work.

For a solo developer — although Dark Jay Studio is technically a husband-and-wife team — balancing a game of this scope is an especially difficult task. Fine-tuning progression systems, item value, and combat balance requires extensive experience and a large pool of playtesters, both of which are difficult to come by for a small independent project.

It's also worth mentioning a few shortcomings that are fairly typical of the auto-shooter genre: the visual clutter that emerges in later stages when every inch of the screen is covered by enemies, the growing reliance on grinding, and the risk of burnout caused by limited mechanical and environmental variety.

The soundtrack, however, is genuinely impressive. The game combines heavy metal with organ-driven passages, making it feel as though you've stumbled into a live performance by Powerwolf or Brainstorm. It probably wouldn't earn a place on a list of the greatest video game soundtracks of all time, but it unquestionably succeeds at creating the dark Gothic atmosphere the game is aiming for.

So, is it possible to create a good roguelike as a solo developer? Arms of God suggests that the answer is yes — with some caveats.

On the one hand, even in Early Access, Arms of God already comes surprisingly close to the genre's strongest examples. In that sense, it serves as another argument in favor of the growing potential of solo game development. Five years ago, creating a project of this scope alone would have been nearly impossible.

On the other hand, miracles don't happen. Arms of God still needs a significant amount of refinement. The full release is currently planned for late 2026 or early 2027. If the developer has the passion, time, and endurance required to expand the content and polish the game's systems, Arms of God could quickly move from the category of "promising" to that of genuinely great games.