'Godfall' developer Counterplay Games talks about reported work stoppage after 'Armatus' first trailer release

God falls Developer vs Game Reportedly closed earlier this yearso it might be a bit of a shock to see it suddenly reappear with Armatus, a full-fledged roguelite shooter coming to PC and consoles in 2026.

The trailer was officially released during today's November 2025 Xbox Partner Preview, and includes everything from lengthy cutscenes to tense gameplay. It's undeniably Godfall-esque, as its protagonist can be seen smashing and exploding his way through post-apocalyptic Paris.

It's not often that a game developer seems to go out of business for months only to rise again with brand new video games for PC, Nintendo Switch 2, PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X. S. We sat down with Counterplay studio head and creative director Ming Zhang to learn more about Armatus, its roguelike gameplay, and how the team continues to work as these rumors swirl. You can see the full interview below.

IGN: Let’s start with a little bit about Amathus and the trailer we’re about to see. What did players see in the first trailer?

Ming Zhang: What you see in this trailer is footage of gameplay, mostly some cinematic footage from our game. You know, this game has been years in the making, and this is the next installment from Counterplay that embodies our love of visceral combat. In this case, you'll see some abilities, some enemies, and some cool moves you'll be able to do.

Can you tell me more about its gameplay, story, and especially the world in which it takes place?

open: This is a third-person roguelite shooter, and in order to build this world, what we did was take the concept of urban fantasy, which is the cruel supernatural phenomenon under the real world, and take it to the extreme. What happens in a post-apocalyptic urban fantasy world? Well, you know, the real world starts to break apart, and down below, all the supernatural stuff starts to spill out, right? When you think “What city evokes something classical yet modern and has just the right tone and timbre to be non-supernatural?” it would be Paris. From there, we said, 'Okay, what kind of characters are we going to bring? We wanted to create a supernatural character who was powerful and had access to these celestial abilities that you could use, but we also wanted to put the sound and fury of modern firearms in the hands of this supernatural being. So, you've taken magic and firepower and combined them together.

I saw that The Vanishing made Paris look like this. What can you tell me about that incident and how it led to a similar situation?

open: The word spoiler is going to come up (laughs), so you have to do it, you have to play and find out, but this is the key event. The game begins.

That's totally fair. You touched on it a little bit there, but what other reasons were there for you to choose Paris over the rest of the world?

open: As a city, Paris is incredibly visual. Then again, when you think of urban fantasy, you can't avoid a lot of gothic undertones. The architecture of the city already evoked the emotions we wanted from people from the supernatural world, so combining the real world with the supernatural was also an important part of the setting.

I'm curious if you can tell us more about the different tools available to players. Are there different guns, weapon modifiers, or abilities? What can we generally expect?

open: This is a run-based game, I say, and the main means of combat the player has is, of course, your gun. So, you have your gun and you can shoot it, but you also have a melee weapon at your disposal, you have a couple of movement sets and a couple of abilities that you can choose from. One of the things that's really important to us is that players do what we call internally “creative expression through combat,” and not only that, but you have all these amazing tools that you can use in your player toolkit, but you can also customize the player toolkit that you use on every run. Just as it's important to have visceral fidelity in the gameplay, it's also important to us to have a build craft that goes with it.

Armatus is described as a third-person roguelite shooter. Were there any specific games that inspired Counterplay when designing the gameplay?

open: Like all game designers, we have a lot of references. I think you have to play and discover all the references, but I think fans of the genre will be very happy with what we have to offer.

So, I wonder if you would have the same answer for some of the different movies, books, games, or shows that inspired the story and universe?

open: Well, one of the things we've been pursuing with Counterplay is an interesting fusion of genres, and we've done that from the beginning. Without getting too nerdy on you (laughs), we always look for combinations. We're always looking for things like chocolate and peanut butter, so I think a lot of the fun of doing that is our players figuring it out on their own, but I think you'll see that we wear our inspiration on our sleeves.

I think roguelite is a term that a lot of people have heard of and they feel like if they've played one, they've played them all. How does Armatus stand out from other roguelike lights and shooters?

open: I tend to think of Roguelite as a design framework. It's like saying, “If you've played one RPG, you've played all RPGs.” The design framework is the foundation upon which a game is built, but it's not the only thing in a game. As we've emphasized, our game really shines when you get into combat. Creative expression through combat is a core pillar of what we want to do. If you come into this game just wanting to slay demons using abilities, guns, and melee combat, then this is the game for you, and if you want to be the type of person who strategically chooses every upgrade to achieve the perfect combo and wipe out rooms that way, then this is also the game for you. This is what we think.

What is your average running time? Is this a game you can play as a quick runner before bed, or do you really need to sit down and lock down for a few hours?

open: We're still developing the game, so I don't want to give specific numbers right now, but I will say that like many games before and after, whether it's the third-person action genre or the roguelite genre, the choices you make will have a big impact on how much you can do.

I think at the end of the trailer you teased a boss battle. I won't go into details here, but are bosses something players can look forward to in Amathus? What can you tell me about them?

open: Yes, bosses are definitely part of the game. Thank you. Bosses are definitely part of the game and we call them Big Evils. What they represent is that if you think about the demonic invasion that's going on in Paris, in this post-apocalypse that we're talking about, the archevil is the anchoring force. They are stronger than others. They're bigger, scarier, nightmarish figures, and I think players will have a great time killing and slaying them, too.

So, would you say Amathus is a particularly difficult game, or is it determined by the different choices the player makes?

open: I think it's going to be up to the players, but I guess you'll have to wait and see as well.

What lessons did the team learn from Godfall that the team brought into the development of Armatus, since it's easy to compare the two games?

open: I think the biggest point is: Godfall is one of the things that we get feedback on all the time, and it's almost always positive, but basically the biggest talking point is the starting point of the game, which feels almost raw. Then, when you unlock moves in the skill tree, suddenly you're doing this, you're doing that. Combat in the game feels like a conversation with the developers. Again, I'm paraphrasing a comment or two here, but this is our main source of feedback across the board. Fans really resonated with the dynamic combat in Godfall, and they really enjoyed how the game spoke to the developer's style. So when we went into the next project, we said, 'Hey, we're doing this for scrimmage. Can we do this for shooters too? So we took that and that's where the emphasis on the craft of construction came from.

Earlier this year I saw a lot of rumors that Counterplay was shutting down, but sitting here now, it's clear that's not the case. So, I'm curious if you have any comments you'd like to share about this situation, and more specifically how the studio feels seeing these rumors floating around while knowing full well that Counterplay's next game is still in development.

open: I think most studios are too busy developing games (laughs) to really pay attention to rumors that don't really apply to their daily lives. I guess my only comment on this is that the release of Armatus and future releases are a celebration of Counterplay Games, a celebration of our friendship, and a celebration of this team that has stuck together through thick and thin. To us, it means the world for players to see this game. They're going to play the game and we think people are going to have a lot of fun with it. So, my opinion is, go play Amatus and then you can tell us what you think, right? (laugh)

Back to the game itself, I can't tell based on the trailer alone. Is this a completely single-player experience, or are there any multiplayer elements or even a scoreboard, or anything like that?

open: This is a single-player game and as for features, we're still in development, so wait and find out.

I get it. I'm sure it's hard to talk about these things when things are always moving.

open: I think it's harder not to talk about these things, right? That's the challenge here.

PC, PlayStation, and Xbox versions are in development, but I also see a Nintendo Switch 2 version in development. Are there any challenges in bringing Armatus to the console? Is a Switch 2 version expected to launch at the same time as other platforms?

open: Yes, they are expected to launch together. The challenge with these things is always optimization, but if you've seen Godfall, the launch game for PlayStation 5, you know that if there's one thing we do well, it's optimizing the game system.

Is there anything you want to say about Amathus, or what you want players to know now that they've finally seen what it looks like?

This game is a love letter to action combat in all its forms. This is a love letter to the urban fantasy, gothic horror inspirations we see in so many games and novels, and it was most important to us that players see the letter we wrote. So, I could come here all day and complain about systems and features, and all I'm going to do is make promises to the audience, but the promise I'm going to make is that if you play our game, you're going to have an awesome experience slaying all these demons.

Michael Cripe is a freelance writer for IGN. He is known for his work on websites such as The Pitch, The Escapist and OnlySP. Be sure to follow him on Bluesky (@mikecripe.bsky.social) and Twitter (@MikeCripe).