If you couldn’t already tell by how many roguelites we’ve been reviewing lately, we love the genre. Between Megabonk, Ball x Pit, and Monsters are Coming! Rock & Road, roguelites have collectively eaten up hundreds of hours of my time over the last few months. And that’s not even mentioning Hades II. I loved them so much that I even made one of my own with Better Luck Next Run. So when a new one crosses my desk, it usually gets my attention, and today’s Guns ‘n Goblins reveal is no exception.
Guns ‘n Goblins is an incremental horde-based survivor FPS in development for PC, from a collaboration between French indie studios Lance and SoulGame. SoulGame is the team behind 2024’s Minishoot’ Adventures, so there’s some real indie pedigree here. The concept is straightforward: you’re the last Bell Ringer, and every night, waves of monsters wash over the land. Long ago, a king constructed the Bell Bastions to draw these hordes away from the defenseless, but that kingdom has since fallen to ruin. One Bastion still stands, and you have to defend it.
The core loop has players blowing up thousands of monsters on screen at once, ringing the bell to summon even more onto the field, and upgrading from a simple gun to devastating weapons capable of taking down dragons. Each run grants permanent progression, meta upgrades, and a cast of what the team describes as “colorful and shady characters” to help improve your bastion. SoulGame co-founder and game designer Séverin Larose said the project began with a simple question: “why isn’t there an incremental FPS built around massive hordes to destroy?” The team wanted to render thousands of monsters on screen simultaneously, which is the kind of technical ambition that tends to make or break a survivor-like.
No release date has been shared yet, but Guns ‘n Goblins is on Steam now with a teaser trailer available. If you’re a fan of survivor-likes looking for something with a bit more shooting, keep an eye on this one.
