Welcome back to “On My Radar,” a showcase of games in early access that you need to play. This time, we’re looking at “Arms of God.” The game describes itself as a “bullet heaven roguelite arena autoshooter” and I have to tell you; that’s a pretty accurate representation.

“Arms of God” seems like it was made for me. You play as basically a paladin, it’s gory, there’s metal music playing all the time, you smite the enemies of God with various hammers and swords and guns — it’s basically everything I could ever ask for from a game.

I’ve been playing this game since it was just a demo from PAX East 2024 and have been waiting for its release since then. I’m happy to say that, even in early access, it doesn’t disappoint.

Gameplay

At its core, “Arms of God” is another wave-based roguelite bullet heaven where you blow up waves of enemies with various weapons of your choice. In practice, it’s a bit more complex, thanks to the roguelite elements, the cross, and wealth of playable classes.

Each wave has the same goal: survive. Waves of enemies spawn over time, and there are tons of unique foes to defeat. There’s a full gamut from your mindless sloth zombies to brutal berserkers who just won’t die, to belchers who launch long-range attacks your way, and more.

It’s nice to see more than just your standard flair of survivors-like drone enemies who can just overwhelm you through sheer numbers. The enemy variety provides a nice challenge, especially in later rounds when you’re dodging not just slow-moving enemy attacks, but aggressive chasers, puddles of goo on the ground, and plague-filled mortar balls flying at you.

They’ll always move towards your Crux, which serves as a de facto home base that also gives provides benefits as you progress through levels. Your Crux can heal you, boost your stats, deal damage to enemies, or debuff them. There’s even a build where you can pick up the Crux and carry it on your back, so you can bring your buffs and damage with you. You can always put it down somewhere else to suit your fancy.

While you’re in a wave, there are multiple collectibles you can seek out for the roguelite sections. There are shrines to give you temporary boosts, chests full of loot, banners to collect, sermons for new blessings, resurrection spires to destroy, and chalices to fill with the blood of your enemies. Each event gives you roguelite currency to spend after your run.

Throughout the campaign, you’ll fight minibosses and a final boss. The nice thing is you don’t have to defeat the boss, but it’s always better to kill them and get the loot. In many cases, the miniboss is just a smaller version of the final boss, allowing you to prepare for the big ending and keep your run from ending prematurely.

Upgrades

Between waves, you can purchase upgrades for your character or your weapons. You can boost your movement speed, regenerate health faster, or deal more elemental damage. For weapons, you can boost their elemental types, change it entirely, increase their damage, knockback, or attack speed, and more.

Weapons and Classes

There are multiple weapons, each with their own elemental affinity. Weapons can also be upgraded to more powerful forms if you stack them on top of each other. You can hold up to five weapons, allowing you to synergize builds or grab weapons to fix your shortcomings.

In the early access build, there are ten playable classes, each with their own affinities and shortcomings. Each class has a unique ability and unique stat modifiers. My favorites are the elemental specialists, especially Incendius, the fire specialist. Look at what your screen looks like once you get rolling with him, it’s awesome.

The Cathedral

I figured The Cathedral deserved its own section because it’s more than just a menu with roguelite elements. Think of The Cathedral as your home away from home (slaughtering the enemies of God) and your one-stop-shop for all things “Arms of God.” You can forge new weapons at the Blacksmith, develop new upgrades in the Forge, discover new blessings at the Shrine, permanently boost your character at the Statue, recruit new heroes from the Bell Tower, and more.

The Cathedral is one of the major differences between “Arms of God” and other games in the genre. There’s so much to build here and, unlike “Grind Survivors,” it doesn’t feel like a, well, grind to get them all. At least, it’s not a grind to get the stuff you want. If you want to 100 percent the game, you might be spending a lot of time on the battlefield. But you wouldn’t want to be anyplace else, would you?

Graphics and Audio

Despite being in early access, the game looks and runs phenomenally. The character models are really well done, both hero characters and enemies, the environments are just what you’d expect from a game like this, hell even the menus are a breeze to navigate.

The minor details are where the game really shines. The particle effects from the flames, frost, and lightning linger just enough to leave an impact while you’re maneuvering through the chaos. The bile your foes hurl at you can be seen from afar, allowing you to get out of the way. When you have a brief moment to stand still, your character’s limbs each move on their own, giving a slight look at the humanity beneath the machine.

The music and sound design are impeccable, as well. Stop me if you’ve heard this before — the game inspired by “DOOM” has music that sounds like it’s lifted straight out of “DOOM.” There’s tons of industrial metal for you to rip and tear to, and naturally there are some angelic elements to each song to play up the religious motif. While you’re back at The Cathedral, there’s your standard hymnal tracks that calm you down after being up for so long smiting heretics.

The sound design shines here, too. You hear every bang, crunch, smash, and click while flying around in combat. The enemies are full of life with guttural growls and belches. Even menuing sounds great with its clicks and page turns. Everything in the audio department is really well done in my eyes (well, ears.)

Early Review

As of right now, “Arms of God” is the site’s first 5 out of 5 game. I have so much fun with this game every single time I turn it on and simply cannot wait for the full release. There is nothing like slaughtering wave after wave of undead ghouls all in the name of the Lord.

“Arms of God” is a must play if you have a PC that can handle it. It does haul ass, so if you have an older machine, you might have to turn down some of the settings, but even my rig with gear from 4 or 5 years ago can handle it on Ultra.

“Arms of God” is available now in early access on Steam for $11.50. Pick it up today and do your part in destroying the undead in the name of all things holy.