Armatus: Counterplay Games Returns With a Dystopian Paris Action Epic

Counterplay Games, the studio that first showed off what current-gen hardware could do with Godfall, has finally lifted the curtain on its next big project: Armatus. Revealed during the Xbox Partner Preview, the new title is slated to arrive in 2026 on PC and consoles, and it immediately stands out as a darker, stranger proposition than the bright, loot-driven fantasy that put the team on the map.

Where Godfall was built as a glossy launch showcase, Armatus feels more like a manifesto.

In an Xbox Wire post, senior writer Matt Cerami describes the game as the result of years of shared struggle inside the studio, forged through setbacks and late nights. You get the sense that Armatus is not just the next item on a release schedule, but a project they have fought to protect and reshape until it matched their ambitions.

This time, Counterplay is abandoning gilded realms in favor of a dystopian Paris that has been shattered by a collision of realities. Streets twist into impossible angles, monuments are swallowed by otherworldly structures, and the familiar skyline is scarred by portals to planes that simply should not coexist. It is a setting where faith, history, and cosmic horror bleed into one another, giving the team plenty of room to experiment with architecture, enemy silhouettes, and environmental storytelling.

At the center of this chaos stands the Armatus, an ancient religious order whose members have been quite literally forsaken by God. Only four of them remain, and they summon the player as their champion, a living weapon meant to fight on their behalf as they claw their way toward a promised heaven that may or may not exist. That premise alone hints at heavier themes than we saw in Godfall: doubt, fanaticism, betrayal, and the cost of clinging to belief when the divine turns its back.

From a gameplay perspective, Armatus is once again rooted in third-person action, but everything about its presentation suggests a harsher edge. The broken city, the desperate order, and the idea of battling across colliding planes all point toward combat that needs to feel weighty, readable, and dangerous. After Godfall received mixed reactions for prioritizing spectacle over depth, Counterplay knows that players will be looking very closely at how fights flow, how responsive controls feel, and whether builds and weapons support varied playstyles instead of forcing one optimal route.

Storytelling will be under the microscope as well. The premise of serving an order that believes it has been abandoned by its own deity creates immediate tension between main character, mentors, and enemies. There is room for moral grey areas, shifting loyalties, and revelations that reframe who is actually on the path to heaven and who is marching toward something far worse. If Counterplay can tie that narrative weight directly into mission design and boss encounters, Armatus could offer the kind of cohesion between story and combat that Godfall never fully achieved.

One detail already sparking conversation is the platform situation. The reveal happened on an Xbox stage, yet the game is officially described as coming to PC and consoles, which strongly implies a broader release. Players are already asking whether that includes PlayStation 5, posting confused comments and screenshots as they try to parse what the wording really means. Until Counterplay or its publishing partners spell out a full platform list, all we can safely say is that Armatus is targeting PC and current-gen console hardware with a 2026 launch window.

For now, Armatus is mostly a promise: a moody, dystopian action game from a studio that clearly wants to prove it can do more than ship a flashy launch title. Its broken Paris, faith-scarred order, and reality-warping premise give Counterplay the raw material for something memorable. Whether it becomes a cult favorite or another visually impressive curiosity will depend on how well the team can align its fire-forged camaraderie with the fundamentals players care about most: sharp combat, meaningful progression, and a story that makes every step on the road to heaven feel like a hard-won choice.