Armatus: How to Approach Your First Runs

Armatus is not out until 7 January 2027, but the shape of it is already clear: a third-person roguelite shooter where guns, a scythe and celestial powers all want a turn. The players who enjoy the first week most will be the ones who treat early runs as practice with a purpose.

How to approach your first runs

1. Learn the range-to-melee swap first. Guns cover distance, the scythe covers what closes it; a run ends when you only have one of those answers.
2. Take one defensive or control power and learn it. Early on, understanding one tool beats owning four.
3. Fight to learn, not to clear. Your first runs are reconnaissance: where enemies come from, what a bad position looks like, which fights are worth avoiding.
4. Push until you die rather than farming the opening. Roguelites are designed to teach the deep floors by letting you reach them, and an over-prepared early route usually means an unfamiliar late one.
5. Spend upgrades on what removes your most common death. If you keep dying in the same situation, buy the answer to that situation before anything louder.
6. Try all three combat layers before you specialise. Guns, melee and powers are designed to interlock — you cannot know which build suits you from one of them.
7. Re-watch how you died. The roguelite loop only works if you convert each failure into one concrete change.

Buying decisions

It launches 7 January 2027 across PC and consoles, with Game Pass availability on day one reported in the launch announcement. If you are subscribed to Game Pass, that is the cheapest way to find out whether the loop suits you — and if it does, the deep runs will still be there when you buy in.