Guns and Dragons Interview: Weapons Can Never Be Powerful Enough
At Gamescom 2026, I had the chance to test Guns and Dragons, a new roguelite FPS, for myself. Afterwards, I spoke with the development team about the first playtest and the future of the game. Guns & Dragons combines fast-paced FPS combat with a colorful magitech fantasy. The game is being developed by ABUTTON, a Korean studio featuring developers who previously worked on projects like Dave the Diver and Counter-Strike Online.
Key Takeaways
- Guns & Dragons is a roguelite FPS for up to three players featuring more than 45 firearms and bows.
- Extremely powerful or even “broken” weapon builds are explicitly part of the game’s concept.
- An Early Access release is planned, but there is no set date yet.
Guns and Dragons offers a unique concept. You do not constantly swap your weapon during a run; instead, you continuously upgrade it. This turns a normal firearm or bow into a completely exaggerated build. Today, we clarify exactly what Guns & Dragons is and how the weapon and roguelite systems work. Furthermore, we discuss what ABUTTON learned from the first playtest and what content and weapon types are still planned.
What is Guns and Dragons?
You can play Guns & Dragons either solo or online with up to two other players. The setting is a magitech fantasy world where classic fantasy monsters, magic, and firearms collide. Runs take you through caves, dungeons, villages, and later into other areas. Enemies drop runes, artifacts, abilities, altar rewards, and materials for your base. Within a run, your character and weapons become increasingly stronger due to the roguelite structure.
After the run, collected materials are used to expand your own base and unlock permanent upgrades. The Steam page currently lists more than 45 firearms and bows, including revolvers, shotguns, sniper rifles, longbows, and crossbows. The game is scheduled to be released later for PC via Steam and Epic Games, but an exact release date is not yet known.
However, Guns & Dragons differs significantly from other games. At the beginning of a run, you select your preferred weapon, which you continuously upgrade throughout. New weapons are unlocked during the run via runes, which must be combined to obtain them. Stronger weapons require more runes than basic ones. Additionally, weapons can be acquired through random events, and you can further enhance them as the run progresses.
Guns & Dragons Deliberately Focuses on Overpowered Weapons
The first character, Zig, wields around 23 firearms, according to the development team. The newly introduced elf character also brings 23 different bows and similar weapons. However, these weapons are not strictly tied to a character, meaning Zig can also use a bow. In addition, the cores of the weapons can be modified. Runes, artifacts, skills, and weapon cores interact to create various builds. The elf character is therefore not just a new hero, but is meant to demonstrate the direction in which the entire game will expand.
During the interview, I asked the developers if this system could lead to overpowered combinations. And that is exactly what ABUTTON does not want to prevent; they specifically want to provide the opportunity to become extremely powerful. Since Guns and Dragons is not a PvP game, the balancing does not need to be as strict as in a competitive shooter. Their motto is essentially: serious battles, but ridiculously exaggerated weapons. If someone finds a completely overpowered combination, the team views it more as a success of the build system rather than an immediate balancing issue. They stated: “If players can build an insanely powerful weapon, that is exactly the fun we want to offer.”
Despite these builds, there will still be a challenge. After defeating a boss, players can select additional difficulty modifiers. These do not merely increase health or damage, but occasionally alter the gameplay as well. The interview provided examples, such as meteors. These meteors strike the position where a player was standing moments before, meaning you must constantly stay in motion. Since these meteors can also injure team members, players must spread out effectively, inevitably leading to chaos. In the playtest, the difficulty system reached level 50, and according to the development team, at least one player already reached the highest available level. The team is therefore considering whether even more difficult variants will be required in the long term.
New Characters, Weapon Types, and Chapters Are Planned
At launch, the game will initially enter Early Access and feature two playable characters. At least a third character is planned for Version 1.0. Multiple players are also allowed to select the same character. The new character introduces a new weapon category, the so-called cold-steel weapons. These include swords, blades, spears, and throwing weapons.
However, this will not introduce a complex melee system; most of these weapons can be thrown and primarily attack from a distance. The developers are considering an Overwatch-like approach with throwing blades, ranged attacks with swords, area-of-effect attacks, possibly reflecting abilities, and a kind of shockwave or “sonic boom.” In the long term, a mage and magic wands have also been discussed internally, though there is no firm commitment to this yet.
In the first public playtest, which featured more than 100,000 players, there was only one chapter, which ended after the first boss. According to ABUTTON, this represents only about one-third of the final complete run. Chapter 2 is set to take place in a ruined forest and will feature new forest monsters as well as a fitting boss. The third chapter then leads into a dragon’s lair, where players will truly face a dragon and its minions.
Towards the end of the third chapter, the final evolutionary stage of the weapons should also be achievable. Each chapter will have its own pool of dungeons, from which random areas will be selected during a run. Later, Chapter 1 alone is planned to have several potential bosses to make the runs more varied.
Over 100,000 Testers and Numerous Changes
The first playtest for Guns and Dragons ran from July 30 to August 10, 2026. According to the developers, more than 100,000 players participated during this time, which was significantly larger than ABUTTON expected. Within those roughly two weeks, about eight hotfixes were released, as the developers implemented feedback sometimes within a single day. One example is the trap dungeons, which contained many traps that dealt regular damage to players. Since healing is very limited, these dungeons felt rather frustrating. Consequently, the developers turned this dungeon type more into a minigame.
Initially, healing was actually too abundant. Originally, health potions and regenerating shields were more frequent, but players found it too easy and could often simply power through enemy counterattacks. As a result, healing was reduced—unfortunately a bit too much, prompting them to increase the drop rate again during the test. Additionally, partial healing was introduced when transitioning between areas. Some level design changes were also made; for example, enemies no longer spawn too close to the player. Furthermore, some choices during level-ups were not intuitive enough. Future effects are supposed to clearly indicate what kind of build can result from them. As an example, the developer mentions a bonus that permanently increases grenade damage every time an enemy is defeated with a grenade.
During the interview, the team stated that another playtest is highly likely. However, not every individual request from the more than 100,000 participants will be adopted. The team intends to focus on the most frequent issues and suggestions that align with their own vision. There is no scheduled date for the next playtest as of yet.
Base Building and Progression Between Runs
When you are not in a dungeon, you reside at your offshore base. Brought-back materials such as wood and stone are used to construct new facilities. This unlocks new technology, allowing you to craft better equipment and providing long-term character progression. However, this base building is intended to remain optional. This means that players who only want to experience the roguelite loop can simply skip the base building.
But those who enjoy building can design their custom platform and even show it off to other players. During matchmaking, the islands or platforms of fellow players appear near the lighthouse. Minigames and other activities in the base are also planned. The developers are currently focusing heavily on connecting the runs more closely with this metagame and creating more motivation for subsequent playthroughs.
When Will Guns & Dragons Be Released?
The developers’ current goal is to launch Guns and Dragons in Early Access. However, a release year or specific date has not yet been determined. ABUTTON wants to incorporate sufficient feedback and expand the scope first. If the game launches as a paid Early Access title, it is expected to meet the following requirements: Chapters 1-3 should be playable, and a full run can be completed. Additionally, players should be able to defeat at least one dragon. Furthermore, enough diverse dungeons, bosses, and builds should be available so that the game does not become too repetitive.
Following the Early Access launch, further content will be added up to Version 1.0. The developers aim to release new characters and weapon categories as regular updates if possible. Paid class DLCs have been discussed but are currently not firmly planned. News regarding the release will be announced via Steam, Discord, and official channels.
Conclusion: A Lot of Potential for Roguelite Shooter Fans
Guns & Dragons already leaves an interesting impression. The weapon system, in particular, sets the game apart from many other roguelite shooters. Instead of constantly swapping your current weapon for a better one, you continuously upgrade your preferred weapon throughout a run. In addition, the developers deliberately want to allow extremely powerful or even completely exaggerated builds to emerge. Especially in a pure PvE game, this exact aspect can provide a lot of fun.
It is also positive how quickly ABUTTON reacted to the feedback from the first large playtest. Many issues were adjusted during the test itself, while further changes are planned for upcoming versions. At the same time, Guns & Dragons still has to prove how varied the runs will remain in the long term. After all, the first playtest only showcased a fraction of the planned game, with additional chapters, enemies, bosses, and weapon types still to come.
The planned Early Access, in particular, should therefore be exciting. The foundation of co-op shooter, roguelite progression, and crazy weapon builds already works well and offers a lot of potential. If ABUTTON consistently expands on their existing ideas and introduces enough variety into the later runs, Guns & Dragons could become one of the most interesting co-op roguelites in the near future.
Hey, I’m Kilian, but online you’ll probably know me as “Tux1243.” I've been part of the team for almost two years now, always trying to keep you in the loop with the latest and coolest gaming news. I also have a huge passion for doing deep dives and detailed analyses of entire game series and franchises. I love getting to the bottom of things and exploring the little details and backstories that make game worlds so fascinating.
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