Following  a successful collaboration that resulted in the release of genre-crossing side scroller Concursion, American developer Puuba and British publisher Mastertronic have embarked on another transatlantic effort to create their latest game, rougelike dungeon crawler The Weaponographist.

The concept of The Weaponographist sounds, at best, quite masochistic. You take on the role of Doug McGrave, a demon bounty hunter who also happens to be an arrogant twat. After allowing an innocent village to be swamped by demons, McGrave is somehow stripped of all his powers, money and weapons through a curse. The game depicts McGrave’s desperate journey to regain all that he has lost by clearing out dungeons of demons.

The twist is that, being a cursed man, McGrave’s task is much more complicated than other dungeon crawling heroes. Weapons he picks up, whether they are swords, spears, or rather inexplicably, Tommy guns, will rapidly degrade and eventually outright break, forcing him to make the most of them in such short time.

Even worse, McGrave must constantly murder demons, lest the curse sap away at his strength. Only by chaining together kills without too much delay in between can he build up his strength.

If that sounds like your idea of fun, then you’ll likely have much to look forward to with The Weaponographist. Mastertronic’s producer Stuart Morton said of their partnership with Puuba:

After the incredible gaming mash-up of genres that was Concursion, we are delighted to be working with Puuba again on their new project, The Weaponographist. The dungeon crawler genre is up next to get the distinctive Puuba flavor and I for one can’t wait to get monster slaying.

The Weaponographist is slated to be released in the summer next year, and will be available via Steam.