Cohen 1939 Weapons: Badges, Unlocks and Best Picks

By Rowan Ashcombe · Updated October 2, 2026

Weapons in Cohen 1939 come from two places: the one you choose to carry into a level, and everything you pick up during it. This page lists what the official screenshots and launch-week players show, and how the unlock system works.

Badges: the unlock currency

• Each level is graded on time, combos and how you played. The grade pays out badges.
• Badges are spent at the hideout between missions: on weapon unlocks, character skill upgrades and items.
• Your badge total sits in the top right of the unlock menus (52 and 53 in the official screenshots).
• You start with only a knife as your carried weapon. A Chinese reviewer’s line is that the starting loadout is a knife, and by the late game you can bring a Kar98k.

Unlocking a gun does not change the core rule: it has a handful of rounds and no reload. It makes the opening of a level easier, and then you live off pickups like everyone else.

Weapon unlock costs seen so far

From the official Weapon Unlock screenshot:

Every weapon seen in screenshots and reviews

Melee

• Knife — your starting weapon; thrown, it kills.
• Dagger / throwing knife — the boss-fight workhorse.
• Baseball bat — clears obstacles in at least one boss fight.
• Fireaxe — heavy melee.
• Pipes, umbrellas and scenery — the tutorial teaches combat with an umbrella.

Firearms

• PPK — the cheapest pistol unlock.
• Silenced pistol — the only firearm players call quiet.
• S1897 — pump shotgun, seen in official gameplay screenshots.
• Shotgun / double-barrel — players say the double-barrel can blow through a door and whoever is behind it.
• Thompson — the 1930s SMG; Richard picks one up in the very first level. Called the “Chicago typewriter” in Chinese reviews and the best answer to the Butcher.
• StG-44 — rifle seen in an official screenshot of a burning level.
• Kar98k — late sniper rifle; long sight lines and shots that go through.

The in-game glass prompt says “bullets and arrows” can pass through windows, so some form of bow or crossbow is likely, though none appears in the footage we checked.

Players also mention attachments for guns and weapon upgrades bought with badges. One reviewer did not find the upgrades worth much; buy the unlocks first.

Which weapons to use

• Silenced pistol for anything quiet. Everything else draws the room.
• Shotgun at doors and corners, when enemies rush you as a group.
• Sniper rifle when you can see a long corridor first. Shots go through targets.
• Thrown knives in boss fights. Keep one in hand on the way in.
• Whatever is on the floor the rest of the time. The game is balanced around it.

Quick answers

Can you reload? No. Empty guns are thrown, which stuns.

Do enemies drop their weapons? Yes, which is the whole ammo loop.

What should I unlock first? A pistol (the PPK is cheap) or the shotgun. Both make level openings safer than the knife.

For how grades and badges are earned, see S ranks and scoring.