Cohen 1939 characters and killers
You play Elisa Cohen, a widow hunting whoever murdered her gangster husband and broke up his gang. The full game has four playable killers — slide-shooting, focused fire, raven summons and rage — with three of them in the old demo.
Cohen 1939 is a revenge story with a cast of killers on both sides. You spend it as Elisa Cohen, and the studio's launch post promises "four killers, four mayhem-packed playstyles" in the full game. Here is who is who, and what is actually known about how the characters play.
Elisa Cohen — the widow with a list
The story opens with the murder of the leader of the Raven gang — Elisa's husband — on the streets of 1930s Birmingham, as the studio's announcement puts it. Instead of bowing to whoever is scrambling for power, she takes up arms and works through a list of names: "Face fearsome gang leaders, settling the score as you strike off each name on your list." Her full name appears on the game's own character screen, ELISA COHEN, which is where the title of the game comes from.
Four killers, four playstyles
The August 26 launch announcement names the four playstyles on offer:
| Playstyle | What it suggests | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Slide-shooting | Firing while sliding into position | Movement-based aggression |
| Pure focus | A concentration/aim-state kit | Precision over volume |
| Raven summons | Allied ravens entering fights | The raven motif runs through the game's art |
| Burning rage | A rage-state attacker | The most direct of the four |
The demo shipped with three playable characters across Chapters 1 and 2; the full game advertises four killers. The character menu in the official screenshots also shows a skill progression system — one visible skill is called "Bloodthirsty Maneuver" — so expect each killer to grow across a run.
The character screen and progression
From the official screenshots and the demo's patch history, the pieces around the cast are:
- Character skills unlock and level through play; a June patch fixed a skill belonging to a character named Sevinda.
- Weapon unlocks sit in their own menu (Thompson, shotgun, fireaxe and more — see the combat guide).
- A safehouse-style screen appeared between missions in the demo, where loadouts and unlocks could be reviewed.
The people in her way
- The Raven gang's leadership — after the boss's murder, his underlings fight over the wreckage; the game's list of targets grows out of that scramble.
- The Butcher — the demo's boss fight, remembered by players as the hardest thing in the demo (see the chapters guide).
- Gang leaders across the city — "fearsome gang leaders" are promised in the launch post; each is framed as a name to cross off.
FAQ
Who is Cohen in Cohen 1939?
Cohen is the surname of the protagonist: the game's character screen labels her Elisa Cohen, the widow whose husband was murdered at the start of the story.
Can you switch between characters?
The demo let players try three of the killers; how the full game unlocks and switches between all four has not been detailed yet.
Is the game fully voiced?
The Steam store lists English as the only language with full audio support — Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese and Russian ship as subtitles/interface text only.
