Gungrave G.O.R.E. plays like a PS2 game that's fighting for its place in the modern era

Gungrave G.O.R.E. is arguably wasting the power of the PS5 and Xbox Series X. Some developers are leveraging these systems to bring about photorealism, others are attempting to eradicate load times, and what is Iggymob doing? It's building a rough and tumble action game that looks, sounds, and handles like it could have been released on the PlayStation 2. And I don't mean to make that comparison in the same way that some social media commentators might – where fingers are pointed at something like the sparse environments in Pokemon Legends: Arceus before some type of asinine comparison to the sixth-generation of home consoles is drawn. 

If publisher Prime Matter told me that Gungrave G.O.R.E. had been recently unearthed after being sat in a drawer gathering dust for 18 years, was given a little tune-up under the hood, and then put out into the world I'd believe 'em. Consequently, 18 years is how long it's been since the last full game in the series was released  – Gungrave Overdose in 2004. Arguably too niche to be considered a cult classic of the PS2 era, Overdose was praised for its absurd action and unique aesthetic, and criticized for its unwieldy lock-on and uneven presentation. The same can (and will) likely be said of Gungrave G.O.R.E. too. 

And just so we're super clear: I'm not being a snob towards a game attempting to so flagrantly leverage nostalgia for a different era of action game design. There's something so lovingly antiquated about Gungrave G.O.R.E.'s core ethos that it was hard not to crack a smile while playing the damn thing. I don't know whether it was the fact that the Cerberus pistols automatically lock onto enemies and blast out four bullets every time I squeezed the trigger, that there was a button I could mash to spin Grave around on the spot to wildly fire projectiles in all directions, or that the industrial metal song soundtracking the carnage repeated the lyric "time to die; time to kill" on a loop, but good times were had. 

Whether those good times can sustain across an entire 12-hour experience remains to be seen – I recall the original Gungrave could be completed in just a couple of hours, and that was enough to get your fill of it. Then again, Iggymob is clearly leaning into the carnage which can be wrought with unlimited ammunition, and there is a joy to be found in holding an absurdly high Beat Count between staging areas, so perhaps Gungrave G.O.R.E. can keep the party going. 

Pure carnage

If you're coming to Gungrave G.O.R.E. with the hope that it'll play like one of the best PS2 games with modern design sensibilities, you're going to be disappointed. While the framerate was relatively steady in my demo, the game hardly looks like a product of 2022 – even by AA visual standards. The environments and character models are a little flat and washed out, movement is heavy, levels are linear, and both the third-person gunplay and close-quarters melee with the transformable EVO-coffin can feel a little finicky.

But it kind of works, in its own little way. Gungrave G.O.R.E. is fast and loose, with almost every button press unlocking some new way to trigger a tornado of bullets and shower the screen in gratuitous gore. It's antiquated, there's no doubt about that, but in a way that I sort of appreciate. The video game industry has always had a fascination with the past, which makes it easy for players to become blinded by the false promises of nostalgia – I'm as guilty of it as anybody. So Gungrave G.O.R.E. presents something of a unique opportunity: What would a new PS2 game play like if it were released in 2022? For better or for worse, we'll find the answer to that question this November.

Gungrave G.O.R.E. is one of the new games for 2022 that you should watch with interest. It's set to release on November 22 for PC, PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X, and Xbox One.