Gungrave G.O.R.E hands-on: bringing a cult series back from the dead

Gungrave G.O.R.E has just been announced for Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass when it launches in November, and we recently had a chance to put this third-person shooter through its paces. Here's what we thought...

Expected to launch on November 22nd for Xbox Series X|S and Xbox One, Gungrave G.O.R.E is a reboot of the Gungrave series that began in 2002 on the PlayStation 2. It's developed by Iggymob and features the series protagonist Grave obliterating enemies with a coffin-gun of devastation. We recently had the chance to play this chaotic third-person shooter for ourselves, and there's definitely a lot to like.

Microsoft has just announced that Gungrave G.O.R.E will be joining Xbox Game Pass and PC Game Pass on day one, which after playing it, we can say is going to be a great addition to the library. If you'd like to see everything else that's been announced for Xbox Game Pass in 2022 and 2023, we've put together a list that features everything that's been announced so far.

Gungrave G.O.R.E gameplay trailer

In a recent interview with Xbox Wire, Iggymob's Yasuhiro Nightow said that Grave is "made to be a stress reliever" for us all, which after playing it myself, is a notion I can get behind. My time with Gungrave G.O.R.E was a short one, and I only had the chance to play through the game's opening level, but the sheer amount of carnage that I caused throughout was enough to give me a very good idea about what we can expect the full game to be like when it launches in November.

After stylishly launching out of the metal sarcophagus that Grave was using as some form of drop pod, and watching an introductory cutscene, I was thrust into a linear-designed level filled with enemies waiting to be cut down by my arsenal of weaponry. Grave comes locked and loaded with dual handguns and a coffin-shaped weapon with seriously destructive capabilities.

I found that Gungrave G.O.R.E feels very much like the Darksiders games in the way that Grave moves around, except for the fact that he wields very large guns. My session didn't really reveal why I was there killing all of these people, but the action itself gives me hope that the full release will be a riot to play all the way through.

As I said before, the level was linear, but split into sequential segments that would have me obliterating a horde of enemies before moving on to the next area. Combat is combo-based, which requires you to stack kills without being hit yourself; the combo score then fills a metre that allows you to unleash devastating attacks on the enemies.

Grave's main attacks come from his rapid-firing handguns, which cause enemies to explode into giblets when they die. Initially, you use the handguns and roll-dodges to build up your combo, which in turn powers up your coffin weapon, which has a number of explosive-based capabilities — it even has a chainsaw for cutting down anyone that gets too close.

The enemies come in various flavours, from basic grunts and shield-bearing soldiers to snipers and rocketeers. These offer you ample opportunity to use Grave's various abilities to knock the rockets back at the person that fired them, destroy enemy shields, and whatnot. I found each encounter to be chaotic from beginning to end, but it also caused me to really consider what I was doing in each situation so I didn't ruin my well-earned combo score. Carefully performing the correct attacks and counters almost became a dance towards the end of the level, so when it came time for me to fight the fairly difficult boss at the end, I was well prepared — yes, I died a few times in this fight but won it in the end, dammit!

Gungrave G.O.R.E feels like a fantastic game to join Xbox Game Pass, and will offer the service an extremely violent experience, which is an experience I can get behind. Chaotic but well-balanced in its combat moments, I can happily agree with Nightow's comment about it being a "stress reliever." Not once in the 30-minutes did I find it to be stressful, and any real difficulty seemed to come from me learning each of the abilities. If you enjoy non-stop action, this should definitely be on your list of games to check out later this year.

What do you think of the gameplay we've seen so far? Will you be giving this shooter a go? Drop a comment below and let us know!

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Written by Tom West

Tom has been playing video games since he was old enough to hold a controller, experimenting with a number of systems until he eventually fell in love with Xbox. With a passion for the platform, he decided to make a career out of it, and now happily spends his days writing about that which he loves. If he’s not hunting for Xbox achievements, you’ll likely find him somewhere in The Elder Scrolls Online or fighting for survival in Battlefield.