I was running around with my Doberman doggo friend, Zane, throwing down turrets, and refamiliarising myself with the controls, when something clicked in my tired, medication-riddled brain. This newly released roguelite shooter is bright and bold, and very much aimed at the Fortnite generation.
Octopus Panic has crafted a polished, colourful third-person shooter, and it’s got that Blizzard-like aesthetic that we’ve seen in the likes of Overwatch. I really like the chunky, bold visuals that are on display. Gravhounds looks the part; it really does.
And it plays the part, too. I mentioned Fortnite because both games share a similar aesthetic, but mostly because both have a big focus on building in the midst of the action. You need to be able to keep your head, construct and maintain turrets, complete objectives, and also fire back – it’s intense stuff, but if you’re used to crafting on the fly, you’ll do fine here.
I dived straight into the solo mode, and it offers a planet-hopping campaign that sends you to a series of different worlds that are on your path home. The mission? Get your anthropomorphic doggos back home after they were sucked into a random wormhole and spat out on the other side of the galaxy. Does it make sense? No! Does it need to? Hell no!
I might not be the game’s core demographic, but I enjoyed my first hands-on with Gravhounds during a recent playtest, and my return to the game today has confirmed that first impression. This is an interesting and capable co-op shooter with a high ceiling, and I’m very interested to see how it evolves in the months and years ahead.
This isn’t a review or a deep dive, though, because I’ve just not been able to get to the co-op side of things yet. I think that’s essential if I’m going to form a full opinion, as co-op is clearly how the game is intended to be played (it supports up to four players).
So this is mostly just a heads-up to let you know that Gravhounds is out now on Xbox and PC (Win), where it will remain in Early Access for six months, probably longer. During that time, Octopus Panic plans to add more of the eponymous gravhounds, as well as fresh planets, enemies, weapons and upgrades, and they will continue to evolve the game’s progression systems.
Finally, it’s also worth mentioning that Gravhounds is included in Game Pass (Ultimate and PC Only), so if you’re already a subscriber to the Xbox service, you have access now. On the other hand, there’s a discount on Steam for the next couple of weeks – if you’re tempted.
