The Gungrave series wasn’t one the biggest names to grace the PS2 console, but its two entries of chaotic over-the-top action did enough to generate a loyal fanbase, including WellPlayed’s Ash Wayling. Sadly, after 2004’s Gungrave: Overdose, the series was put on ice and it seemed our undead man walking would be lost to time. In 2018, Korean developer Iggymob, who had developed two smaller VR Gungrave titles, revealed that they were bringing the mainline Gungrave games back with Gungrave G.O.R.E. Last week, ahead of the game’s November 22 release, I had the chance to go hands-on with Gungrave G.O.R.E. and chat with the game’s General Director Kay Kim, Project Manager Bobby J. Park, and Lead Game Designer about bringing the series back, its influences and what players can expect, with a lot of help from die-hard Gungrave fan Ash Wayling.
Editor’s note: Given the interview was conducted with a translator, this interview has been edited for readability.
WellPlayed: Gungrave games are known for their ridiculous gunplay and absurd firepower. What is it like leveraging modern hardware to properly show what bazillions of bullets look like?
Iggymob: That’s a very good question. Lots of bullets, lots of enemies – it could potentially drop the performance of the game, like frame drop, so we tested on multiple occasions to make sure that doesn’t happen. We also put in a lot of effort to make sure that doesn’t happen on current-gen – so you’ll be able to experience more bullets and more enemies with whatever version.
WP: Are there any enhancements for owners that do have a PS5 or the Xbox Series X? Like controller haptic feedback and the like?
IM: Yes! For example, like for PS5, with the DualSense you have haptic feedback and adaptive triggers – they’re all implemented. So you’ll be able to experience more dynamic controls as you play the game.
WP: So G.O.R.E is the first game in the series since 2005. Why did it take so long for the team to return to the IP? How did it come about?
IM: This is a very personal opinion. Souls-like games have been dominating the industry, also open-world games are taking a big percentage. It’s tough to come up with open-world games because there are so many ones already – that’s one of the reasons why we needed to bring this old-school gameplay back. And, you know, we actually had to sit down and brainstorm what kind of game we wanted to make out of this IP. That’s the reason it took us so much time to come up with a sequel – we had to think about a lot of other stuff, there was a lot to consider.
WP: How would you describe Gungrave G.O.R.E to newcomers taking an interest in the series for the first time?
IM: Cool characters, explosive action, fearless and…moving forward?
WP: The Gungrave series has had some incredibly unique characters, both friend and foe alike. Who is a newcomer that you are excited for players to interact with?
IM: So there’s a new female character named Quartz – she is more aggressive and more powerful than, say, Mika from the previous title – she likes to fight and she has a personality where she just doesn’t give a crap about anything. I am sure players will love her as a newcomer.
As we were developing and looking at the game, we had our fantasies and we implemented a character named Brandon Heat, which came from the anime. Brandon Heat is basically Grave, before he became Grave. We are sure this will make some of the fans happy. As a matter of fact, Brandon Heat has never appeared in the Gungrave game series in the past – so we are thinking fans will love it!
WP: How intense is the soundtrack of Gungrave G.O.R.E?
IM: So our music composer has composed music for Devil May Cry. His name is Tetsuya Shibata. You know that rhythm is very important for action games, so we wanted to use intense sound for battle sounds, soundtracks and we thought Shibata was a perfect fit for us. So we worked with him happily.
WP: Will we ever see Rocketbilly Redcadillac again? Maybe Grave could learn to play the guitar?
IM: For Rocketbilly, we got a lot of feedback from Japanese fans. If Gungrave makes it and is successful, we will consider him as DLC. Nothing is confirmed at the moment.
WP: Which is better, a coffin that fires rockets or an electric guitar that fires lightning?
IM: Coffin is cooler.
WP: There are statements that Iggymob wanted to develop the game so they could make it even ‘cooler’. How do you make a game about an undead gunman with a rocket launcher in his coffin cooler?
IM: So in the previous games we didn’t have a lot of melee options for close range. You’d just shoot and move forward, shoot and move forward – until the game was over. Now we have added more melee and close-range options, so you can create your own combo by mixing up the melee and shooting. We believe this makes the game cooler – the ability to mix and match.
WP: What modern games or what modern influences have influenced the gameplay from when the first game was released to now?
IM: See we were not really inspired by other modern games, but more by a movie called Equilibrium.
WP: Oh yeah?
IM: Christian Bale was the main actor in the movie. And that was our main inspiration.
WP: Do you think if you did a Gungrave film you’d ask Christian Bale to star?
IM: Christian Bale would be too expensive for us!
WP: So from when I was playing it, it plays very much like a power fantasy – you can take a lot of damage and give out a lot more damage. How do you find the right balance between making it challenging enough and making sure it’s not too easy?
IM: So the level you played is very early – not even 10% of the way through the game. As you play the game you will face enemies with stronger weapons and different kinds of enemies, like monster types. Also level gimmicks will appear to put the player in a corner. So the difficulty goes up as your progress – you are going to have to grow your character and make it stronger.
WP: The R.I.P headshot made me feel like John Wick.
IM: Yeah!
WP: With Gungrave G.O.R.E you are adding to a story that originally existed 18 years ago on the PlayStation 2 – has there been any thought to a remaster or remake of the original Gungrave and Gungrave: Overdose for new fans?
IM: You know, we got a lot of feedback for that – but I think it’s really important how people perceive our game. If our game (G.O.R.E) picks up positive feedback from players, then we can seriously consider doing remakes or remasters.
WP: What’s something that Iggymob has loved about returning to Gungrave after all these years?
IM: So you know, Iggymob, we love the IP itself, and back when we started developing our games, American heroes were hot – they were so in trend. So we thought that coming up with an Asian hero would be nice for the diversity. That’s one of the reasons.
WP: On average, how long do you expect it will take for players to finish G.O.R.E?
IM: From our internal QA on normal difficulty, more than 14 hours. And if you are to clear every level on every difficulty, that would take a long time.
WP: Yasuhiro Nightow is the original creator of Gungrave, has he had any input or influence on Gungrave G.O.R.E?
IM: He participated in the project as an imaging director. He did character design, skill design, poses and stuff. Names of skills – he helped us a lot and contributed a lot to this game. The strongest skill that we have in the game is Storm Barrage – he came up with the name.
WP: Any thoughts on getting some physical merchandising deals out there? Surely people want a modern Grave action figure for their gaming dens?
IM: There are multiple ideas – we have a plan to make something digitally for now though. That’s all we have…at the moment.
WP: Thanks for your time, and best of luck with the game’s release.
IM: Thank you!
Gungrave G.O.R.E. releases on November 22 on PS5, PS4, Xbox Series X|S, Xbox One, Xbox Game Pass, and PC.
