Creepy toys, mutated unicorns, and a hoverboarding ginger cat. This is definitely no Garfield. Gori is an upcoming adventure that gave us an up claws and personal preview at Gamescom 2022.
Landing at Gamescom as part of publisher Wired’s array of summer previews, we got a look at a certain mix of utter carnage, old school platforming, and cute feline antics. Gori is a platformer, an off the wall idea, a hack and slash, and a skater sim all wrapped up in one utterly perplexing furball. So, rather than explain that in any way I’ll jsut warn you that there’s a talking hoverbaord and a big sentient cat. Players picking up this wayward feline will find themselves thrust into a world of extreme toys and adorable corruption. Gori is unexpectedly brilliant. At first glance this vicious hack and slash 3D platformer seems like it might be an uncensored and totally ridiculous return of a feline from the 1990s. But instead of sending Bubsy down a bad trip on the catnip, Gori is very much its own mature mix of neon lights and horror-tinged ideas.
It turns out developer Angry Demon Studio has a history in the more contorted side of gaming. Early release Unforgiving was a descent into modern myth and an unexpected mystery in the Northern Woods. By comparison, Gori is a delightfully silly romp, and a massive change of pace for the Swedish outfit.
“We’re actually more used to putting together horror games. We all have a history of building scary games that are very reactionary. This time we wanted to take that experience and make something that players want to interact with”
This time, the foundation for Gori takes a traditional hack and slash, then warps your childhood memories around a gruesome cacophony of stylish violence that’s as entertainingly brash as it is bloody. Opening on an orbital view of sn abandoned world, my hands on with Gori introduced a decidedly unexpected set of survivors. Artificial Intelligence CH1-P, a sentient hoverboard turned trash talking weapon F.R.A.N.K., and the eponymous sentient bipedal cat Gori. With the smallest sampling of explanation, Gori dropped us down on Earth in search of a previous owner and the action was on.
Bloody Great
Floating through a series of abandoned streets, graffiti ridden tunnels, and neon drenched alleyways, Gori is immediately evocative of hack and slash experiences like Devil May Cry wrung around SSX Tricky. Sure, it’s got the zoomies and draws on a cacophony of other influences, but the anarchic combat, combo systems, swirling hoverboard of death, and wave after wave of startling enemies make for a satisfying, if ridiculous, experience. When I say ridiculous, I’m not talking a nod and a wink, I’m talking hoverboard riding sentient cats, an AI that comes across as a dodgy chip off ‘ol Marvin the paranoid android, and a buddy comedy that matches the evisceration of Kill Bill, with an equally Tarantino inspired commentary from talking hoverboard F.R.A.N.K. Yes, this whirling death board has a potty mouth, and you’ll understand when you see the enemies.
With a sentient kitty cat kick flipping through enemies on an abandoned world, you’d assume the remnants of this once great civilization would be drab and depressing. Once again, expectations are here to be undermined. Floating on through a series of contained stages, Gori spins and splices through hordes of mutated and utterly enraged unicorns. These twisted playthings are decanted straight out of a post-apocalyptic toybox and spawn in waves, adorned with a fierce array of scythes, projectile appendages that spew viscous green goop, and bubble shields. That’s not even mentioning the giant dismembered hand with frikkin lasers that awaits beyond. The gameplay cycle of handcrafted stages and then the big bad boss encounter isn’t entirely game changing but the overall presentation is enough to keep things interesting across several levels.
An Unexpected Tail
Free-flowing movement across platforming interludes, sick tricks, and cathartic chaos is all capable of keeping players engaged or simply entertained while pushing into even stranger territory. Like any decent hack and slash, Gori and F.R.A.N.K. are able to chain together combos and create devastating attacks that pick a few simple ideas and build to become something more complex. It’s a stretch to say that this is quite in the same echelons as Devil May Cry or the Bayonetta Series but there’s a definite inspiration with a lot less complexity. This does make it somewhat easier to score rewards or just feel accomplished early on, with active upgrades available to enhance your in-game abilities, while other cosmetic rewards are expected to decorate a central player hub.
Whether it’s out in the wild, riding a rainbow rail, hopping over lasers, grinding along a wall, or lounging around a spaceship, Gori has a unique and distinct identity. It’s visceral, bloody, and quick to use the bleeper. It’s quirky, twisted, and as near to a camped-up buddy horror as a skateboarding cat can get. If you’re in the mood for some button-bashing, without having the king of Hell, of heavens above to fend off, then keep an eye out for this gori-ouslly silly adventure. Find out more about this strange new tail over on the official Gori website now.
