A cute main character and extremely bloody action make for an odd mixture in this impressive new game that was made by just two people.
With most indie games, their low budget roots become instantly apparent the moment you boot them up. But that is not the case with Gori: Cuddly Carnage. From the off, it has an anarchically distinctive tone and its gameplay is not just unique but constantly evolves through the course of the game. Which is pretty remarkable when you consider that much of its development involved a team of just two people. It may be indie, but it neither looks nor feels like it is.
Gori is an anthropomorphic cat, that walks on his hind legs and uses his front paws like arms but is unable to say anything other than a cute ‘meow’. He seems purposefully designed to look like a 90s video games character, complete with a hoverboard named F.R.A.N.K, which he can also wield as a weapon.
The enemies you face are primarily evil, corrupted unicorns, which should tell you all you need to know about Gori: Cuddly Carnage’s overarching vibe. It may look cute, but it’s definitely filthy. There’s tons of swearing – some of it hilariously imaginative – and buckets of blood, so while it might look suitable for kids in the screenshots it absolutely is not.
Story-wise, Gori: Cuddly Carnage places you in a world once inhabited by humans but now abandoned to corrupted toys. Gori himself is a toy, a prototype made by his owner, The Professor, who has gone missing. He’s a toy designer at evil megacorp Cool-Toyz, whose creations have somehow gone rogue and turned into killing machines. However, Gori has two toy allies: F.R.A.N.K and CH1-P, an artificial intelligence in a game cartridge who is designed to operate spaceships.
The first level does a fine job of introducing the various gameplay elements, as Gori: Cuddly Carnage mixes platforming (and a modicum of puzzle-solving) with third person fighting. Soon you encounter unicorns in protective bubbles, which must be dispatched with Gori’s bash (rather than slash) move, while gloriously weird mini-bosses introduce finishing moves that can be used on fallen enemies, as well as a ground pound that requires power from F.R.A.N.K.
Luckily, that power can be regenerated by grinding rails, as well as the powered billboards that stud the landscape – both of which play a major role in the game’s various platforming sequences. Gori has a huge double jump, but the jump button is analogue and sometimes you have to just brush it, to ensure he doesn’t go sailing over the billboard you’re aiming for.
Almost immediately, you encounter the game’s most persistent boss, a terrifying Bear-In-A-Box who can resurrect himself even after decapitation. Gori also acquires a rocket attack, which plays into the platforming gameplay, as you often have to align platforms by shooting the eyes on them, mid-grind.
Later in the game you’re tasked with finding components to construct a giant laser pointer, which will have the power to take down the Bear-In-A-Box. That quest takes Gori and his pals to some wonderfully conceived locations, such as a world set inside an arcade machine, the Cool-Toyz factory, and the underwater lair of a fish boss.
The latter area is, at times, reminiscent of Bioshock and has some clever gameplay involving filling underwater areas with pockets of air. References to other games abound, such as a mini-boss which is a mutant house, in a nod to Final Fantasy 7.
The story may be silly, but the main bosses are all imaginative and great fun to dispatch. The game is also meatier than you might expect, with around 20 hours of gameplay.
There’s a certain amount of replay value too, with the chance to revisit levels in pursuit of higher scores, which are awarded according to the panache with which you splatter enemies. On top of this are hidden keys that open up new parts of your spaceship (cutely, whenever you’re near to one, a disembodied voice whispers: ‘Here, kitty, kitty’).
Overall, Gori’s Cuddly Carnage is funny, frantically paced, surprisingly polished and delights in subverting its superficially cute look by throwing stuff at you that is utterly twisted and unsettlingly bizarre. As a gameplay experience, it’s up there with the likes of Hi-Fi Rush and we eagerly look forward to seeing what developer Angry Demon Studio comes up with next.
Gori’s Cuddly Carnage review summary
In Short: An inventive action platformer that manages to be both cute and gory in equal measure and where it seems absolutely impossible that it could be the work of primarily just two people.
Pros: Gameplay constantly evolves in interesting and unexpected ways. Great bosses, enjoyable action, and bags of personality. Good graphics and surprisingly long.
Cons: Occasional camera issues, especially if you target enemies. Checkpointing sometimes a tad erratic.
Score: 8/10
Formats: Nintendo Switch (reviewed), Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, PlayStation 5, and PC
Price: £17.99
Publisher: Wired Productions
Developer: Angry Demon Studio
Release Date: 27th August 2024
Age Rating: 16
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