They both have feline protagonists, but Gori: Cuddly Carnage couldn’t be any further away from Stray, perhaps the most notable game that lets you take control of a cat.
Yes, you read that right: Gori has a futuristic hoverboard that swears like a sailor, and it’s intrinsic to the gameplay here. You see, Gori doesn’t explore the world around him on foot. Instead, traversal is like a floaty Tony Hawk’s.
Dumped into a level about the mid-point of the game, we explored a strange area which seemed to be ruled over by a doll. With our hoverboard we darted around, using boost to cover ground at a greater pace and clear larger gaps with our jump, double jump and dash abilities. We also used it to grind brightly-coloured rails and wall-ride advertisement boards. But your hoverboard really comes into its own during combat.
Two basic attacks are available to you in Gori, which are both effective against certain types of enemies. Fleshy, unprotected enemies are best tackled with your hoverboard’s slashing attacks, which effectively chop them up. If an enemy has a shield or is generally a tougher nut to crack, however, you’re better off making use of your slam attacks to tenderise them. When you really want to go wild and cause mayhem, these attacks can even be combined with your hoverboard’s boost ability, making them even more ferocious. The only trouble is your options will be limited if you run out of boost until you’ve charged it again. There are pickups for that, or you can grind rails, attack enemies and suchlike.
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Of course, Gori has more abilities up his sleeves, too, many of which you’ll have to unlock as you play the game. But along with being able to shoot enemies at range, swiftly dodge enemy attacks, put up a shield to block enemy projectiles and perform a range of brutal finishers, we had access to enough moves in our preview to get the idea that the combat isn’t going to get old anytime soon.
In fact, our only concern so far is that Gori might be a little too chaotic at times. This is a game that throws a lot of enemies at you, and keeping track of them while also avoiding their attacks can be a challenge, especially with your fast movement. It can also be hard to concentrate your attacks on a singular enemy or group of enemies, especially your slicing attacks which have you moving through them by nature.
On the other hand, it’s this chaotic nature that also makes Gori: Cuddly Carnage a huge amount of fun, along with its irreverent nature. Cutting and pounding enemies left, right and centre is rewarding, especially if you also combine it with skilfully travelling around the arena of battle. Exploration between these bouts of action is entertaining, too, with your traversal skills put to the test. Throw in the seemingly ridiculous setting that finds you fighting against mutated toys including violent unicorns, disembodied hands, doll heads, and more while your hoverboard swears like a nun with tourettes, and you have a game unlike any other.
We were already looking forward to Gori: Cuddly Carnage simply because of its feline hero and fresh take on the character action genre. After going hands-on with it for this preview, however, we’re more excited for it than ever before. It won’t be to everyone’s tastes thanks to its zany humour and chaotic combat, but it’s sure to find a legion of fans for exactly the same reasons.
Gori: Cuddly Combat launches early 2024 on PS4, PS5, Xbox One, Xbox Series X/S, Switch and PC.
