Gori: Cuddly Carnage Xbox Review 8.5/10 "Gory, gruesome, and great fun!" 😼🛹 @GoriCarnage @AngryDemonGames @wiredp #IndieGame #GameDev

I’d been following the development of Gori: Cuddly Carnage for a while, and was hoping that the promised blend of cutesy innocence and uber-violence, combined with the neon, graphic-novel visuals would scratch my turbo-arcade itch...and yes, yes it has.

The game begins very much in the middle of the action, where Gori, and his hover-board F.R.A.N.K -  a verbose character that yearns to casually swear, but has programmed limitations blocking it – are on a space ship circling the earth, but get attacked and must make their way through a devastated Earth to find out what the heck is going on, sadly leaving behind their hilariously sombre AI companion CH-1P in the process.

Gori: Cuddly Carnage instantly feels comfortable. The moment I took control of Gori, and began hover-boarding my way around this devastated – and yet incredibly beautiful – Earth, I was pretty much sold from the get go.

There’s an arcade sensibility here, wrapped up in subtle RPG depth, as a wacky cast of characters constantly chatter away at Gori, as he slices and dices his way through this  twisted toy army, ending up in tense boss battles with terrifying, screen-filling morbid creations – it’s a truly awesome blend of humorous banter, cute interplay...and vicious slaughter. Good.

The music – courtesy of William Sahl – absolutely nails the mood, weaving its way from teasingly cloying sentimental scenes through to the pulse-pounding beats that are the main soundtrack to the blade-driven nastiness of the in-game action. High fives also to the upgrade system, which doesn’t feel thrown in, but genuinely feels satisfying and game-changing whenever visually epic attacks and unlocks are discovered. 

The melding of arcade style pick up and play action combined with an overarching plot that very much has its tongue in its cheek feels fresh, and the fact that there’s no element of weakness here, whether it be controls, presentation, gameplay mechanics, or audio; means that Gori: Cuddly Carnage is game that you can session through, or dip in and out of.

SUMMARY

I actually had the pleasure of reviewing one of Angry Demon Studio’s previous titles, Unforgiving: A Northern Hymn, back in 2018, and the fact that this comes from the same studio shows the sheer scope of their talent and personality.

I am very much looking forward to what comes next!