We love extraction shooters with a Borderlands vibe. There’s something about the colorful chaos that resonates with us. Gravebound is one such promising title. From the creative minds at Crater Studios — the same devs that gave us Dwarven Realms — comes a six-player co-op extraction shooter that’s built around shooting things, finding better stuff, and improving the build.
In Gravebound, we start each run by dropping into the wasteland, and then we can roam the map, exploring, looting, completing objectives, fighting enemies, and looking for ways to become stronger. As is the way with extraction shooters, a time will come when we need to decide how greedy we want to be. Do we leave with what we’ve already found, or stay a little longer because there might be something better around the next corner? At first, we played solo and stayed longer, but that meant dealing with more and more tin cans on our own, and we usually lost the coolest rewards. But then we started jumping in with other people, and the game became a lot more fun. Still risky, but relying on other people made everything, even losing, feel well worth it.
Shoot First, Ask Questions Never
We have different weapons for different situations, including assault rifles, shotguns, and pistols, while dodging and positioning become increasingly important once the machines start surrounding us. It’s a straightforward but pleasantly chaotic experience. We did wish the weapons had a heavier feel and more oomph to make certain critical hits more satisfying, but even as things are, it can be really fun grabbing all kinds of loot and upgrading our weapons and armour at stations.
It’s a somewhat mixed bag with the enemies and bosses. The biggest thing that bothered us was that they didn’t seem smart at all, and they didn’t employ particularly challenging tactics. Their greatest, and maybe only, strength was in their numbers. But we did like the design. Fighting a giant Blender or Jukebox is difficult to take completely seriously, especially when they’re trying very hard to kill us. The larger enemies and bosses have their own attacks and mechanics, yes, but they are easily predictable and avoidable.
Build It, Break It, Try Again
Even though it’s still in Early Access, we feel that the core mechanics are well fleshed out. As we progress through a run, we can pick up Relics and Augmentations and start putting together a build that adapts to our current mood and how we want to go about killing things. Most of the upgrades feel like statistical boosts, but some open up ways for unique approaches and attack patterns.
There is also permanent progression outside the wasteland, something that’s done in a way that’s very much in the spirit of a roguelite. The grind can be real, but in time you can become a lot more powerful and formidable. It really wasn’t too hard for us because the maps are well designed and the loot craze is real. We always ran from one place to another, trying to grab as much stuff as possible. In those first five or so sessions, the game was such a joy to discover. As you become more familiar with it, you get used to the loop, but the fun never leaves, especially, as we’ve said, when you play this with a band of good friends.
Gravebound is primarily designed for up to six players. Having that many people running around together makes the larger encounters considerably more entertaining. You have reviving teammates, sticking together when things get ugly, and then regrouping for bigger events. When you behave like a well-oiled machine, the game can throw anything at you and you still take it like champs. There was a time when we died and got revived just so we could go down again. The feeling of having our five friends create a shield around us and get us back to our feet while destruction and mayhem were all around — those are the coolest moments.
As we wait for more updates to trickle in, we can’t help but wonder how much of this will grow during Early Access. The foundations are clearly good, but there are moments when we can already feel the limits of the current variety, particularly when it comes to weapons, builds, and things to do across repeated runs. For now, Gravebound hides a fun little excuse to gather a few friends and enter a wasteland full of homicidal appliances. The shooting is enjoyable, the progression can make a difference over time, and the ridiculous enemies are hard not to like. We can’t wait to see how the title develops in the future.
Developer: Crater Studios
Publisher: Crater Studios
Genre: Co-op Extraction Shooter
Players: 1–6
Platforms: PC
Release: Early Access
Previewed on: PC
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