Gravhounds Review: Helldivers With Tails Is a Very Good Start

Gravhounds is the debut of Octopus Panic, an independent studio founded by veterans of 343 Industries and DICE and led by Josh Holmes, the creative director of Halo 4. Their first game is a pack of genetically engineered space dogs dropping onto hostile planets to dig up resources while alien swarms try to eat them. It went into Early Access on Steam and Game Preview on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox PC on November 2, and it is on Game Pass from day one.

What it is

The studio calls it a "co-op action-builder", which is fair. For 1 to 4 players, each run is a loop of landing, scouting, laying out pipelines that power your base and move materials, and then defending it all with turrets while the swarm escalates. Think Helldivers' drop-and-panic energy crossed with Deep Rock's mining and a tower-defence layer, seen from a third-person view.

How it plays

The star is the Grav Beam, a physics tool that lets you yank, lift and fling things around the battlefield. Combined with boosting, hovering and grinding along your own pipes, movement feels quick and a little silly in the best way - the Jet Set Radio comparisons from the demo days aren't wrong. When the base is humming, four players are rail-sliding between turrets and a wave hits from two sides, Gravhounds is genuinely great co-op chaos.

There's a decent amount here for Early Access: five playable Gravhounds with their own abilities, seven solar systems with 25 planets that vary biome, time of day and atmosphere, 21 turret and defence systems, and 60 unlockable mods that you slot into a Mod Deck to shape what a run throws at you. For a first public build, that is a healthy toybox, and a good sign of where this could go.

The lows

Solo, the illusion breaks quickly. Building and defending alone is busywork, and the planets start to blur together once you've learned the rhythm. Enemy variety is the thinnest part of the package, and the UI for laying pipes can be fiddly with a controller. The Xbox Store lists cross-platform multiplayer, but Steam-to-Xbox crossplay is not confirmed, so check before you buy if your friends are split across stores. This is Early Access, and it looks like it.

Price and who it's for

On Steam it lists for 19.99 euros, with 25% off until November 16. If you have Game Pass, it's a no-brainer to try. If you have a regular group of three friends who liked Helldivers 2 or Deep Rock Galactic, it's an easy buy at the launch price. Solo players should wait for updates.

Verdict

A confident, funny and mechanically sharp foundation from a team that clearly knows how shooters should feel. Content and enemy variety need to grow, but the core loop is already there.

Score: 7/10 (Early Access)

Image: mliu92 / CC BY-SA 2.0, source: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Xbox_One_Elite_Wireless_Controller_Series_2_(Model_1797).jpg