GunGrave G.O.R.E. Director Confirms Game Will Act as Franchise Sequel

Gungrave is set to bring back its anime universe later this month, and with Trigun returning next year via the new anime series, Trigun Stampede, general director Kay Kim took the opportunity to answer our questions when it came to bringing back Yasuhiro Nightow's gun-slinging franchise. First arriving as a video game on the Playstation 2 in 2002, the series went on to receive its own anime adaptation one year later, with the animators at Studio Madhouse bringing this tale of revenge to the small screen. Receiving twenty-six episodes, the new Gungrave G.O.R.E game will expand on the universe's story.

To start our interview, we took the opportunity to ask Kim about whether this new entry would be a continuation of the story we first witnessed in the early 2000s or if this would be a reboot:

"First came the original game and then the anime was produced due to the popularity of the game. The core storyline and character background has remained the same as before, but there are some minor changes from the original game. G.O.R.E is a continuation of the storyline from the franchise set in the same universe."

Kim then took the chance to expand on the different approach that they are taking with the development of G.O.R.E. versus the original game that first landed in 2002:

"It's more accurate to view it as we inherited the advantages of the previous title, then mixed in some features today's gamers would expect to see from a current action game. Since Gungrave G.O.R.E was developed within the full scope of the franchise, we can safely say there will be a lot for the original fans to appreciate, while still fresh to newcomers."

Unfortunately, while this new game might be bringing us back into the anime universe that was first created by Yasuhiro Nightow, don't expect a revival in a similar vein as Trigun, with Vash the Stampede set to return to the small screen next year, as the game director hasn't "thought about next steps":

"We haven't thought about the next steps in the future of the series so far. What we think about the most is receiving approval from the gamers as a game. We just want users to have fun with our game and look forward to seeing what they think of Grave's return." 

Gungrave G.O.R.E. is set to release on November 22nd, 2022, and will be available on Playstation 4, Playstation 5, Xbox Series X, Xbox One, and PC.