Online Co-op Shooter Gunheart Is Out Now, Focusing On a Bizarre And Surprising Approach To Action Gameplay

Coming from Drifter Entertainment, featuring former devs from the Halo series, the VR shooter Gunheart gradually increased in scope over the course of its early access period. From its original July 2017 release, it's grown from a standard VR shooter into a far more robust experience that brings in elements found from action-RPG games. Available now as a full release, the online co-op oriented shooter channels some intense action moments while also blending in some interesting narrative touches that flesh out its strange world.

Described as a "gonzo outer-space shooter" by its creators, Gunheart's gameplay focuses on missions where you'll blast hostile bug creatures, while contending with some bizarre moments of introspection that occasionally reference the main character's past. In order to get players into the swing of things, Gunheart takes a rather unusual approach to easing you in. Taking on the role of an unnamed character who recently died, you find your digital consciousness loaded into a database thanks to a post-death insurance policy. The only way to get a new body is by taking on a number of missions with other recently departed where you assume the avatars of intergalactic bounty-hunters blasting hoards of bugs on alien worlds.

Speaking with GameSpot, creative director Brian Murphy spoke at length about Gunheart's journey, from its initial time as a standard shooter and into something more.

"We started this game about two years ago, and we started off with what I thought was a well-polished but straightforward shooter," Murphy said. "We put it out in early access, and it was actually kind of illuminating to go through that process. One of the big lessons we took away early on was that it doesn't matter how much of an expert we think we are at developing shooters or anything like, but rather it's about how we can connect with early access users. We ended up getting a number of players that played way more than we expected, and from that we saw that they wanted a meaty campaign, progression systems, difficulty of challenge--all the sort of things you can expect from a AAA game."

With its focus on action-gameplay, Gunheart features a number of modes and missions to take part in. As you level up and find new gear, such as shotguns, rifles, and even a crossbow, you'll be able to pull off slick maneuvers while laying waste to hostile aliens. While the VR component is not mandatory, and you can play it as a traditional shooter with a mouse and keyboard, the medium does offer up much of Gunheart's personality and most intense gameplay moments. With the Vive's touch controls, you can use a combination of locomotion options for your characters.

Playing with the Vive's touch controller, we were able to play through the game's different control schemes, which are designed for comfort and can be altered to your liking. Though there's the traditional--and accurate--point and teleport option, the Vive's controls also allow for direct movement via the touch pad on the controller, which functions similarly to a twin-stick FPS. Once you get comfortable with the controls, you can use a combination of the two methods, moving and jumping with the touch-pad, and then using the teleport option to move around for added acrobatics.

The general loop of Gunheart focuses on increasing in power and boosting your characters skill-set. Of course, you can also acquire a set of new cosmetic items for your character--over 80 items to be exact--along with social items that you can use to interact with other bounty-hunters while exploring your social zone--set within a strange catina-style hub. What's most interesting about Gunheart is that there's a strong social element that springs up organically. With the motion controllers allowing for players to use gestures in-game to communicate with others, there's a surprising level of coordination, and even humor, to be had within the game.

Out now on Steam, using both Oculus Rift and the HTC Vive headset, Gunheart looks to offer a surprising amount of depth within its mechanics. It's admirable that this VR shooter looks to buck the trend of other similarly designed VR shooting galleries, and Drifter Entertainment's action title looks to offer something a bit more meaty, and surprisingly humorous, in its approach to online co-op gameplay.