Gurei Review – A Stylish Boss Rush That Hits Hard

Gurei Review

Facing an imposing boss is exhilarating. Their intimidating stature, array of devastating moves, and strength can challenge even the most adept player. Boss Rush games focus solely on these encounters, adding further weight to these climactic showdowns, ensuring every victory feels earned and every mistake carries consequences. Gurei embodies this ethos and integrates Roguelike mechanics, but does this fresh twist elevate the genre or leave it fighting an uphill battle?

You play as Rei, a human spirit tasked with defeating mystical entities in a mysterious world. As you progress, you learn small details about each enemy you face and the world you inhabit. The narrative sits firmly in the background, giving purpose but not much more; letting the gameplay lead the experience.

The Hunt For Kami

Kamis dwell at the end of ten different paths. Your journey to them isn’t arduous, merely a short hike to the location. These are simple, linear paths that include recognisable backdrops so that you can easily distinguish which enemy resides. This is important as you can tackle the bosses in any order; however, this affects their difficulty. Their attack patterns become more complex the later you encounter them, making fights much tougher. As you may find certain bosses a struggle compared to others, you must experiment with the order to find the perfect route for you.

Adding to this is the variety of abilities. Each boss has a special power which you absorb once you conquer them. This also affects the order in which you tackle bosses, as certain skills are more effective than others. For example, one grants a momentary rebirth, allowing you to finish off the boss as your renewed health automatically dwindles, whereas another gives you a shield to protect yourself against the onslaught of attacks. Each skill improves your capabilities and working out the order to attain these can help you defeat them all.

Death is inevitable. Once you have been vanquished, a mysterious being collects and revives you, allowing you to try again. At first, you only have one additional chance; however, each boss you defeat grants an additional opportunity to return. While you can rack up retries, the boss remains at full health for each attempt. This means you must learn their attack pattern and counter these to emerge victorious rather than relying on additional opportunities.

Earn Your Stripes

Combat starts simple and develops as you earn more abilities. Each run, you’ll start with a sword, jump and dash, but this soon expands with the ability to summon a doppelganger and shoot an arrow. While your skills increase, the core combat lacks the fluidity seen in similar titles. Movement is a little stiff and strikes are simple rather than a flurry of interconnected hits. Even though this helps to make each attack feel purposeful, it removes the notion of being a swordmaster.

Skill and repetition are how you’ll succeed. As there’s no meta-progression, you must simply learn attack patterns and counter appropriately. While this does raise the difficulty, boss designs feature well-signalled attacks, never making fights feel unfair. Instead, death is often due to reckless tactics or failure to recognise and counter attacks. Although this may deter some players, those who enjoy challenging encounters will feel right at home.

Visually, the game takes inspiration from classic indies such as Hollow Knight and Limbo. The greyscale color palette, splintered by the boss’ corresponding color, creates a striking contrast that immediately draws your eye to the action. The boss designs are exceptional, each bursting with style and personality, while the atmospheric soundtrack complements the East Asian-inspired setting. Even though the style has been done several times before, it still manages to create an appealing aesthetic.

The Last Strike

Gurei is a challenging adventure that forces you to carefully consider your route through increasingly difficult and imposing boss battles. Working out your path and creating a build that supports your run is refreshing, but the lack of support and steep skill curve may deter players who struggle with tough encounters. For those willing to embrace its demanding design, it’s a rewarding experience where victory is earned but never guaranteed. However, its rigid combat and lack of progression prevent it from reaching the heights of its inspirations.

***A PS5 code was provided for this review***