Octopus Panic’s debut launches in Early Access on Steam and in Game Preview on Xbox, and it’s on Xbox Game Pass from day one.
If you’ve ever wanted to defend an alien outpost as a bio-engineered dog, today is your day. Octopus Panic, an independent studio with veterans of 343 Industries and DICE, has launched GRAVHOUNDS, its co-op action builder, into Early Access on Steam and Game Preview on Xbox Series X|S and Xbox PC. It’s also on Xbox Game Pass from day one. The price is £15.99 / €19.99 / $19.99, with a 25% launch discount, and development is led by Josh Holmes, the Creative Director of Halo 4 and former head of Halo Studios.
GRAVHOUNDS launch trailer.
What You Actually Do
GRAVHOUNDS is designed for one to four players. You play a team of bio-engineered canine workers sent to hostile alien worlds to gather resources, build defenses and survive increasingly dangerous enemy attacks. Each of the five playable Gravhounds has a special ability, from Dozer’s explosive bone bombs to Zane’s physics-driven shockwave bark, so a crew can combine their strengths to improvise through the swarm. You can also go lone wolf and expand the operation by yourself.
Gravity is your main toy. The Grav Beam lets you fling objects across the battlefield, send enemies flying and turn the environment into a weapon, with a warning from the studio that transporting volatile materials may cost you a few Gravhounds. Movement is fast too, since you can boost in any direction, hover and reposition under fire to reach a teammate or make a last-second dash for materials.
🎮 Playing through Game Pass? An Xbox Game Pass subscription card is an easy way to get in on day one, and to try other games in the catalog while you’re at it.
Build, Extract and Adapt
The “builder” half is a big part of the game. You deploy and upgrade 21 different turret and defensive systems, from heavy weapons platforms like the MLRS and Electrocoil to tactical tools like Cryo Rockets and the Ballistic Shield, and you extend pipelines across hostile terrain to power your base and keep your escape route alive. Every expedition is a gamble: you explore seven solar systems and 25 planets with different biomes, times of day and atmospheric conditions, and the longer you stay, the better the rewards, but the alien assault escalates.
Replayability comes from 60 unlockable mods, including 12 powerful Showstopper mods, that you arrange in a Mod Deck to shape the upgrades available on future expeditions. Early Access also introduces the Juggernaut, a boss encounter meant to test your pack’s coordination and defensive preparations.
Early Access Details
As with any Early Access launch, it’s an unfinished game, and the studio plans to keep developing it with player feedback. Early Access is expected to last roughly six months, possibly longer, before a 1.0 release. Reports also say Xbox and Xbox PC players can play together across platforms, but Steam players can’t cross over to Xbox yet, and a free demo is available on Steam and Xbox if you want to try it first.
💾 Building a Game Pass library takes space. A storage expansion card for Xbox Series X|S keeps new installs from pushing out your older games.
You can learn more at the official site, GRAVHOUNDS.com.
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