The Gal*Gun gals are back again with Grim Guardians: Demon Purge

Announced in August 2022, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is a spinoff to the Gal*Gun series (its initials are the same as Gal*Gun Double Peace, if you hadn’t noticed) that features leading ladies Shinobu and Maya doing what they do best: hunting demons!

In contrast with the previous Gal*Gun games, Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is not a rail shooter or dating sim; instead, it’s creator Inti Creates doing what they do best: modern retro pixel art 2D games, drawing heavy inspiration from all-time classics of gaming generations past. In this case, the team has turned its attention to 32-bit era Castlevania, with delicious 2D spritework, spectacular animation and intricately designed levels.

Inti Creates has been gradually trickling information out about the game over the course of the last few months — including the fact that many of Gal*Gun’s popular secondary characters will be putting in an appearance throughout Grim Guardians: Demon Purge. This isn’t just a game that happens to feature Shinobu and Maya; this is most certainly a Gal*Gun game at heart.

Grim Guardians: Demon Purge sees the two demon hunting sisters tackling their most significant challenge to date. The mischievous demon-in-training Kurona has well and truly got in over her head this time around, having amplified her own evil (and, uh, assets) considerably thanks to a magic mirror. Not only that, but she’s managed to summon a dirty great big evil-looking gothic castle where Sakurazaki Academy once stood. Naturally, the only thing to do for a pair of self-respecting demon hunters is to go in, kick some demonic booty and send Kurona sobbing back to Hell once again.

Grim Guardians: Demon Purge can be played in single-player, in which case you can switch between Shinobu and Maya as the situation demands, or you can also play in two-player co-op. There are multiple routes through the game according to how you make use of the two sisters’ abilities, and each playthrough has certain randomised elements, making it highly replayable. It’s definitely looking like one of Inti Creates’ strongest titles to date.

Although the game was announced last August, and it was pretty much a given that it would be coming west in some form, there was no official confirmation of a localisation or what form a western release might take. Until now, that is! Yes, frequent Inti Creates partners and Gal*Gun specialists PQube have announced that they will be publishing Grim Guardians: Demon Purge in the west, and in keeping with the rest of the series, there will be a lovely-looking Collector’s Edition that you can get your hands on — though a standard edition will also be available.

The Collector’s Edition includes a copy of the physical game for Switch, PS4 or PS5; a holographic acrylic standee featuring Shinobu and Maya looking badass; a set of five stickers featuring the game logo, Shinobu, Maya, Risu the angel (last seen in Gal*Gun 2) and “powered-up” Kurona; a 40 page artbook; a set of 4 A6 art cards; and some Maya-inspired origami paper and instructions that will allow you to create a paper crane and what appears to be a penguin.

Grim Guardians: Demon Purge is out digitally for PC via Steam, Nintendo Switch, PlayStation 4 and PlayStation 5 on February 23, 2023, but you’ll have to wait a little longer for the physical versions to be ready; there’s no specific date set as yet, but we can apparently expect the standard editions to be available in the spring, with the collector’s editions coming along in early summer.

If you’d like to find out more about the game and register your interest in the collector’s edition to receive updates as it gets closer to release, check out the game’s official site. Pre-orders aren’t yet available, but be sure to sign up if you want to be the first to know when they’re ready!

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Pete Davison

Pete is Rice Digital's editor, and a proud champion of any and all games involving pretty girls hanging out, saving the world or both. His first waifu was Rit from Rod Land.

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