Gungrave (ガングレイヴ, Gangureivu) is a 2002 Japanese third-person shooter video game developed and published by Red Entertainment (Sega in North America and Activision in Europe) for the PlayStation 2.

[3] Players control Beyond the Grave, who is equipped with a damage-absorbing energy shield that can absorb a large amount of damage in addition to his life bar.

When the shield is fully depleted, the player is highly vulnerable and further damage reduces the character's health level rapidly.

[4] By performing well during stages, the player can unlock special attacks such as machine guns or rockets launched from the coffin on Beyond the Grave's back.

To build the beat meter, Beyond the Grave must perform combos sometimes numbering in hundreds of hits (destroying enemies or practically anything in the game environment).

The story follows Grave as he sets out on a course for revenge against the man who killed him, his former best friend and colleague from Millenion, Harry Macdowell.

Gungrave first approaches its stages as a series of missions issued by Dr. T, first to gather information on the current makeup of Millennion from a low-level street gang, and next destroying a research facility that creates Harry's undead soldiers.

As the player progresses, the game uses anime cutscenes to reflect on the history of young Brandon and Harry, gradually bringing the pair's back story into focus.

[6] In creating Grave, Nightow elaborated wanted him to be a silent person as he does not enjoy games where the main character talks too much.

[8] In Gungrave: Overdose the developers wanted to keep showing people Beyond the Grave, as "just how great" he is based on response from the original game.

[12] Character designer Nightow was attending a convention in the United States and was approached by Red Entertainment during conception of the game which highly influenced their title.

[29] GameSpot drew a similar statement, considering his looks as mix between "cowboy and a vampire" while still keeping a stylish look and liking his interactions with Mika.

[30] IGN enjoyed his main design, comparing it with Nightow's Trigun manga but more gothic and laballed him as "cool" due to the intense firepower he displays.

[4] In a further analysis of the game while detailing the revenge story arcs as common in fiction, GameSpy found there is a common misinterpretation of Grave as an anti-hero but instead is portrayed as "the reformed gangster, whose loyalty and caring feelings toward those he loves gives him a type of nobility that allows him to somewhat transcend his bloodthirsty one-man war.