Gravity Circuit 2’s new demo pairs Kai’s fists with Cable, who turns wrecked robots into ammo

The first Gravity Circuit made its case with a closed fist. In a genre whose heroes have been defined by the arm cannon since the console classics it openly honours, Domesticated Ant Games built its hero, Kai, around close combat: momentum, punches and the nerve to get inside an enemy’s reach. That choice earned the small Finnish studio critical acclaim, and its sequel, Gravity Circuit 2, does not walk it back. Kai keeps his brawler’s style. What changes is that he no longer fights alone, and the newly released demo is the first chance to feel what that partnership does to the rhythm of the game.

The new arrival is Cable, and he is built for the distance Kai always had to close. In the announcement, Domesticated Ant Games and its publisher, Dear Villagers, describe a long-range fighter with projectiles, multiple jumps that can damage enemies and a power that turns defeated foes into scrap he can fire back as ammunition. On paper, that last idea is the most interesting one: a gunner whose supply comes from the wreckage he leaves behind. Players choose between the two before each mission, so the switch is a matter of approach rather than a mid-fight trick.

A ranged fighter blasts fire at a green robot inside an industrial stage in Gravity Circuit 2 — Image: Domesticated Ant Games / Dear Villagers

The story picks up in the same universe, years after the first game, in a rebuilt Kernel City. A new Ark has appeared, carrying invading forces from the Hunter Army, and the sequel sends both fighters through 2D stages that mix combat, demanding platforming and hidden secrets. Progression extends the first game’s toolkit: new Booster Chips and Burst Techniques reshape each character’s move set and stats, while every defeated boss yields Circuit Shards and a brand-new upgrade. It is the genre’s oldest promise, the boss who hands over a piece of himself, worked into a two-hero structure.

Kai dodges a boss bubble barrage in a blue control room in Gravity Circuit 2 — Image: Domesticated Ant Games / Dear Villagers

The sound of the game stays in the family. Dominic Ninmark, of Ninmark Soundworks, returns with a new soundtrack after scoring the original, and his partnership with the studio goes back to the first game, which Domesticated Ant Games describes as a collaboration with him and a group of freelancers. The studio itself is young, founded in Finland in 2021, and Dear Villagers is a boutique label of about twenty people based in Montpellier, France.

The demo was presented during the Galaxies Autumn Showcase and is available now for free on Steam. It runs about thirty minutes across two stages, with both Kai and Cable playable, and includes some of the new customization elements. The full game is due in spring 2027 on PC, through Steam and the Epic Games Store, as well as PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch and Nintendo Switch 2, a platform the publisher has now added to the lineup announced in June. The original Gravity Circuit launched on PC in July 2023.

A half-hour slice cannot answer the sequel’s real question, but it can frame it. Gravity Circuit was defined by how close its hero had to get. The demo is where players can test whether a partner who fights from across the screen sharpens that idea or dilutes it.

Tags: game demos, Dear Villagers, Domesticated Ant Games, Dominic Ninmark, Gravity Circuit, Gravity Circuit 2