Grave. Grave is spooky as hell. Grave is currently available as a very early demo awaiting Steam greenlight for early release. An atmospheric horror game, Grave will lull you into rest, then throw you for a loop. The game is developed independently by Broken Window Studios. This is their first venture into full development, and went the crowdfunding way to get Grave started.
Set near a seemingly abandoned mining town, Grave will challenge you to keep your wits. With a solid visual style, you will slowly traverse through the desert and mines to explore your surroundings. Though it starts out bright and hazy, things quickly change for the worse. While exploring an abandoned house, I found my first set of matches, leaving the mostly empty desert behind as I entered. As I came back to door of the house, the environment around me had shifted and there were giant half destroyed structures everywhere. These images quickly dissipated like a mirage. These visual cues are sometimes the scariest part of Grave.
The sound here is on equal footing with the visuals. The music and environmental effects have you spinning around often to make sure there isn’t something behind you. When the first real monster arrives, the horrible shriek had me nearly toss my headphones. The combination of sound and visual effects make for a very harrowing journey through the dilapidated buildings.
This being a very early demo, there isn’t too much to see and do yet. You are given a few tools to help fend off the horrors. A flashlight is probably your most useful tool. There is no combat in Grave, but light is used to fend off the enemies that appear in the town. Trying to stay in the light as monsters randomly spawn around you is quite frightening. The initial visual queue of all the light suddenly shrinking away outside generally has you scrambling for your matches, or flashlight.
As someone who doesn’t generally play horror games. Though this short demo lacks any real guidance, I found it was pretty easy to figure out what I needed to do. Not that it made it any easier to get done mind you. The procedurally generated maps ensure a different play through each time. I Am almost looking forward to the full release giving me plenty of both subtle and extreme jump scares.
Grave is currently scheduled for release in Q4 of 2015, for PC, Xbox One and PS4.
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For more previews, check out Kingdom Come: Deliverance
MicBeMac Games 