Earlier this year, Slipgate Ironworks, 3D Realms, and Fulqrum Publishing released their first-person dark fantasy GRAVEN on PC where it received mixed reviews from players. Now GRAVEN is out on console, were the mixed reviews warranted?
GRAVEN puts players in the shoes of a wrongfully condemned priest who was punished for saving his adopted daughter from being sacrificed by killing another priest. seeming to have been granted another opportunity at life, the priest now ventures into the dark world to face the evils and plague that’s ravishing it.
Now, onto the game itself! The controls for GRAVEN are pretty easy to learn even though the hud might look overcomplicated, a tutorial at the start would have been nice. The soundtrack is awesome in my opinion as it sounds like it belongs in the dark world the game is set in but I wish there could have been a little more use of voice acting.
At first, I was not sure how I felt about the art of GRAVEN as it reminded me of an uprezed N64 game or early World of Warcraft, but the longer I was in the game’s world, I started to like it as it began to fit the world and the story it was telling.
When it comes to gameplay, you get missions by talking to people, exploring the world (even finding secrets), finding and reading documents, completing puzzles, and fighting monstrous beings all while trying to discover what’s happening in the world and why you’re somehow still alive. Though I had some fun while I was playing, I felt the game could have used a map system as (at the time of writing this) the area I’m in appears quite involved with many routes that can be taken to other areas.
Overall, though GRAVEN may not be the kind of game I would like to play, I did have some fun with it. I like the art and music, the story is interesting, I like the exploration, and the combat is challenging even on casual gameplay, but I feel that the game, in a way, thumbs its nose at players at the start with having something of a warning at the beginning that in so many words that the game is for smarter players, I should note it did NOT say that but I can see where many may think it is. Still, this is a game I could see myself playing on a rainy day tucked away in my room.
On my scale of 1-10, GRAVEN is a 7/10. GRAVEN is out now on PC and will be coming out June 25th for PlayStation 5, and Xbox Series X/S.
