GamerEscape

When most gamers think of fantasy games these days, many will default to either an MMORPG or some Soulslike on prevalence alone. Swords, sorcery, gunpowderless combat, and the associated vibes just fit in nicely with the genre. Fantasy can and will tumble into other gaming genres, but I’ll be the first to admit that first-person combat isn’t usually what I think of first when it comes to these kind of games.

I’m sure I won’t be the first person to say that leaning into the nostalgia of certain folks isn’t a bad strategy, either. I’ve run into my fair share of games that lean into this sort of thing over the years, and it’s very much something that will vary depending on the execution. Given how prevalent it’s been for quite a while, it’s not surprising to see a game like Graven make the choice to evoke late-90s PC vibes. Developer Slipgate Ironworks seems to be hoping that some will fall back on that nostalgia and give this a shot.

In the interest of transparency, there’s a reason that this is a hands-on and not a full-on review. Sometimes, prerelease software isn’t always stable. While I was playing for this hands-on, I came across an issue where an autosave decided to throw an error on my PS5. This error in turn kicked me back to the title screen after some time. “No problem,” I thought, “The game had a chance to autosave again before that happened.” No such luck, as this incident ended up corrupting my save file and forcing me to start a fresh playthrough. Manual saves weren’t exactly a thing here, either. Not exactly the best circumstances, but the show must go on regardless.

Published by 3D Realms and Fulqrum Publishing, Graven is currently available on PC (Steam/Epic Store) and will be available on PS5 and Xbox Series X | S on June 25, 2024. The aforementioned PS5 version was played for this hands-on.

It won’t take long for you to realize that the story is more of a gameplay motivator for this adventure. But that doesn’t mean there isn’t an opening game exposition giving the player motivation and a reason to play. You’re a man of the cloth who found himself the adoptive father to a young girl, and he found himself having to defend said daughter. Said defense leads to his life becoming forfeit, or so it would seem. He suddenly finds himself on a boat in the swamp, and the ferryman warns him that he’ll have to “earn his peace.” Now in possession of a staff and eventually a spellbook, our pious protagonist begins to take the first steps into figuring out how he isn’t dead and uncover the mysteries that surround him.

Most games in the late 90s were notorious for this sort of thing. Specifically, the “something bad happened to you, now go do something about it” sort of plot. Oftentimes it was to focus on the gameplay aspect of things, to varying degrees of success. But games like Final Fantasy VII/VIII, Metal Gear Solid, and Half Life are often seen as standard-bearers for a cohesive and compelling story for that era. This story is much simpler, and the lack of such a thing can be overlooked if the gameplay is compelling enough. I’m sure there are some that wish that more games likened their story integration with the likes of Kojima’s recent offerings, but I would much rather the goals the developers set for themselves be achieved more than anything else.

That said, I wasn’t really firing up Graven for any sort of in-depth story from the get-go. Aside from some flavor text in progression-specific journal entries to get an idea where to go next, I was more concerned with fumbling my way around the environment and drinking in every other aspect of the game. There are many, many other games that offer a story-rich experience, so the lack of one here doesn’t especially bother me all that much. It does give the late 90s vibe that they were going for here, so it makes sense in context.

One of the things that I found myself asking is how the trappings of a first person game would translate into a fantasy setting. Admittedly, I missed out on similar games like Hexen: Beyond Heretic. So part of me was intrigued with seeing this gameplay set in this environment. It bears a dark Middle Ages-eque setting, so the weapons/magic/combat stays in line with the setting and genre.

Combat starts off simply enough, as you’re given a staff to fend off the early bog-standard enemies. Oftentimes, you’ll find yourself incessantly and cautiously bonking medieval fools to get to where you need to go. You’ll also find yourself needing to obtain resources in order to use spells and certain weapons by way of ammo and mana. After a while, I sort of felt like Link coming in and causing massive amounts of property damage with the amount of time I spent simply scrounging for resources. Over time, you’ll come into more spells and weaponry. This is all genre appropriate, of course, but recontextualized in a way that isn’t too far off to your average first-person shooter. Like a wrist-mounted crossbow being similar to a pistol, or a barb-centric weapon essentially being a shotgun. Upgrades to weaponry can be purchased or found, like a scope for your crossbow or finding a simple short sword.

With the weapon system being pretty robust, it came as a bit of a shock to me that the combat itself was actually pretty monotonous. Graven fancies itself a game that requires you to be aware of your surroundings, as foes can and will drop you pretty quickly. So coming out swinging isn’t exactly the move. The properties of some weapons do give you a chance to turn the tide of battle, but oftentimes you’re either managing some degree of chaos or picking things off in a distance in a way that will let you progress. Enemy drops are also helpful, but that’ll often be offset with foes that hit pretty hard or something that requires a decent amount of mana. It’s a strange balancing act at times. I regularly found myself looking forward to experimenting with new weapons and spells, only to just revert to what felt quick and reliable.

This is further accentuated by the level design, which regularly flip-flops between narrow hallways and wide open spaces. Depending on what you’re doing, this can get annoying. Especially when the amount of backtracking is pretty regular. I’m sure some will say that this is part and parcel of older eras of gaming, but these days I find it to be an annoyance more than anything. It’s not the kind of backtracking you’d find in something like a Metroidvania, where doing similar amounts of backtracking was typically offset with compelling level design and just enough engaging combat to break the monotony. Instead, it just feels like an arbitrary progression obstacle more than anything else. The occasional puzzles meant to invoke Hexen aren’t especially brain-bendy, but they aren’t exactly remarkable either.

Really, the best way to describe the overall gameplay package is “competent, yet glitchy and unremarkable.” The combat didn’t necessarily feel bad, but I didn’t feel like it was anything to write home about either. With the aforementioned save corruption on top of the occasional graphical glitch, it definitely feels like this could have used a little more time in the oven on PS5. Some of it feels like a wasted opportunity, and I wish this was ended up better than it actually ended up becoming.

Graven’s focus on evoking that graphical style of the late 90s (and maybe a dash of early aughts) certainly bleeds through in the presentation. Honestly, it’s probably the best thing going for this game. People like me who remember how certain PC games of the era used to look like will more than likely have some sort of nostalgic response to looking at the graphical style Slipgate used here.

It’s detailed, but does so in a way that makes it look like it’s something that the best PCs of the era could do with the hardware available at the time. Oftentimes, it leans toward the dark and grimy side of things. But that’s to be expected in a dark fantasy game like this. Occasionally, it gets a bit too dark, but those instances are something that’s tolerable. Since we’re not dealing with anything remotely resembling modern graphics, modern consoles in general shouldn’t have much trouble running this. The PS5 version often kept a consistently smooth framerate, and drops weren’t a frequent occurrence. I’m sure if I squinted my eyes hard enough, I could fool myself into thinking I’m somehow back in 1998 or something. But silky smooth framerates like these weren’t that common in those times, either.

While I’m not particularly impressed with the overall audio side of things, it at least sounds like one would expect a fantasy game to sound like. You know what to expect here. The throes of medieval combat, that whoosh of magic cutting through, and the grunts and groans of your fallen foes. That sort of thing. I wasn’t expecting it to be bland, but what I was getting here works out well enough. Music here is largely atmospheric, namely the dark and gloomy type. I’m totally fine with that kind of music, as it often doesn’t detract from the rest of the gameplay and presentation package.

Overall, it feels like the goal of “make a dark and gloomy environment that’s 90s flavored with the sound design to match” was achieved here. It largely looks and sounds like it could have been something from that era, and the amount of attention to detail for that specific style is something I do appreciate. In some ways, it does feel like that detail is trying too hard to pander to older gamers. But at least it works. It does get in the way of gameplay at times, but it’s a very rare occurrence. You can tell that the art team at Slipgate was having some fun here.

I feel very mixed about Graven, because there are a few things that I enjoy about it. The praise I do level here, namely in the presentation, is offset by monotonous combat and design that feels uninspired. Competent as the gameplay is, it’s probably not going to catch the eye of curious gamers. I’m sure there are genre fans that will find some level of enjoyment despite some very obvious shortcomings. More power to you if you find yourself in that camp.

I hope that some patches are on the way, because the current state of Graven leaves me conflicted. The bar of entry is low (the game is affordable at $24.99), there’s enjoyment to be had here if you know where to look, but not everyone is going to want to continue to dig to find that gold. I’m not necessarily mad about the state of this game, but I am dissappointed at the wasted potential laid at my feet. I think there’s still room for fantasy shooters like this, yet Graven could have been so much more than it is right now.

Code provided by 3D Realms for PC. Screenshots and featured image courtesy of Playstack.