It also was performed by a live orchestra, making every track feel full and resplendent. It’s a perfect soundtrack that melds wonderfully with the game’s mysterious yet unsettling narrative. It makes particular tense scenes even eerier thanks to cellos, violins, ethereal vocals and somber piano chords. It does so much to evoke certain moods, to instill fear or evoke elation. The music is my favorite component of this game. I knew I was in for a fantastic soundtrack as soon as I booted up the game and just sat there listening to the main menu music. The Beautiful Evocation of Dread and Drudgery Graavik, as a result, has a lot of depth and exploring it was more enjoyable as a result. The town’s store has broken bottles on the ground and pictures on its walls. This abandoned town has the right amount of subtlety, realistically conveying lived-in spaces. When exploring, I’d find handwritten notes in cursive, drawings from a child, and newspaper clippings, all executed expertly to make its world feel believable. Textures have great detail, and Lissie’s facial animations properly convey a wide range of emotions. The mystery behind Graavik is also sold thanks to the game’s top-notch visuals. But that being said, I didn’t mind the linear nature of the game because I was hooked by the game’s enthralling narrative. So don’t expect a whole lot of exploration or freedom to openly sleuth. There were instances where I couldn’t interact with new objects I found because I could only interact with them later on in the game, like I had not reached the point in the narrative where the object was necessary. There are no puzzles or combat, as it’s more focused on delivering its linear three-hour-long narrative.ĭraugen’s linear design did feel like a hindrance at times. The mechanics of exploring Graavik, picking up objects, and interacting with Lissie accounts for most of what I did in this game, and it’s what pushes the narrative forward. For example, I see something in the environment and I can comment about it to Lissie, which activates dialogue that further elaborates on the mystery of this place, its inhabitants or Edward’s character. The mechanics of the game will have you walking around and interacting with objects, much like the game Gone Home.
What also helped sell these characters was the fantastic voice acting across the board the vocal actors artistically deliver performances with nuance and emotion that make them come to life. I don’t want to reveal much about his character, but needless to say by the end of the game I legitimately cared about him. Edward is a complex character to play as, and the writing did a superb job of making him believable. Edward’s obsession with finding his sister, mixed in with the seemingly conflicted relationship he has with Lissie, made it an even more intriguing narrative journey. On this journey, I was accompanied by Lissie, a plucky, energetic character who serves as a nice counterbalance to Edward. Overall, the narrative does a wonderful job of letting you piece things together but also reveals enough so that you’re not lost when it comes to most of the game’s mystery. The ending of the game takes some interesting turns, turns that I personally enjoyed that could irk those looking for a more concrete, less vague finale. Since the game is very narrative-focused, I feel that towards the end I can see how its conclusion can be divisive. The main mystery revolves around Graavik and how it relates to Edward’s missing sister. The narrative was great about giving me an engaging – at times unnerving – mystery to solve. But I recommend you go into this game not knowing more than what I talk about below because its narrative is its main draw. As you can tell, I don’t want to reveal too much about the game’s narrative, but I’ll do my best to discuss the bare minimum. As I explored the town, I started to uncover the mystery behind the town itself and why it’s seemingly abandoned.Īs I walked around I would come across clues in the environment that would unveil what could have possibly happened. The game starts at their arrival at Graavik, a small, seemingly abandoned Norwegian town. The protagonist is Edward Harden, and he is accompanied by his ward Lissie on a journey to find his missing sister. unfamiliar towns can exude mystery in of themselves, they become even more captivating when they are shrouded in even more drama.ĭraugen by Red Thread Games uses the setting of a small town to tell a story about a missing person and a place that’s hiding a morbidly strange past. I for one like games set in such a place it creates an aura of mystery from the outset. There’s nothing like a game set in a small town.
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