The Graveyard demo is an exciting open-world non-linear third-person co-op multiplayer supernatural survival horror game with um… hang on…
The Graveyard puts you in the capable shoes of Mabel “Faith” Asskicker, a Japanese sword-wielding demon-hunting covert operative who navigates the rooftops in a dystopian future using parkour and um… Nah, try again.
The Graveyard is uh… JPRG… real-time strat…. city-building with, uh… attack-defend capture points… magical goblin living in your butt… rollercoaster sim…
I'm sure I'll think of a caption for the next picture, but right now, I'm stumped.
Okay, I don’t really know what The Graveyard is. You’re an old woman, you hobble through a graveyard, you sit on a bench, you listen to a song, you get up, you hobble out of the graveyard, and the game ends. Sorry for the spoilers, but they’re right there on the store page. That’s all that happens and they tell you that right up front.
Still got nothin'. Maybe the next one.
In fact, this isn’t even really a demo. It’s a trial that contains the complete game, save one aspect: death. If you buy the full version, every time you “play” there’s a chance the old woman you’re controlling will die. Other than that, the trial version and full version are identical.
So… let’s see. Technically, the game is very nice. It looks great, I had no frame-rate problems, installation went well. Can’t say I’m a huge fan of the song, and some of the birds flitting around pass through solid objects, but apart from that, the game is, you know, well made.
The Graveyard supports joystick controls. Also, life is pain and we all die alone.
I give up. Maybe I’ll let the store page take a stab at describing it:
It’s more like an explorable painting than an actual game. An experiment with poetry and storytelling but without words.
There, that’ll do. Though, technically, there are words and you can’t really explore much. And now, the rating:
It's a demo where an old woman walks through a graveyard and sits on a bench.
So, after that incredibly awkward and brief review, you might be wondering why this demo gets eight sticky bombs out of eight? No, it’s not sarcasm, it’s simply that the demo did what any demo would have to do to earn eight sticky bombs: it convinced me to buy the full game.
Yes, I do feel a little weird about buying a game simply because I want to see an old woman die. Well, to be truthful, I don’t want to see her die. I mean, I do, but not because I hate her or I think I’m going to enjoy it. I’m just sort of, I dunno, curious as to how it happens. I don’t think she’ll get taken out by a sidewinder missile or anything, but, I dunno, I guess I just want to see how they present it. Plus, it’s an indie game, which I try to support, and it’s only $5, and I’ll say this: when a game gives you nothing but an old woman walking through a graveyard alone, it definitely captures your full attention.
EDIT: Okay, I just played the full version and she died. It’s genuinely sad. I’m genuinely sad. I didn’t even see it, I was shooing my stupid obese cat off the desk. I looked back at the screen and the old woman had died. It was, like, a shock. For real. Even though I was fully expecting it to happen. I’m actually depressed.
Now, I’ve been playing the Half-Life games for years and by now we know that in a certain Episode a certain likable character we’ve spent some time with dies, but the death of this anonymous old woman that I’ve spent a total of about five minutes with had far more of an impact. Just sayin’. That’s pretty remarkable.
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65 Comments
March 12, 2009
sounds really wierd
March 12, 2009
Okay, I just played the full version and she died. That’s horribly depressing.
March 12, 2009
aw snap! first!
March 12, 2009
how did she die?
March 12, 2009
sidewinder missile
March 12, 2009
MUST. BUY
March 12, 2009
“Too much shadow. Pruned away.”
Too much X is always a bad thing, so I assume being pruned away isn’t good either.
Are the prunes metaphors for sidewinder missiles?
March 12, 2009
Chris, can you post a video of her death? I really want to know what happens :C.
March 12, 2009
its on youtube click my name. prepare to be dissapointed.
[Edit -- I removed the clip, but I suppose you can search for it on youtube. --C ]
March 12, 2009
the guy making the video is really funny, you see him go to bed and sleep in the background its taking so long.
March 12, 2009
sliferz - That doesn’t seem right. I think I’d rather people buy the game if they want the full experience.
March 12, 2009
um. woops.
(theres also a speedrun)
March 12, 2009
sorry chris
March 12, 2009
fuck i forgot to remove the link
March 12, 2009
im just going to shut up.
March 12, 2009
Yes, please do. Everyone look at what Putzy did, posting three consecutive comments within a minute. That is a thing I do not like.
March 12, 2009
I averted a possible crisis. I hope you are grateful. Or at least not vengeful.
March 12, 2009
Did someone actually make a speedrun!? I assume they used a bunny hopping exploit, that grandma looks pretty slow.
March 12, 2009
putsy is in the lio comments and he said for someone to say to mr brit that, and hear i quote “there is a speedrun, but its a joke. there is no exploit.” copy adn pasted DIRECTLY from comments
March 12, 2009
Wow, this game sounds deep. Might actually download…the demo.
March 12, 2009
My mind has been raped. That game made me think long and hard about…something. I’m not too sure what this game means but maybe it doesn’t have to mean anything to make you think..
March 12, 2009
update on the Tf2 page :)
March 13, 2009
I’ve played the full version on a friend’s computer. Honestly, I found the whole experience to be a bit esoteric. It didn’t personally appeal to me and I don’t plan on purchasing it, though I believe it has that certain unique artistic merit you don’t see in interactive media quite enough.
March 13, 2009
I bought the full game because of the demo too, just this morning actually(before I read this). Weird that this would be the new article! Anyway, I think the concept is amazing and I really like games pushing forward the concept of what games can be. I don’t like the notion that combat has really been the focus of gameplay at the core of majority of games today with hardly, if any, improvement in other harder to sell concepts.
March 13, 2009
Apparently I like the word concepts somewhat.
March 13, 2009
You mean you missed the side winder missle hitting her?
March 13, 2009
Maybe you gave it 8/8 sticky bombs because you wanted to blow it up?
March 13, 2009
yeah i noticed
March 13, 2009
Somehow I think it’s a good thing to start playing a nice colourful game of TF2 after watching this. Less grannies dieing, more players dieing because of sidewinder missiles.
March 13, 2009
I demand Steam achievements before I buy this game!
March 13, 2009
I’m just imagining the old lady walking through this morbidly peaceful and quiet scenery, hearing nothing but a faint yet growing swooshing sound when a SIDEWINDER MISSILE SWOOPS IN FROM THE LEFT AND GIBS HER.
But it had to be a really hot old lady, it is a heat seaking missile after all.
Zing.
Hope your depression got better now. :s
March 13, 2009
Thanks for this, Chris. Maybe I’m way too impressionable but this might be my favorite computer thing so far this year.
March 13, 2009
I think I’m going to buy this now.
March 13, 2009
What the fuck. Seriously. The woman dies out of no visible reason and THAT made you feel sad? It’s like bad comedy!
March 13, 2009
So there’s this bit in the Jon Stewart/Jim Cramer interview where Cramer says of Hank Paulson, “I’ve called him a liar on TV; what more can I do?”
Which gave me a great idea for how to punish these white collar criminals: force them to moderate the Steam forums.
March 13, 2009
“Did someone actually make a speedrun!? I assume they used a bunny hopping exploit, that grandma looks pretty slow.”
KEEEERIIIST.
March 13, 2009
WALLHAX
March 13, 2009
Hmm, now why would they add a Dutch song? (Yes, I am Dutch)
March 13, 2009
Look, I’m sick of all you X-Bots acting like your system is the king of innovation. Passage for PS3 did this whole concept last year, and it also included such features as a wife and treasure hunting.
I bet Chris got paid by M$ to promote this.
March 13, 2009
I’ve played Indie games for years now, and I love a game that has a different meaning. The problem is, you only get the meaning if you buy the full game. The Demo doesn’t convey the message.
Even if you watch it on youtube, it conveys the message. The Demo however, doesn’t do the full game justice.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go blow the shit out of stuff with sidewinder missiles.
March 13, 2009
Oh, Plumberduck, thanks for mentioning Passage. *Ahem*
I’ve heard many people actually PRAISE games like Passage and You Have To Burn The Rope. People commended their meaning. Quite frankly, I may have enjoyed Passage, YHTBTR, and The Graveyard, but it’s not praise-worthy. I enjoy these kinds of games, but I enjoy them more as a one time story kind of thing. I play it once, go “Ah, that’s interesting” and then never play it again.
These games may have meaning, but unfortunately, they just don’t have good playable value. Does this make me a bad Indie Gamer?
March 13, 2009
Plumberduck:
This is about PC gaming, not the Xbox :P
Maybe you should have checked the links to Steam. It’s for the PC. Yeah.
March 13, 2009
Coded One: Chris’ post actually inspired me to replay Passage again today. While I don’t think it deserves praise as a “game” (by which I mean that the actual gameplay elements do not bring me joy in the way, say, Geometry Wars does), it does deserve praise both for the mood it creates and the way it uses video game mechanics to express its point about the choices we make in life and the inevitability of death. I almost think creator Jason Rohrer made a mistake in posting his own explanation of the game, since part of its power comes from making those realizations for yourself through the process of play.
You Have to Burn the Rope, on the other hand, exists somewhere in the space between a meaningful statement and a reasonably funny joke. The only real reason to replay it, ever, is to hear that song again.
Just to be clear: Passage isn’t actually on PS3, it’s for Mac or Windows, you should try it, it only takes five minutes to play, etc.
That being said:
Kowl Slaw: Whatever Steam sux why no TF2 updates for PS3 except Gay Newell is addicted to those sweet sweet Microbucks.
March 13, 2009
An explosion would’ve been a good ending too… :P
March 13, 2009
Why do you keep labelling these games as MMORPG’s, when they are clearly not?
March 13, 2009
‘KEEEERIIIST.’
Do not get
???
March 13, 2009
Plumberduck:
I really can’t tell if you are being extremely sarcastic or not :o
March 13, 2009
Technically, it’s alone and afraid.
March 13, 2009
“Whatever Steam sux why no TF2 updates for PS3 except Gay Newell is addicted to those sweet sweet Microbucks.”
Please stop, that’s not even a valid point. 360 hasn’t gotten any updates either. Also, there is nothing wrong with steam (IMO). It may be a little buggy, but saying it “sux” does NOT prove anything.
Also, why was a console war brought into this? This comment section should be about this game God dammit.
March 13, 2009
Plumberduck confuses me ?:(
March 13, 2009
My intent was just to bring up Passage, and its similarities to and differences from The Graveyard. I couched it the way I did because I found it amusing to use idiot console war speech/arguments to discuss two EXTREMELY indie, non-mainstream games.
March 13, 2009
So, you were being sarcastic? I’m confused o.o
March 13, 2009
Yes, I was being sarcastic when I suggested that either of these two computer-only games were in any way related to XBox or Playstation 3, neither of which either game is available for. Sorry for confusing you.
March 13, 2009
Eh. When it comes to “The Passage”, I’m with Tom Francis.
Mainly, that compared to Portal, it sucks.
Only he put it much better, what with being the award winning Tom Francis and all.
March 13, 2009
It’s okay Duck, we still love you.
March 13, 2009
Graveyard isn’t a game, it’s sortof a short interactive french film (except with dutch singing).
It won’t be a game till the modding scene has a go. Putting the granny on a skateboard and stillborns on the path to ollie over on the way to the bench. And a Flatout nitrous boost system. And bullet time. Or someone maps the granny model over to Half-Life 2 to replace Gordon Freeman as the playable character.
Anyway, immediatley after finishing it I just felt the overwhelming urge to go help the elderly and infirm.
March 13, 2009
Oh god, i just bought it. Chris, since you didn’t see it, here’s how it goes down:
She looks around and sighs, then you hear a cracking sound, then she leans her head down, then it just slumps. Them her shoulders slump down and the superimposed face on it is showing the back of her neck, cracked sickly down. And she’s just slumped down, dead. It was truly sad for me, i’ll miss her.
March 13, 2009
Kinda seems like a waste of hard drive space to me.
March 13, 2009
I don’t think anyone has mentioned it yet, but The Graveyard was put on Steam because another game by this company is coming out next week. It’s called The Path, and it’s an abstract horror retelling of Little Red Riding Hood, except the single little girl has been replaced by six sisters of different ages. It’s more of a traditional game than The Graveyard, and there was an early review of it on Rock, Paper, Shotgun: I put a link to it in my name, and the review starts with a link to the official website.
March 14, 2009
The song was about her family
How they all died and she was left alone
“Acid over granite to wash away the rust”
“And black marble bedsheets to keep me warm”
She wanted to die, gentlemen. She doesn’t have anything left in this world…
In the trial, the song would end with “… but this is not the time, it would seem” and “maybe next time, i will cease to be here”
Because she didn’t die, that is.
Damn i shed manly tears
March 14, 2009
As did I, it was a truly remarkable and touching game.
March 14, 2009
Chris, have my comments been blocked? I made two comments about the company behind this game a few hours ago, and they haven’t shown up yet.
March 14, 2009
Never mind, my original comment is up now.
March 14, 2009
While we’re on the subject of Indie games…
http://zarat.us/tra/offline-games/eversion.html
Eversion. Play it, and make sure to watch both endings. Biggest mindfuck ever.
March 16, 2009
Wow that’s interesting.
I’m going to look “graveyard” up. Definitely. 5 bucks? easily worth it.
CHECK MY SITE!
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