I’m here to set the record straight! Graven is not bad game, it’s also not a good game, it’s an excellent game. And I feel like I have to come to its defense here with a Ye Old Gamer recommends video, because if you give credit to all these negative reviews on Steam and all these KZfaq videos that are shitting hard on Graven, you may end up giving it a pass. And that would be a pity, because if you have been following this channel, there’s a good chance that Graven is for you.
Graven is not a first-person shooter like Heretic, it’s not a puzzle game like Myst, it’s not a metroidvania like Symphony of the Night, it doesn’t fully commit do the player-driven approach of Deus Ex, and it’s definitely not a souls-like (like Dark Souls, doh!)
Instead, it borrows mechanics and principles from all these games to deliver a unique experience that is first and foremost about “figuring out” how to progress further into the game and it rewards players for being thorough in their exploration and bold in their experimentation.
Graven is about figuring out how to get rid of the bad guys in the most efficient way. It’s about figuring out how to progress further into the game’s quests and it’s about figuring out how to get around the various locations in which the game takes place.
And if you are part of the game's intended, you are going to have a blast with it. It's one of the best games of 2024 so far!