Graven Critic Reviews

Graven is a quality addition to the FPS offering, it gives a fair challenge and will especially please fans of fantasy horror games and the dark ages.

Graven has enough puzzles, secrets, weapons, and spells to keep it engrossing and compelling throughout.

A game inspired by the classics of the 90s, with a great atmosphere, level design, and exploration, but also with some flaws, such as an uneven combat, some obtuse design choices, and a questionable save system. It is a very old-school experience, for better and for worse, that can captivate and frustrate in equal measure.

GRAVEN aims for an intriguing combination of exploration, combat, and puzzle solving. All are decent, neither is truly good and the game cannot seem to decide what kind of experience it wants to create. I really wanted to use the spells, especially fire, to kill enemies, without resorting to blades or arrows. It doesn’t help that the fictional world feels derivative, and it is feel a connection to our Orthogonal hero. The game really needs a map. GRAVEN could have offered an interesting update on Hexen but it’s just a sometimes enjoyable mix of combat and puzzle work.

GRAVEN manages to recreate the 90s action game, but that comes with the same issues that those games did.

Time-machine nostalgia and a pixel-perfect retro vibe can only carry Graven so far. Combat, exploration, and level design have to ferry the player to the end. Unfortunately, Graven has enough issues in these areas that its very promising premise isn’t quite fulfilled. Players who grew up with mid-90s shooters will appreciate what Graven has to offer, at least for a while. Ultimately, it might make them appreciate how far we’ve come.

Graven is a difficult game that combines resource management with RPG-style adventure combat. You will fight hordes of undead enemies that force you to be creative and push your resources. It's a punishing game where lowering the difficulty might be a good idea, given how easy it is to get hurt or become lost. But if you fight past the frustration and get knocked around enough times, you can find a decent adventure that you are proud of completing.

A successful old-school action game that tests your reflexes and internal compass. Graven pays homage to inventive shooters from the 90s and delights every fan of the genre. Moreover, it captivates with a well-crafted atmosphere and soundtrack. It's just a shame that the action component is not better tuned and less frustrating.

Graven is an intriguing mix of genres, but it doesn't manage to express its full potential.

My time with Graven is a mix of fun and frustration - first it's great, but after a while I want to throw my keyboard out the window. The atmoshpere and graphics are good, and the maps are well desgned, but lack of clear goal and to much old-school are a burden.

Graven tries to swim against the market stream and offer something new, resembling games like Hexen and Heretic, but that’s pretty much all it does and eventually falls short in almost every other department.

Graven is a new action title looking to tap into several different ideas at once. Whether they work together or not, however, is a different conversation.

GRAVEN’s shortcomings will hold you back from really enjoying it. Although the design and atmosphere are great, it’s not enough to overcome the frustrating gameplay loop. Fans of the genre will find plenty to enjoy, but for most, the overall experience is likely to tip more into the frustrating than the exciting.

Graven had some problems during its early access periodo and sadly the 1.0 version doesn't solve all of them, nor does it make it a really compelling game.

It feels like there were some very specific ideas the creators of Graven wanted to communicate. But while those ideas sometimes weave together with the game’s dark fantasy, old-school shooter style to form some immaculate vibes, that’s about as deep as it gets. The game seems confused about whether or not it wants to be an awesome action game, a thoughtful explorative puzzler, or some kind of mutant Soulslike gimmick. It sputters across the finish line not really achieving anything but a cool look, undermined constantly by boredom. It’s a shame, because Graven has a hell of a vibe. But there’s simply too much bonkin’ and not enough bangin’.

Despite three years in Early Access, it's hard to recommend Graven at launch. From odd design choices to bugs and progression issues, the unfortunate conclusion is that Graven is a real missed opportunity.

It's clear from the very first hour into the dark fantasy world of GRAVEN that this retro-flavoured FPS was not a victim of an incompetent developer, but one more example of internal problems that didn't let the team behind it complete its homage to titles like HeXen. The end result remains fun despite its many issues, like its unnecessary long length and unbalanced mechanics. Sadly, it's also very likely that players might stumble upon a game-breaking bug that will ruin hours upon hours of gameplay.