The Graveyard is a 2008 indie type game that was developed with the intention of drawing an emotional response from the player and existing as living, breathing art. For me, it failed to do that. I was disappointed with the stark nature of the game and the inability to do anything other than walk down one, set path and sit on a bench. Whilst the game looks quite appealing in its minimalist black and white palette and sounds quite nice the sheer lack of interactivity makes you wonder why they bothered making this a game in the first place.
Graphics
For a game that boasts ‘fantastic’ graphical ability the actual appearance of the game was good, but not that good. What was more noteworthy was the detail and realism of the small fluttering birds that bandied around the graveyard as they were genuinely quite nice to look at. The entire game is in black and white which, whilst overall reducing the visual impact of the game, fitted in with the themes of death that the game was promoting. The shadows of the old woman, lamp posts and graves were all nicely done and tended to darken or lighten depending on what the clouds above were doing. The entire game however came across as slightly fuzzy with clumps of 2D leaves in the otherwise lovely trees. The ending of the game is a prolonged close up of the old woman’s face where you can vividly see deep wrinkles in her weathered face, short and choppy hair stuffed under a black cap and her tired, sad eyes. Unfortunately the face model is all bit sharp around the edges and the lips, chin and clothing in particular all have very defined, straight edges which ruins the effect entirely.
Audio
I think the first thing I noticed upon entering the game was the quality of the sounds. The game has no music but relies instead on a backdrop of a blustering wind, cawing crows and tiny twittering birds. The audio is all very clear and, though minimal, stands quite strong as the necessary backdrop you’d expect in such a peaceful place. Considering the game is set in a graveyard it would have been very easy to give it all a dead, eerie feel but instead the developers have opted for something quite innocuous and tranquil. Any tranquillity that the game instilled in you is lost towards the end though when, after sitting on the bench at the end of the pathway, the creepiest Dutch song begins to play. It’s kind of a summary of the death in the old lady’s life in what is, presumably, her native language which is a nice touch as it feels more personal that way. The song goes on for a long time but with English subtitles so you get to enjoy the unusual lyrics, consisting of things like; “Look that’s Emma, stillborn, take care you don’t step on her, her portrait is long lost, a little blue cross, never baptized.” Whilst the music itself keeps up a continuous, steady beat with an almost childlike tune of plucking strings. Never have I been so glad for an already short game to end.
Gameplay
Ok so, is looks quite nice and sounds great but the game is simply lacking in things to do. Rather than it being a game as such it’s more a short piece of indie artwork that can be interacted with, though that appears to have been the point. The woman, what with being rather old and hampered by a walking stick, is extraordinarily slow as she hobbles down the one main path. Attempting to go off to other paths just leaves the camera stuck in the middle with no swivelling around to see where your character has gone so it’s quite obvious there’s nothing there to explore. I’d have preferred it if things could be interacted with; feeding the birds, thinking to herself or perhaps there should be some other grieving people in the graveyard, but there’s not. The game is fairly barren in terms of content and it feels as though, despite trying to get across some message and going to a fair bit of effort to do so, the developers have missed an opportunity to flesh it out into something a bit more substantial. At first I imagined it was due to the fact I was playing the free trial of the game but, after buying the full game for a rather modest sum, the only additional feature of buying the full game was that the elderly woman had a very small chance of death each time you play the game (of natural causes, not some kind of freak accident.)
By purchasing the full game, and after repeated playthroughs, there is a chance that the women will die as she sits on the bench with the Dutch song stringing along in the background as the camera focuses on her face. This ending is, admittedly, much preferred as it feels like the chapter of her life has finally drawn to a close after reflecting on the deaths of those she knew.
Overall
The Belgian developer of this short little game describe it as "more like an explorable painting than an actual game” and I am inclined to agree with them; it’s not a game. Unfortunately, it’s not really ‘explorable’ either as there is quite simply no exploring involved. There’s nothing to actually find within the game. The harsh truth of the matter is this; you walk down a path, with no turning involved, just forward. Turn around, sit on a bench, listen to a sad song about her life and then, if you paid for it, watch her die. Is this an explorable painting? Not really, whilst I agree that it’s a form of art I don’t necessarily agree that it’s an interesting or emotional one. It’s a shame, as the game was designed to draw an emotional response from the player, which it doesn’t. Not only that, I imagine it was designed to portray themes such as the fragility of life, the unending struggle of this woman’s existence and how she’s now deteriorated into something quite weak and humble, but again, it doesn’t. In short, whilst The Graveyard is certainly a curious little thing it quite simply isn’t fun and, instead, it’s rather boring. Any attempts at being a living piece of artwork has fallen flat and, when trying to create a connection between a player and a character, it may actually help to have more interaction than sitting her down on a bench.
If you want to try out the game for yourself and see if you enjoyed it more than I did, feel free to pick it up here.
To discover more of my PC game reviews, check out this page here.
Graphics
For a game that boasts ‘fantastic’ graphical ability the actual appearance of the game was good, but not that good. What was more noteworthy was the detail and realism of the small fluttering birds that bandied around the graveyard as they were genuinely quite nice to look at. The entire game is in black and white which, whilst overall reducing the visual impact of the game, fitted in with the themes of death that the game was promoting. The shadows of the old woman, lamp posts and graves were all nicely done and tended to darken or lighten depending on what the clouds above were doing. The entire game however came across as slightly fuzzy with clumps of 2D leaves in the otherwise lovely trees. The ending of the game is a prolonged close up of the old woman’s face where you can vividly see deep wrinkles in her weathered face, short and choppy hair stuffed under a black cap and her tired, sad eyes. Unfortunately the face model is all bit sharp around the edges and the lips, chin and clothing in particular all have very defined, straight edges which ruins the effect entirely.
 |
| If anything, this game makes you consider the pointlessness of life. |
I think the first thing I noticed upon entering the game was the quality of the sounds. The game has no music but relies instead on a backdrop of a blustering wind, cawing crows and tiny twittering birds. The audio is all very clear and, though minimal, stands quite strong as the necessary backdrop you’d expect in such a peaceful place. Considering the game is set in a graveyard it would have been very easy to give it all a dead, eerie feel but instead the developers have opted for something quite innocuous and tranquil. Any tranquillity that the game instilled in you is lost towards the end though when, after sitting on the bench at the end of the pathway, the creepiest Dutch song begins to play. It’s kind of a summary of the death in the old lady’s life in what is, presumably, her native language which is a nice touch as it feels more personal that way. The song goes on for a long time but with English subtitles so you get to enjoy the unusual lyrics, consisting of things like; “Look that’s Emma, stillborn, take care you don’t step on her, her portrait is long lost, a little blue cross, never baptized.” Whilst the music itself keeps up a continuous, steady beat with an almost childlike tune of plucking strings. Never have I been so glad for an already short game to end.
Gameplay
Ok so, is looks quite nice and sounds great but the game is simply lacking in things to do. Rather than it being a game as such it’s more a short piece of indie artwork that can be interacted with, though that appears to have been the point. The woman, what with being rather old and hampered by a walking stick, is extraordinarily slow as she hobbles down the one main path. Attempting to go off to other paths just leaves the camera stuck in the middle with no swivelling around to see where your character has gone so it’s quite obvious there’s nothing there to explore. I’d have preferred it if things could be interacted with; feeding the birds, thinking to herself or perhaps there should be some other grieving people in the graveyard, but there’s not. The game is fairly barren in terms of content and it feels as though, despite trying to get across some message and going to a fair bit of effort to do so, the developers have missed an opportunity to flesh it out into something a bit more substantial. At first I imagined it was due to the fact I was playing the free trial of the game but, after buying the full game for a rather modest sum, the only additional feature of buying the full game was that the elderly woman had a very small chance of death each time you play the game (of natural causes, not some kind of freak accident.)
By purchasing the full game, and after repeated playthroughs, there is a chance that the women will die as she sits on the bench with the Dutch song stringing along in the background as the camera focuses on her face. This ending is, admittedly, much preferred as it feels like the chapter of her life has finally drawn to a close after reflecting on the deaths of those she knew.
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| Looks fairly appealing, shame you can't go anywhere. |
Overall
The Belgian developer of this short little game describe it as "more like an explorable painting than an actual game” and I am inclined to agree with them; it’s not a game. Unfortunately, it’s not really ‘explorable’ either as there is quite simply no exploring involved. There’s nothing to actually find within the game. The harsh truth of the matter is this; you walk down a path, with no turning involved, just forward. Turn around, sit on a bench, listen to a sad song about her life and then, if you paid for it, watch her die. Is this an explorable painting? Not really, whilst I agree that it’s a form of art I don’t necessarily agree that it’s an interesting or emotional one. It’s a shame, as the game was designed to draw an emotional response from the player, which it doesn’t. Not only that, I imagine it was designed to portray themes such as the fragility of life, the unending struggle of this woman’s existence and how she’s now deteriorated into something quite weak and humble, but again, it doesn’t. In short, whilst The Graveyard is certainly a curious little thing it quite simply isn’t fun and, instead, it’s rather boring. Any attempts at being a living piece of artwork has fallen flat and, when trying to create a connection between a player and a character, it may actually help to have more interaction than sitting her down on a bench.
If you want to try out the game for yourself and see if you enjoyed it more than I did, feel free to pick it up here.
Score: 5/10
To discover more of my PC game reviews, check out this page here.
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