The Graveyard
Posted by Derek Yu Sun, 30 Mar 2008 04:08:00 GMT
The Graveyard is a new game by Tale of Tales, creators of The Path, which was nominated for an IGF award this year (for visuals). In it, you play an old woman on a walk through the titular cemetary. Her destination is a small bench at the foot of a mausoleum inside.
Tale of Tales’ Auriea Harvey and Michaël Samyn are well-regarded for their unique approach to games. In the Graveyard, they ask us to contemplate the various themes at play while we move through the cemetery. It’s a worthwhile experiment and an interesting narrative, made all the better by the lush black and white visuals. There are little details in there that are really wonderful.
But unfortunately, I think the forced linearity and lack of direct control holds the experience back significantly. This is a case where, in my opinion, a little more “gaminess” would have actually let me appreciate The Graveyard better for what it is supposed to be (“interactive poetry,” or what have you). As it is, I feel that a movie might have conveyed the experience better, almost. Almost.
The full version of the game is $5 and adds the possibility that the old woman will die. It’s a minute change. But I was happy to pay it to support the developers. I think it’s pretty cool what they’re trying to do (even though I feel they haven’t gotten it quite right yet).
Ooh, looks interesting!
But will it be?
“The full version of the game is $5 and adds the possibility that the old woman will die”
Haha, yes! I must unlock the old lady dies feature! This just sounds hilariously cruel, and I don’t understand the reasoning behind it.
She probably dies of old age. Not really hilariously cruel.
Unless you consider you’ve paid 5$ for it. Then it becomes hilariously cruel. :P
What, no online multiplayer?
Sit on the bench there for a while and listen… Death would seem qite logical after the song..
“We figured out a way to get money out of you crass gamer punks! Pay five bucks and you can watch the old lady croak! That should be right up your alley.”
Honestly, that’s the way this system feels to me.
No, I do not in fact desire to pay money so that I can watch an old woman drop dead, thanks but no thanks ToT guys. O_o
I felt they got the atmosphere right, but other than that this really wasn’t a very interesting “game”. It felt like the whole thing was just a wrapping for that one song.
Passage deals a lot better with this subject, IMO.
Yeah, some fetch quests from tombstones would be nice… :D
It’s a pity that often the only people who pay to play indie developers’ games are other indie developers, probably hoping that some day they’ll reap what they sowed.
Two of my friends and I think it all hangs in the ” interlude ” on the bench. To use this as a sort of ” lauching pad ” into an interactive world of thoughts and memories seems like a very intriguing concept.
And even though it doesn’t really accomplish that (we all agree it falls a little flat), I think The Graveyard deserves recognition as it is for at least sparking the idea and showing the way which others might build on. (Think we might dream of a hybrid between this and Psychonauts?…)
Unless the old lady dies of spontaneous combustion, they are not getting my money.
I hear that in the sequel, the old lady goes through Hell itself to win back her soul, and that there’s an hour-long boss battle with Satan.
If you’d like to try a game that falls closer to the Game/Poetry category, try The Dark Eye! It’s actually not a bad game (if you can get the damn thing to work, and even better, if you can get it to work under WinXP or Vista). It’s a point and click adventure of sorts based on poems and stories by Edgar Allen Poe. You wanna talk about dark, brooding, and depressing? Well this game had it all. It was actually an adventure game made up of adventure games based on Poe’s works. Very creepy, but good creepy… if there’s such a thing. The Dark Eye deals with death, contemplation of death, murder, and sanity. It’s definitely not one of those warm and cuddly type games but it had atmosphere galore.
I really think the Graveyard holds a little bit of that same type of atmosphere but it’s not quite as brooding or as dark as The Dark Eye. Plus, I’m sure the ending will be happier than any of the endings you’ll find in The Dark Eye, whether the old lady bites the dust or not! Still, it does have an interesting look about it. As far as it’s gameplay goes, I think Fate by Numbers (freeware FMV game) has more “Game” in it’s play than this one. Still… an interesting effort.
i’m doing a speedrun
im saying im actually to cheap to pay five dollars.
I thought it was fascinating. One of the most filmic experiences I’ve ever had in a ‘game’. I like the music, which reminds me of Belgian rockers, dEUS, in its quirky and bleak way.
As I was watching her sitting, I imagined what kind of life she might have had, how she must feel surrounded by death, knowing it isn’t far away. I’d love to play a game which then flashed back to her earlier life and what led her to this point.
it reminded me of fall out boy because it was really deep like fall out boy lyrics
” I’d love to play a game which then flashed back to her earlier life and what led her to this point. ”
I’m with you there.
Alas, I have to agree with most here. To me it felt more like a tech demo than an actual game which was a little disappointing. I love the idea of getting some more art/story into games and hopefully someone will look at this and skip off into the sunset to create a wonderful hybrid masterpiece.
I kind of agree with Derek on this. I do plan to buy the game because the developers are friends of mine, but I think this game, along with so many other art games, falls into this trap: they use a higher artistic quality (which art games do have, or at least they have more attention paid to it) as an excuse to make really short games.
I’d like to see an art game that lasted at least a few hours. And I don’t mean that as a put down. All the ones I’ve seen so far tend to last around five to ten minutes at most. And short games are okay sometimes. But I’d like to see some that lasted a few hours or more. I think it’d be interesting if it could be sustained.
grandmas don’t move like that, she is jumping like anorexic mario wannabe
“it reminded me of fall out boy because it was really deep like fall out boy lyrics”
ahahahaha, best troll ever.
I hate these bloody art games. I hate TEF, I hate Passage, I hate qrp,and I hate this. Gravitation was OK because there was actually something to do. I’d love to see an ad for an Art Games College: “Not artistic enough to be a real artist? Not dedicated enough to make a real game? If you answered yes to two or more of these questions, Art Games Collage is for you!”
“Art Games Collage”
Hey, neat idea!
« I’d like to see an art game that lasted at least a few hours. »
lol. Ask EA, I’m sure they’ll be glad…
How does she die? For five dollars, I want all kinds of funny deaths. Obviously, there should be falling anvils. And ferocious lions that hide behind the tombstones. And open graves for her to fall into. Man-eating deers. Violent pedopriests. Steamrollers, hurricanes, quicksand, acid rain. A different death every time, now that I’d pay for (and it’d probably be art).
The man was obviously talking about indie developers. Get in gear.
Damn, I forgot suicide bombers. How could I forget suicide bombers. Stupid, stupid, stupid!
Thanks for the post, Derek! :)
Thanks for the comments and discussion, everyone.
We’re working on it , Paul. ;)
” The man was obviously talking about indie developers. ”
Just joking. I just thought it’s asking a bit much.
For now…
Owwwww mang, only 5 bucks and people already complain. You’ll get something EXTRA for these 5 bucks, of course you won’t get a whole different game.
Don’t look at it as a non-free expansion pack for a free game. It’s not a secret, it really only unlocks one thing.
DoctorAnus said 1 day later:
« I’d like to see an art game that lasted at least a few hours. »
lol. Ask EA, I’m sure they’ll be glad…
nahhhh they’re to busy remaking the SAME GOD DAMN GAME over and over again and STILL MAKING MONEY OFF IT!
Michaël, your post got caught in our spam filter! Apologies.
Oops. ;)