Grunn is a delightfully scary sport in regards to the risks of a Dutch backyard

Grunn is a sport about gardening. It’s a very regular sport the place issues are precisely as they seem, or not less than that’s the kayfabe developer Tom van den Boogaart likes to spin up across the venture. However issues instantly appear off as I begin my journey in Grunn. The bus driver’s face is incorrect, and I can’t make out something he’s saying. I’ve simply arrived at my new job web site, and the vibes are completely rancid.

It’s onerous to say what sort of sport Grunn is, precisely, as a result of it defies typical genres. It’s a gardening sport the place I spend chunks of time rigorously trimming hedges and clipping away at tall grass. It’s additionally a sport the place I discovered a skeleton and needed to soothe its upset ghost with my magical trumpet. That victory was short-lived, as I fell right into a entice and drowned shortly after.

Grunn is modest in scope and scale, going down in a small city with a gasoline station, dock, church, and stately manor. Regardless of being set in a comparatively small atmosphere, this sport is filled with secrets and techniques. Little Polaroids are left behind by an unknown social gathering, giving me clues on the place to go and what to strive. Most puzzles are fairly easy to determine so long as you’re prepared to discover bizarre holes, mysterious strangers, and magpie nests.

The visuals are cartoonish and low-fidelity; figures seem like they’re made out of clay. The whole lot has type of a goofy bent to it — even the soar scares. Regardless of that, Grunn type of obtained to me. A part of it’s the sheer dedication to the bit; irrespective of how foolish issues get, every thing remains to be deadly. I can — and do — die on the hand of all kinds of threats, from indignant ghosts in a graveyard to a livid guard canine blocking my path.

This bizarre, minimalist horror is available in a two-hour bundle, nevertheless it took me a number of sittings to complete the dang factor as a result of frankly, it type of freaked me out. Certain, the visuals are easy and stylized, however the audio does an amazing job of setting the tone, and the pacing is fast sufficient that I by no means had time to dwell overlong on anyone space or downside.

I got here for the gardening, however I ended up sticking round simply to discover each little nook of this bizarre little sport. Grunn is a wonderful Halloween shock, excellent to take pleasure in as a palate cleanser between longer campaigns and extra intense, complicated narratives. Like a fun-sized chocolate deal with, it’s a candy expertise I’d really feel good providing to only about anyone.