Graceward - Complete Edition

I'll try to keep this brief, here's my Graceward rundown. For starters, I helped out in the beta testing of this game on itch.io and have seen it improve and evolve a lot over the last year. Also, I'm not a professional game critic, writer, or gamer. I’ve played volumes of point-and-click adventure games (which I really love), and at given points in time, with deadly items in my inventory (such as a hammer), and being stuck at some arbitrary point, I’ve desperately wanted to just whack the one guy standing in my way; but no, I have to solve some complex puzzle. One where I use the hammer to open an egg that I must fry, with a frying pan that I may never find, but if I did, I would want to whack the guy with that. Other times I've actually found a gun, but can't use it to shoot people. Not the case with Graceward, I was given not one, but multiple guns (including a grenade launcher), and perhaps more importantly, the choice to use them at my leisure (or try talking/ puzzle-solving). I’m slightly ashamed to admit that I slaughtered a whole congregation, whom I felt were evil, before I realized that I probably could have just talked to them. Moreover, the shooting gameplay felt refined, and I can’t stress enough how great it felt to barrel roll in a point-and-click shooter! That said, the real “hook” for me, why I kept getting more immersed in this game, was the story. From the opening scene to the last winnowing moments, I was wrapped up in the story. It is mature, chaotic, calm, human, and supernatural- and took me to places I hadn’t been before (with prose, action, music, and soundscapes). The characters are interesting and feel like real people. In addition, I got to make choices that clearly impacted my relationships and the overall story (sometimes in very bad ways – be careful out there). On a final note: #TeamKittyGraceward

Amazing game. I never post reviews but it's criminal how few people have played this game. If you like playing games to feel feelings, I highly recommend you play this one.

This game was a rollercoaster. I bought it expecting a simple zombie game, but got so much more. A cyberpunk, corpo-fascist city full of trigger-happy police and mass graves. A wasteland of dead wood and angry spirits. A dying world and a last chance to save those who come next. Party members I cared about, who would muse about the unfairness of the world, the nature of faith, and making stew. The story kept me guessing and captivated me. I would rant about it to friends, comparing it to Disco Elysium without a hint of irony. Mechanically, it's... kind of cruddy. Not bad, but it's effectively trying to be a shooter inside an adventure game engine. Movement is awkward and janky, there's not much feedback for being hit or hitting with melee, guns tend to be inaccurate at the best of times, especially the machine gun being nearly-impossible to control without an upgrade. There's a dodge roll that I don't even know what it does, and I was 3/4ths through the game when I even discovered I could do it. And yet it actually works. The combat is functional and engaging once you accept the jank, the weapons being difficult to aim accurately both makes them feel more distinct and helps suspend disbelief (enemies miss you just as often!), the shotgun is the best shotgun I've ever used in a game just for it being actually useful beyond 5 feet in front of you. Every weapon upgrade is meaningful even before you get the capstones that both unlock an extra feature and change the appearance of the weapon. You start out with a single pistol and thinking a single enemy is a threat, you'll end with an arsenal that rivals Doomguy and a kill count to match. Exploring, poking the wall for secret items, gunning down hordes of enemies... it's actually really fun both in spite of and because of its flaws once you get into the right mindset. All in all, I was not expecting to like Graceward as much as I did, but here I am at 1am vomiting multiple paragraphs of praise right after beating it. If you're at all interested in paranormal, cyberpunk, or apocalyptic fiction, give this a try.

Some point and click games aren't really that good, but this one allows you to whip out a gun anywhere at anytime. I think this game is good and I like the house customization and how your choices affect the game.

I love this game

a gun hope in to the darkness