Mage Encounters

Yahtzee reviews Graven, a retro-inspired FPS that aims for the 90s golden age but stumbles with frustrating level design, clunky combat, and a lack of quality-of-life features.

This is a review of the game Graven by Zero Punctuation's Yahtzee Croshaw. The review discusses the game's attempt to evoke the feeling of classic 90s FPS games like Hexen, but ultimately criticizes its execution.

Critique of Graven:

1. Nostalgia and Aesthetics: The game embraces a deliberately retro, early 3D style with heavily pixelated, drab textures, which Yahtzee finds unappealing and reminiscent of a time when such graphics were a necessity rather than a choice.
2. Story and Pacing: The plot, involving a murder-priest and his daughter, is described as forgettable and poorly integrated, with the player often losing track of objectives due to the game's design.
3. Level Design: Similar to Hexen, Graven features hub-based exploration and significant backtracking. Yahtzee criticizes this for being tedious and confusing, comparing the process of finding the correct path to navigating a maze with unclear clues.
4. User Interface and Navigation: The lack of a map and objective markers is seen as a deliberate retro feature that hinders gameplay. Clues for progression are often vague, leading to frustration.
5. Combat: The combat is described as