Graven – PS5 Review 1

Graven is certainly aiming at a specific inspiration. A first-person shooter set in a dark fantasy world, it looks to scratch that Hexxen itch. Slipgate Ironworks and 3D Realms are waist-deep in the genre but, even with all that experience, the Playstation 5 port remains troubled.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way. Graven has a fatal save bug that will randomly eradicate your profile. All progress is wiped in the process. As someone who doesn’t normally push saves to the cloud, I’ve found this to completely ruin the experience. Graven saves an awful lot. There’s several checkpoints in even the smallest of areas. Each checkpoint brings with it a terrifying shudder as it accesses the hard drive. Every one of these checkpoints appears to be a potential point of failure.  Those hitches interrupted combat as I frantically backpedalled from fights.

I have been struck by this problem twice, setting me back to square one each time. It’s deflating. I have since decided to retain a cloud save after each level. It does not fix the problem but merely sidesteps it. Unfortunately, I’ve also encountered an instance of a quest giver completely braking. This has also resulted in me restarting of my own volition. It is another game I cannot trust to hold itself together.

There are smaller hiccups. Transitions between levels can sometimes fail to load, leading you into a unfinished void. Going back over the transition fixes it but it reinforces the feeling of something bursting at the seams. Load times are at least quick and don’t feel intrusive. I’ve had music tracks also stay on long after leaving boss arenas. It’s troubling and I do hope Slipgate Ironworks aren’t going to make a habit of this with their Playstation ports.

When Graven operates as intended, it’s a fantasy first-person shooter with a deliberate retro aesthetic. You play a priest exiled to a plague-ridden land due to a crime that, I’ll be honest, was justifiable. You get a lovely, hammy monologue from the ferryman in the intro. That sets the grim tone nicely and the world is suitably dank. The remainder of the tale is mostly handed out in character dialogue and notes. It’s not deep but there’s some good flavour to it.

The save system is not ideal. As I mentioned before, there’s checkpoints everywhere but, dare to quit to main menu and you’ll resume at the town hub. Any objectives and shortcuts you’ve completed are as you left them but that doesn’t make the journey back any easier. Enemies return to their original positions, meaning you’ll expend more ammo to get back to forward progress. It’s discouraging and it led to me trying to complete whole missions before putting the game to bed.

When death comes, respawning carries a monetary cost. I’ve never found myself with empty pockets but it will regurgitate you to your last triggered checkpoint. In this respect, progress lost is minimal. Enemies stay dead so you could bash your head against tough opponents and push on through. I have, rather unfortunately, ran out of ammo a couple of times. This seems plentiful but some of your weapons seem specifically designed to counter particular enemies.

Encounters feature a lot of numbers. The basic, shambling plague victims can be combatted with melee strikes but they also have the potential to swarm you. Skeletons come in many variants. Some are armoured, some carry shields, some are simply bones. Any wearing gear will chew through your ammo pool surprisingly quick. Particularly if you’re using the barbed crossbow that spits out four shots at a time. My biggest problem has been the poison-spitting bats. They have terrific aim and their projectiles can spawn a large area of caustic damage. Despite having a couple of ranged weapons, only the Wristbow initially gives you the distance to tackle them.

On one hand, I like an arsenal that I have to cycle through. Knowing each weapon has a purpose encouraged me to keep everything stocked. Unfortunately, I’ve never felt the damage I cause to be that reliable. Maybe there’s some numbers being crunched in the background but it doesn’t appear consistent. I’m sure that’s by design with the hints of an RPG bubbling under the surface. Ultimately, combat can feel a little stale, especially with the enemy types being introduced quickly.

Even the weapons are introduced quickly with upgrades proving to be the way Graven expands upon it. These upgrades cost gold and I don’t find all of them to be that useful. The scope for the Wristbow is maybe too sensitive and I can hit targets fine enough without it. That money still needs to be spent as the upgrade path is strictly linear. Admittedly, there’s not much else to spend money on.

Being a priest does allow you the use of magic. Your tome grants you access to a selection of elemental spells. Fire can spread easily amongst enemies and deal with corpse piles. Lightning can stun enemies for easy hits and electrifies pools of water. They have functional uses outside of combat. Fire can burn wooden barriers and electricity can trigger mechanisms. Mana seems plentiful but I simply opted for more conventional warfare when it came time to cause damage.

Level design is at least interesting. There’s a good sense of place with a a hub area leading off to several locations. Each area has it’s own shortcuts and loops that can make navigation easier. I will confess, I do miss a map. You can definitely learn the environments but sometimes I just want to cut the wandering and see where locked doors and objectives are. Places can feel large and, whilst there are attempts to make them feel distinguishable, I manage to occasionally get lost. A lot of Graven is set within catacombs but it does make the icy outdoors feel extra special. I also appreciate how your journal expands as you gain more information.

Setting the technical problems aside, I don’t quite feel Graven does enough to be that compelling. The magic takes a backseat to the traditional shooting, whilst the small armament and enemy variety can make the game feel stale. The level design is be grounded and arterial. Finding shortcuts can be rewarding, although the lack of a map did lead to times of confusion. Unfortunately, the overriding feeling I get is of a game hanging on for dear life. The shudder of each autosave strikes a fear in me I could do without. 3 weeks after release, no patches have dropped. I’m not holding my breath.