Where Fear the Spotlight was a retro, nostalgic high school trip, Grave Seasons is a cozy farming sim that nails all of the vibrant colors and mechanics that you would expect. Then the sun goes down.
Blumhouse Games has to be one of the most exciting publishers in the indie horror space right now. Half of this is due to the studio’s deep-rooted support for indie projects shown in film for almost two decades. The other half is because the publisher hasn’t allowed itself to be confined by one subgenre.
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A cozy farming sim with a twist, Grave Seasons and its developer, Perfect Garbage, show its players that you can get really gory in 16-bit art. In the game, you play as a character who has just escaped from jail. Hoping for a fresh start in an idyllic new town, you start maintaining a farmhouse and meeting totally hot and not strange at all visitors as they stop by. But where is the Blumhouse in that?
Grave Seasons understands both genres in which it lives.
Taking my time in the 30-minute demo at Summer Game Fest Play Days, I tended to my crops, I collected resources, I cooked some food, I explored, I chatted, and then I went to the woods. Once I entered, the darkness took over, and then, all of a sudden, the cute girl I talked to earlier in the day was dead. I mean, like splattered across the forest, and I had to find little pieces of skin to put the scene together. That is when it clicked.
While you do play as a character just trying to live a new life in a quaint but slightly eerie town of Ashenridge, Grave Seasons also thrusts you into being surrounded by murder. The game itself boasts all of the elements you would expect from a farming sim, and it does so extremely well.
Learning how to get resources is intuitive if you’ve ever played a game in this genre before; hell, you will do your best to cultivate relationships with the people you meet. It’s easy to tell how much sim players will fall in love with this core section of the game. Grave Seasons hasn’t forgotten one aspect to sever another. Instead, it’s devoted to pulling a terrifying twist into focus, too, and it all makes sense.
Given that the game very clearly marked itself as a narrative-led game, as you choose dialogue options, you can expect to see more as you unpack the horrifying mystery. You just want a peaceful farming life, but instead, the murders have destroyed any hope of a peaceful existence. Might as well solve them.
While the title itself didn’t flex into solid horror outside of the ending of the Play Days demo, the promise there is strong. Perfect Garbage’s tonal distinction in the color palettes they chose already sets up for visual play that leans into different aesthetics depending on what the game is going for. However, as you explored the farmhouse, there were hints that something wasn’t right.
Hot neighbors, creepy forests, and excellent sound design are a perfect combo for Perfect Garbage.
Grave Seasons uses setting and dialogue to point its audience toward expecting something to go wrong. The creepy basement and the eerie commentary from your first gorgeous visitor help set the stage. However, the horrific surprise carries weight and pays off.
Grave Seasons is shaping up to have a strong core gameplay loop that we all recognize. But with a supernatural serial killer stalking the residents of Ashenridge, the added layer is one I can’t wait to explore. My only complaint is that this is a game I can’t wait to lose hours of my life to, and I actually have to wait until 2026. Social sim and true crime girlies (non-gendered, obviously) unite; there are hot characters, farming, and murders to solve here.
Grave Seasons does not currently have a release date but will release on Steam.
