Buy If
- You want to support a indie type developer and throw money at a cause.
Rent If
- You don't need to see the lady die.
Avoid If
- You are looking to PLAY a game.
04/01/09 -- 
The Graveyard is a computer game recently created by small time Belgian developer Tale of Tales. In the game, you control a very old woman as she ambles her way through a graveyard with the help of her trusty walking stick, and direct her to a bench where she can rest her tired legs. I try to keep these reviews as spoiler free as I can, but it is nigh impossible to explain what goes on in this game without giving the whole thing away.
You load up the game, you walk the lady (very slowly) to a bench by the church. You turn her around and she will sit, at which point a very melodic song in a language i assume to be Belgian comes on as I don't immediately recognize the language. The song then stops, you get up whenever you feel it necessary to leave, and 15 minutes later you're out of there.
It is very much like walking around in a painted picture, a picture where you couldn't do much of anything, but a wonderfully painted picture. The art is impressive looking, and the sound effects of the whoosh of wind and pitter-patter of old lady walking all did what they need to do. The game (and I use the term loosely) has so few options or facets of gameplay that there is no use going back after the first play. If you are a developer and you are going to make your game 10-15 minutes long, that 10-15 minutes better be ooozing with depth, or at least provide a thought-provoking idea for your mind to play around with. The Graveyard's downfall is the fact that it has none of these things, or anything at all besides playing that weird song in the middle.
One interesting thing about this game however is the truly indie nature by which the game is being distributed. It is as close as a game has ever come to Radiohead's pay what you feel model. You see, one can download the free trial of this game and play it through in its entirety an unlimited amount of times. Or, you can elect to pay the 5$ premium for the full game, which is exactly the same as the demo except for the fact that your lady has a small chance of dying each time you play. I guess in the trial she is invincible, or at least she remembered her pills before she left her house. The fact that the developers basically offered their entire game free is a very cool thing, and though you might feel ripped off if you download the full game and get basically nothing, the fact that you are supporting a company willing to go out on a limb and use this payment structure might be justification enough.
Now I believe fully that games are a legitimate art form, and this kind of "non-game" sort of excited me and is what drove me to The Graveyard to begin with. I am fully into a non-game in the future, but this is not the way you go about it. If the graveyard was a commentary or contained some kind of message that went along with a decrepit old lady in a graveyard, then we'd be in business, but this just seemed thoughtless. Also, if you are ever in a "games are art" argument with somebody, do not present this game to help strengthen your case, switch on something like Shadow of the Colossus instead.
The Graveyard is a computer game recently created by small time Belgian developer Tale of Tales. In the game, you control a very old woman as she ambles her way through a graveyard with the help of her trusty walking stick, and direct her to a bench where she can rest her tired legs. I try to keep these reviews as spoiler free as I can, but it is nigh impossible to explain what goes on in this game without giving the whole thing away. You load up the game, you walk the lady (very slowly) to a bench by the church. You turn her around and she will sit, at which point a very melodic song in a language i assume to be Belgian comes on as I don't immediately recognize the language. The song then stops, you get up whenever you feel it necessary to leave, and 15 minutes later you're out of there.
It is very much like walking around in a painted picture, a picture where you couldn't do much of anything, but a wonderfully painted picture. The art is impressive looking, and the sound effects of the whoosh of wind and pitter-patter of old lady walking all did what they need to do. The game (and I use the term loosely) has so few options or facets of gameplay that there is no use going back after the first play. If you are a developer and you are going to make your game 10-15 minutes long, that 10-15 minutes better be ooozing with depth, or at least provide a thought-provoking idea for your mind to play around with. The Graveyard's downfall is the fact that it has none of these things, or anything at all besides playing that weird song in the middle. One interesting thing about this game however is the truly indie nature by which the game is being distributed. It is as close as a game has ever come to Radiohead's pay what you feel model. You see, one can download the free trial of this game and play it through in its entirety an unlimited amount of times. Or, you can elect to pay the 5$ premium for the full game, which is exactly the same as the demo except for the fact that your lady has a small chance of dying each time you play. I guess in the trial she is invincible, or at least she remembered her pills before she left her house. The fact that the developers basically offered their entire game free is a very cool thing, and though you might feel ripped off if you download the full game and get basically nothing, the fact that you are supporting a company willing to go out on a limb and use this payment structure might be justification enough.
Now I believe fully that games are a legitimate art form, and this kind of "non-game" sort of excited me and is what drove me to The Graveyard to begin with. I am fully into a non-game in the future, but this is not the way you go about it. If the graveyard was a commentary or contained some kind of message that went along with a decrepit old lady in a graveyard, then we'd be in business, but this just seemed thoughtless. Also, if you are ever in a "games are art" argument with somebody, do not present this game to help strengthen your case, switch on something like Shadow of the Colossus instead.