Grunn is a wonderfully scary game about the dangers of a Dutch garden
Grün is a game about gardening. It’s a very normal game where things are precisely as they appear, or at least that’s what kayfabe developer Tom van den Boogaart is happy to revolve around the project. But things immediately don’t seem to go well when I start my journey inward Grün. The bus driver’s face is wrong, and I can’t make out anything he’s saying. I just arrived at my new workplace and the atmosphere is absolutely raunchy.
It’s hard to say what type of game Grün is precisely because it defies conventional genres. It’s a gardening game where I spend a lot of time carefully pruning hedges and cutting away tall grass. It’s also a game where I found a skeleton and had to calm the upset ghost with my magic trumpet. That victory was short-lived, as I fell into a trap and drowned shortly afterwards.
Grün is modest in size and scale and is set in a small town with a gas station, a wharf, a church and a stately mansion. Despite being set in a relatively small environment, this game is packed with secrets. Little Polaroids are left behind by an unknown party, giving me clues as to where to go and what to try. Most of the puzzles are quite easy to figure out, as long as you’re willing to explore strange holes, mysterious strangers, and magpie nests.
The visuals are cartoony and low-fidelity; figures look as if they are made of clay. Everything has a bit of a crazy slant to it – even the jump scare. Despite that, Grün touched me a bit. Part of it is the sheer dedication to the bit; no matter how silly things get, everything is still deadly. I can – and do – die from all kinds of threats, from evil spirits in a graveyard to an angry guard dog blocking my path.
This weird, minimalist horror comes in a two-hour package, but it took me several sessions to finish the damn thing because honestly, it scared me a little. Sure, the visuals are simple and stylized, but the audio does a great job of setting the tone, and the pacing is so fast that I never had time to dwell on any one area or issue for long.
I came for the gardening, but I ended up sticking around to explore every corner of this strange game. Grün is a great Halloween surprise, perfect to enjoy as a palate cleanser between longer campaigns and more intense, complex stories. Like a fun-sized chocolate treat, it’s a sweet experience that I’d love to offer to just about anyone.