Grave Seasons is my most anticipated murder mystery-farming sim of the summer

Grave Seasons looks like a colorful, pixelated farming sim like Harvest Moon and Stardew Valley, commonly found within the genre. However, once you learn the protagonist’s backstory and about the dark mystery surrounding the town of Ashenridge, you realize it’s as much about solving murders as it is about flirting with villagers or selling crops.

I enjoyed the short 15 or so minutes I had with it at PAX East, so much so that I’m frustrated the demo wasn’t longer than that it was. I wish I had more time to explore the town and fiddle with game mechanics that set it apart from other farming RPGs…like breaking & entering buildings, or investigating corpses.

Grave Seasons puts a twist on the typical farming game by layering it with a murder mystery, where any one of the bachelors and bachelorettes in town may be the killer. Most farming sims feature protagonist backstories, such as starting a farm to escape the corporate world or inheriting a fixer-upper plot of land from a deceased relative. In contrast, Grave Seasons stars an ex-convict who escapes from jail in hopes of starting a new, more peaceful life. The demo gives you a taste of what to expect in a day of that life.

I started the demo at my farm, where crops were already planted ahead of time and ready for harvest. I could cook food like falafel in my kitchen, and I could even make tools like a crowbar with a crafting station. My neighbors included a wide range of personalities — from Yuto, the aloof grocery clerk, to the outgoing tailor, Pilar. None of them seemed particularly suspicious at first glance. (For full disclosure, I spent most of my demo in confusion because I didn’t have a map. Developers claimed there would be one at launch.)

That’s where the farming familiarity ends. One of the exhibitors hinted that I may want to try breaking and entering, using the protagonist’s signature crowbar during the demo, so I did. However, not all the buildings in the demo were available for break-in, which I soon learned when I tried to rob the grocery. If you can use the crowbar, a lock icon will pop up outside the door (of a building or even a hatch) and prompt you with a QTE challenge to unlock the door. As per the on-site devs, things can get awkward if a villager finds out you broke into their house, but I didn’t see the consequences in my playthrough. 

Now for the bloody finale: At the end of the brief demo, I was prompted to witness a gory cutscene where a villager I was just talking to earlier that day was torn apart by a mysterious, monstrous form. I just met that person, so there was only so much connection I could feel to a stranger who was immediately killed. That said, I could see that being more shocking or heartbreaking when the victim is one of your favorites. I’d also just like to shout out the soundtrack, which turned fittingly tense toward nighttime and during the investigation as I picked up clues around the crime scene.

Grave Seasons features multiple endings, possibly because you can take story-defining actions like preventing deaths and even dating the killer. With that in mind, you can play more than once and still learn new information in each playthrough. As your old cellmate puts it, "You'll reap what you sow.”

At this point, I have more of an issue with the demo than with the actual gameplay. I would play the shit out of this sim if I were able to–talk with the entire town, play around with recipes, go fishing, and so on. Right now, it’s difficult to say whether or not I thought the storytelling or gameplay were fully effective, just that it has a solid hook and a polished loop of tasks I’m excited to try when the game comes out.

Grave Seasons launches on August 14 for PC via Steam, PlayStation 5, Nintendo Switch, Xbox Series X|S, and Xbox Cloud.