Grotto Review (PC)

What constellation can tell someone his favorite color? Do the gods even get to decide that? Should a star-reader be able to tell people who to kill or maim? Should constellations decide how to engage with strangers? Is there actual comfort in being told to do or is it just the sign that people don’t want to be responsible for their actions?

Grotto was created by Brainwash Gang and is published by Digerati, on the PC via Steam, as well as on the Nintendo Switch, the PlayStation 4, and the Xbox One. The game is driven by its narrative and focuses on how difficult is to deliver prophecy that actually means something.

The player’s role is never perfectly defined but other characters think they are dealing with a powerful creature that can read the secrets of the stars and deliver magical advice based on them. Is this a real ability in the world of the game or do all those people deceive themselves as they seek to have a higher power guide their existence? It’s a good hook for a story-driven video game. And Grotto executes on it well, although there is one major shift later in the game that does not feel entirely earned.

The soothsayer seems to rarely sleep (although she has a dedicated tent for that). Most of the time she talks to creatures around the fire until they ask a question that only a constellation can answer. The player then moves to the area of the cave where the stars can be seen (already known ones are inscribed on the wall). Each comes complete with a description of its general meaning. Choose one and then go to the supplicant and deliver the message. Watch for how he accepts it and how he might twist it for his own needs. Repeat the process as a larger story unfolds around the player character, with some pretty good twists and turns.

Grotto features 24 constellations that the player can discover. This is the biggest actual gameplay element of the experience. It involves looking through a hole at the stars and drawing patterns until one is confirmed as a constellation with prophetic powers. Most of them will be easy to find through trial-and-error or by thinking of constellations in our own world. As the game progresses a string instrument, some bones, and a pipe offer some extra options to interact with the universe. There’s even a major tweak to how the constellations work. But the mechanics of the game never become more important than the actual narrative.

I love the ambiguity that’s built into the core of the game. Symbols can never be used to actually make big decisions. But they also work for people, some of the time, in more limited ways. Grotto understands these limitations. And it still forces the player to make his choices, to show his symbols, to hope that they lead to the results that he believes are the good ones. Of course, they never actually lead there, everything is far more complicated even in this small community with this small cast of powerful creatures.

But to more effectively deliver its message Grotto needs to be a little more in terms of gameplay. It’s complex enough to keep engagement up. But it does not have enough breadth to make reading the starts and using other means of divination feel like they could accomplish the goals of the player. And I never felt compelled to try a second play-through to see how things can play out differently.

Grotto has a striking yet simple look. The cave, the constellations, and the characters are stylized but detailed, with clear ways to differentiate the various penitents. I would have liked for the constellation space to be bigger, with more starts, offering more ways to find certain patterns. But the look works well with the story. And it is expertly supported by a soundtrack that hints at mystical secrets while staying mostly in the background. The voice work is perfectly calibrated for the story.

The Good

The Bad

Conclusion