Grunn
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| Grunn | |
|---|---|
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| Developer(s) | Sokpop Collective |
| Publisher(s) | Sokpop Collective |
| Engine | Unity[1] |
| Release | 2024 |
| Genre(s) | Simulation, horror |
| Mode(s) | Single-player |
Grunn is a 2024 gardening-themed simulation game with horror elements developed and published by Sokpop Collective. The player character takes a bus to a Dutch village in which they maintain a garden where mysterious secrets are littered throughout. Critics praised Grunn's juxtaposition with the game's appearance as a gardening game compared to it's horror elements.
Gameplay
[edit]Grunn's player character, who is played in a first-person perspective, travels by bus to a village in the Netherlands to maintain an absent homeowner's garden. The player utilizes their gardening tools to perform various tasks, which include clipping tall grass, digging up molehills, and watering plants.[2][3][4][5][6]
The player may also depart from the house and travel through the village,[3][6] which includes impossible, non-Euclidean architecture.[6] Various puzzles and unsettling secrets may be discovered; these include corpses, ghosts that haunt past sundown, and gnomes that appear randomly. Polaroid images are found throughout the game which provide hints to puzzles and are kept through multiple playthroughs.[2][3][4][5][6]
Grunn has 11 endings, most of which including the death of the player.[6]
Development
[edit]Grunn is developed by Tom van den Boogaart and published by Sokpop Collective. The game's release date was announced in a trailer in September 2024; Grunn released on October 4 of that year.[7][8]
Much of Grunn's secrets are influenced by European folklore. Its marketing intended to disguise itself as a normal gardening game without horror elements.[2]
Reception
[edit]The game receieved "generally favorable" reviews according to review aggregator Metacritic.[9]
A demo review by Rock, Paper, Shotgun found the game enjoyable.[10] Their review upon release found the game's secrets "dark and silly". Grunn's mysterious gameplay was equivalent to napping and waking up to a "thrashing anomaly in the space between the walls".[2] The Guardian enjoyed the game's secrets[3] as Eurogamer found the endings "pleasantly skin-crawling".[4] The game was difficult to categorize to Polygon, who complimented Grunn's visuals and the amount of content compared to the village's modest size.[5] Gamesradar+ also found the gardening theme as a clever decoy. To them, the game's real focus was its secrets, which made the player feel like a "surreal detective".[6]
References
[edit]- ^ Saver, Michael (2024-12-30). "Games made with Unity: 2024 in review". Unity Technologies. Archived from the original on 2025-04-21. Retrieved 2025-05-26.
- ^ a b c d Reuben, Nic (2024-09-27). "Grunn review: I was lied to, this very good gardening game is not normal at all". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ a b c d Stuart, Keith (2025-01-09). "Grunn review – part gardening sim, part survival horror thriller". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ a b c Donlan, Christian (2024-06-13). "Grunn is definitely not terrifying so don't worry at all". Eurogamer. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ a b c Marshall, Cass (2024-10-10). "Grunn is a delightfully scary game about the dangers of a Dutch garden". Polygon. Archived from the original on 2025-05-02. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ a b c d e f Hurley, Leon (2024-10-29). "I can't stop coming back to this darkly surreal horror game about gardening, even though it keeps killing me". GamesRadar+. Archived from the original on 2025-01-19. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ Smith, Graham (2024-09-21). "Sokpop's possibly haunted gardening game Grunn will launch next month". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 2025-01-19. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ Reuben, Nic (2024-10-04). "Not normal at all, don't let it lie to you gardening game Grunn is out now". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ "Grunn". Metacritic. Retrieved 2025-05-24.
- ^ Reuben, Nic Reuben (2024-06-04). "Deeply unusual gardening game Grunn's shear snip deserves every award Geoff Keighley has ever invented". Rock, Paper, Shotgun. Archived from the original on 2025-04-06. Retrieved 2025-05-24.