GRUNND is a hand-crafted, atmospheric point-and-click adventure game, with a strong focus on the central narrative, rather than constant puzzle-solving. It offers fully voice-acted dialogue, meaningful choices, multiple endings, hand-crafted 4K art and a plot that combines mystery, surrealism, and science fiction.

The stylized art style and meaningful choices may draw comparisons with games like Disco Elysium, while the bleak atmosphere and point-and-click controls are somewhat reminiscent of This War of Mine.

Inspired by Kafka and Lynch

GRUNND is a side-scrolling point-and-click adventure that offers an engaging plot centered around the unraveling of mysterious events. The developer, SEKTAHOUSE, states that the game is inspired by the works of Franz Kafka and David Lynch, with the atmosphere drawing heavily from the Southern Gothic and Sci-FI genres.

The player is able to navigate the game world through simple mouse clicks, and a fast travel feature minimizes the amount of backtracking. Conversations provide multiple dialogue options, and these can often be meaningful choices that alter the events of the game. However, progression can be confusing at times.

Uncovering the mystery

So what is GRUNND actually about? The protagonist falls asleep on a post-work train journey, misses their stop, and must quickly find their bearings once they get off the train. However, doing so becomes more difficult than expected, and what seems like an ordinary town is revealed to be anything but.

As mentioned, the art style has drawn comparisons with Disco Elysium, so how do the games stack up? It is important to note that GRUNND is more of a straightforward, narrative-driven adventure, so it lacks many of the RPG components of Disco Elysium. GRUNND is also significantly shorter, albeit with multiple endings.

An engaging narrative

GRUNND is a mysterious and engaging adventure game with a strong narrative. While it is relatively short, the presence of multiple endings provides an incentive for multiple playthroughs.