Grave Chase
GRAVE CHASE is a retro-inspired 2D horror action-adventure game in which a brother & sister must survive the month of October in the deadly graveyard of a ghoulish groundskeeper. An all new game from the creator of ABOBO’S BIG ADVENTURE and BIONIC CHAINSAW POGO GORILLA!
The Groundskeeper always keeps his graveyard full. Not by having clients, but by killing all the people in town and throwing their body parts into open graves! One night, however, he murdered the parents of two kids who saw the whole awful act take place. Now, they’ve sworn to get revenge using science… and shovels! Together, these siblings hatched a plan to go into the graveyard, dig up body parts, and use science to turn them into an army of monsters to tear the Groundskeeper limb from limb.
It’s not going to be easy, however, for the Groundskeeper patrols the graveyard constantly with his lantern, searching for trespassers whom he can relentlessly chop into pieces with his meat cleaver. As they traverse his nightmarish graveyard, the siblings will also have to use their shovels to battle hordes of the undead, skeletons, blobs, axe-wielding psychopaths, ghosts, mummies, and much more. Hey, it’s a graveyard; who else would you expect to be hanging around there late at night?
Grave Chase features old school 2D pixel art, a steady flow of spooky new enemies throughout the game, 31 stages of increasing difficulty, additional unlockable game modes for even more replay value, over 50 achievement medals, Steam trading cards, special power-ups, an all original soundtrack, windowed or fullscreen play, gamepad support, and you can choose to play as the girl or boy while the other stays home and builds monsters using the body parts you collect.
Can you survive this Grave Chase through the month of October, culminating on Halloween?
Get ready to RUN, RUN RUN, or you’ll surely DIE, DIE, DIE!
Game Discussion
Steam User 22
Full disclosure: I know the creator of this game personally.
This game is simple, straightforward, classic arcade fun. The music is catchy, each level adds some new kind of enemy to keep you on your toes, and the challenge level is frustrating enough that experienced players will be satisfied, but less skilled gamers should still be able to progress without spending hours stuck on the same level. And the nightmare mode should be enough to give anyone a run for their money once they progress far enough.
I want to get through each level just to see what new kind of crazy enemy or obstacle (or both!) shows up in the next one. Enemies I will quickly grow to hate, as they becomes a serious thorn in my side while I try to assemble my corpse pieces. There's no epic story or tremendous investment of time required here. What I like is that I can kill ten or so minutes playing this game and get through a level, slowly making my way through the 31 days of October. Lots of replay value here, and you will be on the edge of your seat the moment you complete your body part collection, the music builds to a frenzy, and you rush blindly in the direction of the exit, not knowing if you are moving closer to or further from the groundskeeper's chopping hatchet. You wouldn't like him when he's angry. Come to think of it, you wouldn't like him when he's calm either.
Steam User 6
I TRULY LOVE THIS GAME! This may sound too perfect but this game is the right amount of challenging. I stink at most games but I can get through the levels after a few attempts. The enemies and levels are very well planned out and the music is PERFECT! if you like Zombies Ate My Neighbors you'll like this more!
Steam User 6
The groundskeeper snuck into my home and frenetically murdered my productivity.
Bro is soooo coool, wearing his sunglasses at night. Sis is rockin blue blocker goggles. I can't say I have sympathy for their parents. This town has at least 31 separate graveyards. Why would you move there? It must have a really good school district.
Gameplay is perfect for mapping input to your favorite 2 button game controller, supplying the hours of fun one would expect from simulated grave desecration and childhood tragedy.
Choose your last collected body part wisely. And pray for surprise pumpkins.
Steam User 0
Good for $1
I'm not even sure if Rog still reads reviews or not. Big fan of I-Mockery here and this game is fun. It's a great tribute to Halloween and "feels" like 16 bit games of the era. I can't recommend it for more than a $1 because it's so tedious. Yes, there's extra modes available once you beat the game. But, I was very disappointed that there wasn't anything that broke up the monotony of the levels. This game desperately needed some mini-games, bonus stages, and an actual boss fight.
Steam User 0
Grave Chase is a very tightly designed little game that evokes classics like Zombies Ate My Neighbours, Zelda, and, of all things, Pac-man. There's just enough randomization in the game to constantly keep you on your toes, but the layout of each stage is still always the same, so optimization is possible. Which is good, because this game's design is clearly focused on replaying it over and over once you clear it, trying to attain the highest score and shortest time possible.
The aesthetic is basically perfect, just creepy and spooky enough to feel fun, without being so gruesome that it can turn anyone off. The controls are tight and precise, the music and atmosphere are perfect, and every enemy and power-up feels very well thought out.
Sadly, it's not all fun and nostalgia. The game is a bit too unforgiving, even in the normal mode where you can't game over. You have 2 lives and can earn more, but a single hit by almost any enemy (except the status ailment inducing ones) drops you immediately, which makes everything very nerve wracking and means the slightest split second mistake or mistimed input means you've just lost one of your rare, precious lives, which is all the more infuriating when playing on nightmare mode, where you have to start over from stage 1 if you lose all your lives. And it's not like the game is easy to start with! The early stages feel like the late stages of a lot of more accessible games, and things only get tougher from there. The fact that the "optimal" gameplay mode means surviving all 31 stages with no continues and trying to go as fast as possible means that a lot of more casual players will be turned right off, and even veteran pros might find the entire experience a bit too frustrating. I can't count the number of times I died to a weak enemy simply because my shovel swing was aimed in the wrong direction.
Giving the player characters health points, even just 2 or 3, would make everything feel a lot less unfair and frustrating, and would bring the game's difficulty down to the tough-but-fair 16 bit classics it takes inspiration from. I truly hope if the devs see this, they'll consider this update.
One more thing I need to point out, the fact that the player characters are siblings makes me think at one point they either had subtly different gameplay, or, more likely, the game was intended to have a co-op mode. Kind of a shame that neither is the case, and the character choice is entirely cosmetic!
As it stands, I still heartily recommend the game, but only if you've got a lot of patience or experience playing twitchy high-skill games. People looking for a relaxing experience stay away!
Steam User 0
While the difficulty can sometimes feel unfair, this fun arcade-style game has plenty for Halloween fans to love. The great art design, the quick gameplay, and the satisfaction of beating levels makes this game an instant hit.
Steam User 0
Having a blast!
This game is a lot of fun. I received this for free from the creator in a giveaway, and I'm glad I did. I haven't had a chance to put too much time into it at the moment, but I've been having a blast (hence title name) with it. The mechanics are easy to understand and get use to. The game does make you think a couple steps ahead, since it is a one hit = dead style game, but it works amazingly with this game. Most of the time I ended up dying was from not checking what was coming up behind me, or trying to run out of the way, only to turn into a dead end. If I hadn't gotten it from Rog himself, this is the type of game, I would've gladly paid double the price for.