Grotto

You are a soothsayer in a cave (a grotto, if you will). Denizens of the local village come to you for guidance and you consult the stars to provide it. Only, the stars are ambiguous; each of the constellations you use as your tools not only represents something visually (animals, objects, concepts), but they come with a cryptic representation of their meaning. The people, too, are unpredictable, and will draw their own conclusions based on the symbols you show and the riddles they come with. Grotto is somewhere between a strict narrative game and, I don't know, a deductive puzzler? At first it feels like simply finding all the different constellations to get a full library of responses is the main gameplay element, but the game quickly teaches you to be careful with your guidance: your interpretation of a particular constellation may be wildly different to how another person interprets it. You start to plan things tactically: understanding the nuances of the constellations that in practice act as your words, and second-guessing what conclusions each of the people you speak to (from children to one-minded warchiefs) would drive from them, in order to push them towards the decisions you favour. But primarily, it's about the story of the village you act as the oracle for. As you play the game this small, backwater community will begin to face tremendous changes and challenges, which the audiences they have with you will shape. People will live and die based on your wisdom and the story will branch accordingly. You begin to recognise and understand the villagers - and hopefully grow to care about them too, as they face unexpected threats. Grotto is a straightforward but incredibly captivating narrative experience where the actual gameplay is quite minimal (you mainly press forward and left click), but the story and the characterisation keeps you seized. As is typical for Brainwash Gang's games there's plenty of unique personality to the game from the excellent design of all the different characters to the very particular way that the villagers speak. It may not be something that you necessarily replay multiple times despite the branching narratives it promises, but the experience stays with you. This is *your* story of the village near you, and you feel personally involved in it. It's a very well done piece of interactive storytelling, and another unique success from Brainwash Gang who continue to surprise and delight me.