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Review
Grove of Bones begins with an intro in the form of a campfire story.
Years ago, the village was on the brink of death. No rain, no crops, no food, nothing. Then a man visits bringing saplings. He claims that the saplings will provide the village with everything it needs to flourish... as long as regular blood sacrifices are made. They are horrified. He knows he has them in a corner. If they turn down his offer, they won't last long.
He also knows how to stir the pot.
He tells them that guiltier the sacrifice, the better bounty the trees will provide. Suddenly, any moral qualms evaporate. Blood sacrifices aren't so bad if the person deserves it, right? And so, they agree. Sacrifices shall occur every blood moon. The saplings grew into trees located in an area they called the "Grove of Bones."
You play as one of the villagers listening to the story (btw, it’s also a blood moon).
The game lets the player choose their gender as well as whether they previously had a wife or husband. For some reason, your spouse was previously deemed a candidate for the grove. You still have your son, Treya.
Naturally, your son also becomes the village’s latest pick for the blood sacrifice. Gameplay involves making decisions to protect Treya. The defining choice in the gameplay is whether (Spoiler - click to show)you take a bottle of salt or some flint and steel with you as you take your kid to the grove. Both serve the same function but unlock two different achievements.
The game ends with a brief epilogue, and you can restart the game halfway for replays. I found three endings. I am pleased to say (Spoiler - click to show)none of them involve Treya being harmed. Take that, trees.
Intentionally or not, Grove of Bones makes it easy to dislike the village. Or at least, the village leader.
(Spoiler - click to show)Through the garbled rantings of the frightened child he'd finally gathered that [protagonist’s name] had taken the child's place.
"Foolish!" he mutters under his breath. "Why would they risk us all in such a way."
Uh, excuse you, maybe you shouldn't have decided to sacrifice THEIR kid. Risk us all in such a way...
The game strongly predisposes the player into siding with the protagonist over the village’s needs. Collectively, the villagers are depicted as cowardly, spiteful, uncaring, more than ready to point fingers and throw their neighbors under the bus. And perhaps that is the nature of their community.
(Spoiler - click to show)So: Do you choose saving that or opting for an ending where you rid yourself of any evil by destroying the trees, escape with your kid, meet the ghost of your spouse for one last goodbye, and flee to a guaranteed sanctuary located within a day's walk?
Flee with the kid. No regrets.
A middle ground is to make a deal to leave with your kid without destroying the trees. The village does not lose the trees or its benefits. They just need to pick a new sacrifice. Funny how the village leader balks at implication that he will be the next sacrifice.
An interesting point is also made: the villagers have become so reliant on the trees’ apples that they’ve neglected cultivating other food sources. The implication of (Spoiler - click to show)destroying the trees becomes much worse.
I think the game could have been stronger if it elaborated why the protagonist’s spouse was taken. The characters say they were “guilty” of something. Did they do something sketchy or were they picked because of something trivial? This is important because it (Spoiler - click to show)triggers a fight among the children, a fight that results in the village condemning Treya to the grove. Further context would have made the children’s fight more understandable.
To conclude, I was expecting a long ChoiceScript game with lots of text.
Not at all.
Grove of Bones is a smallish-sized game that keeps its word count down to what is necessary to the story without skimping on suspenseful content. The story is evenly paced, the implementation encourages multiple playthroughs, and its use of sun and moon imagery adds flair.
It’s a game that forces one to consider the needs of the group against the wants of the individual while cutting us considerable slack (Spoiler - click to show)if we choose to grab the kid, turn, and run.
