Grotto

Lore & Background

The game takes place entirely within a deep mountain cave in an unnamed pre-industrial world populated solely by anthropomorphic animals. The player experiences visual and aural hallucinations of a mysterious female voice who speaks in past tense as the story's narrator. The player first meets Ouuch, a crass toad who claims to be the village's chief but is soon captured by warriors of the Brute tribe. The Brutes, internally called 'The People', distrust proper names, naming things by traits, and practice strict population control due to the harsh environment, sacrificing children who do not gain a useful skill. Mating is prohibited on most days, except with the Love Twins, a single polycephalic giraffe.

The sudden death of the Chief from a terminal illness throws the village into turmoil. Two Brutes vie to become the next Chief: the First Hunter, a stag and former lieutenant who wishes to carry on traditions, and the Chief's widow Good-For-Nothing, a cobra who wants to reform the tribe. Regardless of the player's choice, the village splits into two halves, leading to open conflict that burns down the Ceremonial Tree and saps the power of the constellations. Survivors rebuild using a potion from the tree remains, but an army of heavily armored bugs called the Red Plates invades, drawn by a magical instrument given to the player. Ouuch assists the Red Plates as translator but grows to detest their cruelty and is killed trying to escape. The Red Plates condemn the player to death by sealing them in the cave, but a miner saves them. Using the miner's pick, the player discovers the mountain is alive and the source of the hallucinations, part of a dying race of ancient entities hunted by the Red Plates. The player may choose to leave the mountain alive, allowing the Brutes to be conquered, or destroy the mountain's heart, which releases magic that summons back fleeing tribespeople, who then slay the Red Plate leaders in an insurrection. In gratitude, the Brutes let the player give them a new name and invite them outside as a member of the tribe.

Reader's Guide

Grotto's significance lies in its narrative-driven approach and its exploration of language, community, and choice within a constrained setting. The gameplay consists entirely of walking around a single cave with two rooms: a meeting hall with a campfire and an inner sanctum with the player's tent and tools. The inner room has a window for drawing constellations in the stars, which become usable symbols on the cave wall attached to cryptic descriptions. These symbols are brought to people to deliver prophecies, functioning as the game's vague choice process. Over time, symbols grow dim through repeated use and must be replenished. The player gains additional hint tools: the Chief's bones, thrown over a sigil to commune with him in the afterlife; a stringed instrument that delivers sinister messages; and a smoking pipe for communing with deceased spirits via a trance. Critics praised the story and artwork but criticized the repetitiveness, simplicity, and linearity. Catharine Castle of Rock Paper Shotgun described the story as a 'compelling, ongoing tale of multiple power struggles' but found the constant back-and-forth tedious and repeat playthroughs uninteresting. Mattia Pescitelli of Multiplayer.it noted difficulty empathizing with characters due to lack of development and short length, and criticized minimal player control and chance-based constellation discovery, while praising visuals and soundtrack as 'spectacular'. Manu Delgado of Vandal called the game 'written with exquisite taste' with 'breathtaking' artwork, lamenting the lack of a Spanish translation. Cosmin Vasile of Softpedia enjoyed the ambiguity and presentation but criticized the lack of replay value.

Did You Know?

• The Brute tribe internally refers to itself as 'The People' and avoids using proper names, instead naming things by their traits.
• The player can draw constellations in the stars from a window in the inner sanctum, which become usable symbols for prophecies.
• The mountain is revealed to be a living entity from a dying race of ancient beings hunted by the Red Plates for their magic.
• Ouuch, a crass toad, initially claims to be the village chief but is later captured and tortured by the Brutes.