Return to Grace | Steam Deck Review
Return to Grace from Creative Bytes Studios is a first-person walking simulator through a space colony with a lot of depth and mystery. As Adie, you traverse a mysterious planet with a known history of Grace, an A.I. god that had gone silent for thousands of years. Adie’s mission is to discover Grace and its secrets. Along the way, several aspects of Grace’s infrastructure accompany and assist her along the way. Adie will find her connections to this fascinating world and her ties to this once powerful entity.
The New Space Odyssey
The journey begins with her ship going through a massive amount of turbulence to land on the planet Ganymede thousands of years in the future. Her ship and eventually her closest companion, Allen, come crashing down into what appears to be a forever winter environment. Knowing this is where she is meant to land, Adie makes the journey to find Grace. She’s aided by the means of a wrist communicator that also serves as a few other tools to help her in her quest.
As she reaches the main area of her journey, other AI entities engage with Adie. These entities serve as portions of Grace’s logic processing aptly named Logic, Control, and Empathy. During her journey, Adie meets with other entity combinations and personalities. The journey also brings her into the main layout of the compound drenched in 60’s and 70’s retro designs. It’s beautiful to behold and wondrous as to how this structure had survived over thousands of years. Also along the way, she will make decisions on how to move forward . These may challenge Adie’s logic and resolve to finish her journey.
Look But Don’t Touch…Much
The mechanics of Return to Grace are extremely simple. There’s much narrative drive with very little interaction from the player. Obviously there’s a lot of walking and exploration to be had. Interactions in the environment are very basic in object discovery and their ties to the Grace compound. There’s also some puzzle interaction, but many of them are very simple. The experience of the game is measured almost solely in the progress of the story as Adie moves along and how the environment is laid out.
A Journey for Your Eyes, Ears, and Heart
While the gameplay is extremely simple, the story and environment are deep. Deep enough that you’ll feel the areas you are exploring. You’ll feel the confinement of the tight spaces you crawl through and you’ll feel the wonderment of the broad rooms with very crisp designs and details. While simple in overall layout, the game doesn’t need overly complex steampunk type styles to make you appreciate the retro landscape you are looking over. Some areas where space is quite broad you’ll get that pressure in your chest. It’s almost as if you were literally face to face with such an area while the cold of the outside world gives you a shiver.
Interactions with the different AI branches also play with your feelings. There are times when things feel warm and comfortable, annoying (in a good way), and even sometimes sinister. Puzzle completion may be a bit too simple to engage the player a great deal, but this is a very minor oversight to what is a beautiful world and a very engaging story.
A (Grace)ful Story
Return to Grace is a deep and thoughtful story for those that enjoy a good walking simulator and taking in a story that truly engages the player. The minimal amount of interaction may leave some players lost in attention, but the story and environment will keep the majority engaged and wonder what Grace is really about and where it may go from there…
To hear me talk more about Return to Grace, be sure to listen to The Gaming Outsider’s Interview with Dave Evans, who designed and wrote the game.
This review is based on Steam copy of Return to Grace provided by Uber Strategist for coverage purposes. It is also available on PC via Epic Games Store.
Return to Grace
$14.99
Pros
- Stunning Environments
- Engaging Story
Cons
- Very Little or Challenging Interaction for Players
