GRAVEN

When I exit the game and re-enter my savegame, all items in my inventory are gone. Even the staff is gone. Is there a fix or do I have to wait for the next update? In general I really like the game.

Youd think a game that looks like a throwback would be easy to run, but no.

Under its skin this game has a lot in parallel with Metroid Prime, moreso than Hexen or Heretic I would say. Paths are unlocked with new equipment, the whole setup (at least first area) is an interconnected hive of shortcuts that pull the puzzle together. There's lore to scan for, and things you do have continuity. Set up an explosive barrel for an opportune attack but didn't have the need for it? It will still be sitting there later. Pickups you didn't need will still be waiting the next time you pass through, but /most/ of the things you broke will be too, so there are things to consider and manage. Break everything now and pickups for equipment you get later won't drop, but you can litter an area with health vials you can depend on being available later also. I like that areas don't simply respawn everything the moment you look the other way or exit the area. I only give it four stars now because we aren't looking at the final product yet and everything can change with one update or another. It's still early access, so that's to be expected. But it is worth keeping an eye on. Two if you can spare them

Graven's store page doesn't use the term "Immersive Sim", but the developers would certainly like you to believe that it is one (the level designer likened the game to one in the launch day stream, and the developers and publishers have likely used the term to market the game elsewhere). This game features none of the intuitive systemic interactions that define immersive sim design philosophy. Fire conjured by the inflame spell, currently the only spell in the game (that I discovered before completing the current build), doesn't even spread between ADJACENT objects; it only spreads between objects stacked on one another. There's no room whatsoever for interesting interactions here. The only purpose the spell serves is to rapidly clear the frankly absurd number of trash receptacles containing pittances of gold, mana, health, and ammunition, or to light explosives before luring enemies into their vicinity. Congratulations, you've reinvented "shoot the explosive barrel". Progression is locked tight behind keyed doors, and there is once again no room for any kind of lateral approach to moving through levels. Stackable objects collapse if you put more than two in a pile, prohibiting in nearly every case one of the most elementary "clever" solutions in an immsim, "stack stuff and go over the wall". Graven eschews systemic interaction so thoroughly that even weighted puzzles switches refuse to depress if you've not used the specific intended solution item. Anyway, whether the game is intended to be an immsim or not (though I'll reiterate that the level designer likened it to one in an official stream), it's shallow as can be regardless. I spent the overwhelming majority of combat in the current build circlestrafing enemies with my sword, rarely sustaining damage except when threatened by a particular ranged enemy. I cannot express how infuriatingly dull and repetitive the combat is. The ranged weapons add little to the complexity, being quite basic themselves.