You might be familiar with Harebrained Schemes from Battletech and theShadowruntrilogy, the latter of which is much loved for its cyberpunk take on the cRPG genre. You may also know the studio fromThe Lamplighters League, which released late last year tomiddling reviewsand led to Harebrained and publisherParadox Interactiveparting ways, but not before Paradox laid off a bunch of its developers.
Harebrained’s first title since it regained its independence,Graft, has just received an official announcement trailer, and it looks like it might be enough to regain the trust of players who were disappointed with The Lamplighters League, by which I mean it lookssuper cool.
A Foray Into The Unknown
Graft, in some ways, looks like the titles we’ve seen from Harebrained before. It’s once again leaning into a cyberpunk aesthetic – well, actually, post-cyberpunk, according to its Steam page – and offers up what looks like a cRPG experience similar to Shadowrun. The little of the gameplay we’ve seen is isometric, with moody environments thick with atmosphere.
Graft is set on the Arc, a dying “continent-sized” space station “haunted by darkly fascinating characters and nightmarish monsters”. Your city, one of the few left standing, has fallen, leaving you fighting to survive outside its walls where power and light are “precious resources”. You’ll not only need to survive, but “master forgotten technologies and unearth secrets” as you work your way through terrifying settings and challenges in search of a way out. You may also have to form alliances with other survivors (they’ll probably stab you in the back), but your choices will “shape your journey and decide the fates of those you meet”.
If it sounds like a horror game, that’s because it is. Graft draws heavily from the genre, and departs from the tradition it’s set for itself by featuring real-time action instead of the tactics-based combat you’d expect. Not only is combat different, but you’ll also have to “pick your battles and manage your resources” to survive. Harebrained is moving into very interesting, unexpected territory here, and I’m interested to see how it plays out.
What Do We Take From Each Other?
But this alone isn’t enough to capture my attention – what’s far more interesting than a move to real-time combat is the game’s central philosophy. Graft is exploring the old story of the ship of Theseus, a thought experiment that haspreoccupied me pretty much my whole life. In Graft, you can take body parts from your enemies to “transform yourself into something new”, changing your physical body so you can better adapt to your environment. This in itself opens up loads of possibilities for cool combat mechanics and maybe even buildcrafting.
But those parts you take also bring pieces of their previous owners’ identities. You might get cravings, or vague memories. You might start developing new, sinister obsessions. You might adopt a trauma that doesn’t belong to you. The game says you have to “choose what each of these fragments means to you” and live with the consequences of those choices.Youare the ship of Theseus, replacing parts of yourself in the pursuit of more power. But when you get out, will you still be you?
It’s a fascinating concept, and one that immediately made me want to send the store page to my friends so they could read the description and we could start a formal debate about it. I’m already writing my opening argument in my head. The Shadowrun games also focus on characters who replace their body parts with machinery at the cost of their humanity, and I’m very interested to see how Graft digs deeper into this idea. I’m also looking forward to the thinkpiece I’ll inevitably write about it.
Graft
WHERE TO PLAY
There’s an old story, so old it was old when the Arc was first built. The hero Theseus’s decaying ship is replaced, piece by piece, until none of the original parts remain. Is it still the same ship?GRAFTsplices together tense survival horror with a dark RPG experience in a thrilling new adventure from the developers ofBATTLETECHand theShadowrun Trilogy. Explore a dying world haunted by darkly fascinating characters and nightmarish monsters as you delve into the mysteries of the Arc. Tear pieces from your enemies to transform yourself into something new—something capable of surviving the horrors that prowl around you. Every Graft brings with it some piece of its previous owner’s identity, changing more than just your physical body.You are the Ship of Theseus. Who, or what, will you be when you escape?POST-CYBERPUNK HORRORThe Arc is dying. You must escape.Once, it hung in the sky like a jeweled moon—a continent-sized station filled with biomechanically enhanced citizens, all working toward some greater purpose lost to time. Bodies were replaceable, resurrection assumed.Now your city—one of the last—has fallen, swallowed by the encroaching darkness of the station’s slow death. Beyond its walls you find yourself in the Arc’s decaying superstructure, where both power and light are precious resources.But the darkness isn’t empty. It only feels that way at first.DELVE INTO A HAUNTING WORLDThe Arc is packed with powerful and unsettling wonders, if only you can live long enough to extract them. Master forgotten technologies and unearth secrets as you traverse yawning chasms, self replicating labyrinths, and techno-catacombs in search of a way out.A DARK RPG EXPERIENCEYou are not the only survivor in the desolation. Form fragile alliances and build them into deeper relationships. Of course, anyone still living is likely both dangerous and treacherous, and that includes you. The choices you make will shape your journey and decide the fates of those you meet.TENSE SURVIVAL HORROR COMBATAncient feral experiments, strange abominations, and ruthless agents of a mad AI stalk you. Use the tools in your growing arsenal as you fight through the horrors in a visceral new twist on classic survival horror combat. You will need to pick your battles and manage your resources carefully in order to escape the Arc alive.TRANSFORM TO SURVIVEYour changing body is your most powerful weapon. Augment it with Grafts and build out your abilities according to your own strategies. Each Graft you rip from a fallen foe or find hidden in the recesses of the Arc is one more deadly tool in your expanding arsenal.But there’s a catch, every Graft carries with it some small piece of its previous owner… and now they are a part of you.A METAMORPHOSIS OF SELFWith each Graft, strange cravings and half-glimpsed memories flood your system. Now you remember the hot breath of a lover you never touched. Now you find yourself suddenly obsessing over cruel and sadistic impulses. Now you remember the monotony of an endless solitary confinement.You must choose what each of these fragments means to you, and you must live with the consequences of each choice.Who, or what, will you be when you escape?
