devlog.001 / What is GRAFT?
Hey folks! Mike here, I’ve been running Harebrained since we went indie again back in 2024. Wondering how things are going? tldr; we’ve been cooking!
Since December we’ve:
Premiered our new in-engine “Inosculation” trailer at the Horror Game Awards
Reached 70,000 wishlists (thank you!)
Built the first chapter of the game, showcasing all major features (vertical slice)
Conducted first round of friends & family playtesting (tons of great and helpful feedback there)
One thing we haven’t done very well yet, though, is post regular updates about the game. 😬
So - this is our first official devlog. I’ll share a new update each month, we’ll look at different parts of the game and introduce you to the rest of the team as we go.
Also - keep an eye out for GRAFT in the Horror Game Awards’ Midsummer Nights Scream showcase this coming Monday, June 1 at 11a Pacific. Our trailer might be a little longer this time…
For this inaugural devlog I thought I’d start with the basics - what the game is and how it plays. Plus some new screenshots.
So, what is GRAFT again?
GRAFT is basically what happened when we took our love of big weird sci-fi, classic survival horror, and deep RPG stories, and put it all together. (Grafted it all together, even…)
Survival horror is the core game loop and foundation. Carefully exploring strange environments, scavenging and crafting supplies, tense real-time combat, deciding when & how to engage enemies, making every bullet count - that’s the mechanical heart of GRAFT. So a big priority in development has been to make sure we nail that experience.
RPG interactions and choices then add variety, context, and stakes to that moment-to-moment survival horror gameplay. Your character customization decisions, how you transform yourself, and the choices you make talking to NPCs, it all feeds back into the survival horror game loop.
We ended up with a saying: “shoot first, ask existential questions later.” Saving the more philosophical stuff and the big choices for moments of calm and (relative) safety.
Safety in GRAFT has to be earned, though. The game takes place on the Arc: a dying space station the size of a continent. (Picture an Asia-sized megastructure in a slowly-decaying orbit.) It’s a dark, disorienting sprawl of sci-fi horror weirdness and grafted monstrosities.
You play as Tiger, waking up on the Arc with only scattered memories of his old life on Earth: wheels on hot asphalt, a cold metal bed… and his lover, Tavora.
We’ll talk more about these two protagonists in a future update. But this is where the big idea of the game comes in - grafting. Grafting is how you gain powers and abilities, and it’s the only chance you have of surviving the Arc.
You’ll rip grafts from fallen foes and find them hidden in the dark corners of the Arc. A new eye gives you superhuman tactical aiming, a biomechanical arm grants an electrified punch attack to stun your enemies.
But when you graft, you’re not just transforming Tiger’s body - you’re changing his identity. Each graft brings with it half-glimpsed memories and strange impulses. And the more he grafts, the more these new urges and visions come to the surface. How will he react? Which new urges will he embrace?
The decisions you make will determine who Tiger becomes and how his relationship with Tavora unfolds. Which is important because - they also end up literally grafted together for the journey.
So those are the key ingredients of GRAFT: great survival horror gameplay, a big weird sci-fi horror world to experience, and choosing who you’ll become in a meaningful RPG story.
We’ll be back with more next month. In the meantime - we want to hear what you think and we want to hear your questions. What else do you want to know about GRAFT?
