Grunn: A Chill Game That Slowly Loses Its Mind

Welcome to Your Weekend in Weirdsville

What starts as a chill weekend job tending a peaceful garden in the Dutch countryside turns into a surreal descent into mystery, horror, and absurdity. Grunn, developed by Sokpop Collective and Tom van den Boogaart, is a cozy yet creepy gardening simulator that hides an unnerving core beneath its perfectly trimmed hedges. Think PowerWash Simulator meets Twin Peaks by way of Outer Wilds, with a splash of Kentucky Route Zero for good measure.

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The Calm Before the Creep

You begin the game as a contract gardener tasked with sprucing up an overgrown estate. Your objectives are simple: trim the hedges, water the flowers, pick up trash, and exterminate mole holes. The garden is big, beautiful, and strangely serene. Early gameplay is relaxing, almost therapeutic. The shears snip satisfyingly, and the ambient sounds of birds and wind lull you into a false sense of peace.

But things are… off. The tools you need are missing. The garden owner is nowhere to be found. You’re warned not to explore at night. And there’s a phone in the corner that occasionally rings with cryptic messages.

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Snip-Snip and Slip Into Madness

As you wander through the garden and beyond, the game slowly opens up into something much stranger. You explore a town populated by odd characters, most of whom are unhelpful, suspicious, or downright unsettling. There are gnomes with unknown motives, ghostly figures lurking at the edge of your vision, and locked doors leading to secrets you’re not sure you want to uncover.

Your tasks become less about gardening and more about solving environmental puzzles. Find the correct key for the right door. Figure out who needs what. Uncover ancient relics. Trade weird items with weird people. And whatever you do, don’t eat the wrong apple.

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Gardening, But Make It Existential

Grunn is, at its core, a first-person puzzle-exploration game. It uses light gardening mechanics as a framework for a deeper story about identity, duty, and the unknown. You move through the game day by day, with each in-game day offering new discoveries and unlocking new areas. Some days feel like a dream. Others feel like a nightmare.

There are multiple endings based on your choices, exploration, and how much you meddle with forces beyond your understanding. The best part? Each ending teaches you something new about the world, encouraging replays. However, be warned: restarting after an ending means redoing many of the same chores, which may test your patience if you’re trying to reach a new conclusion.

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Aesthetic & Atmosphere

Visually, Grunn is charming in its simplicity. The environments are soft-edged and painterly, with just enough detail to be beautiful without being overwhelming. But don’t let the cute gnomes and quaint village fool you. There are moments where the atmosphere turns sharply uncanny. A misplaced statue. A sudden trumpet. An empty church that wasn’t empty before.

The game is full of quiet spooks and strange ambiance. There are few, if any, traditional jump scares. Instead, the horror creeps in slowly—an ever-present unease that you can never quite shake. It’s psychological more than visceral, and that’s what makes it stick.

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Highlights and Weird Delights

• Snipping Grass with Hedge Clippers: Surprisingly satisfying.
• Gnome Lore: Deeper (and weirder) than expected.
• Church at Midnight: Don’t miss it.
• Surreal Quests: Including egg trading, spirit summoning, and dog bribing.
• The Final Sword Fight with a Demon: Yes, that happens.

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A Minor Cutback

Grunn isn’t a perfect game. Its biggest flaw is how it handles restarts. After unlocking one of its multiple endings, you have to repeat much of the early game to reach the new content. For a game that thrives on surprise and discovery, being forced to re-mow the same lawn can dull the impact. But it’s a short game overall, and each run becomes more efficient as you learn the layout and shortcuts.

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