Transcription
When you think of Horror Games, you probably wouldn’t imagine a game that plays like this. Because how could this possibly be scary?
There are a ton of different horror genres that you might have tried before like Psychological Horror, Survival Horror or even Cosmic Horror. But this… probably isn’t one of them. There’s a new genre called “Cozy Horror”, and it’s exactly what it sounds like. A subgenre that blends supernatural elements with a sense of warmth while prioritizing atmosphere. It’s like the weighted blanket of the scary world.
And so today I want to show you a game that is able to deliver a perfect mix of Cozy vibes and absolutely horrifying visuals. This is Grunn, a game that uses comfort as camouflage, and slowly reveals that the most frightening thing in its world isn’t what’s lurking in the dark.
I spent the last 2 years of my life making a gardening game. Its normal. Experience the Dutch countryside. It’s Saturday morning at 8:00AM and we arrive in a small Dutch town with a weekend job ahead of us. As we step off the bus it immediately becomes apparent that things might not be quite so simple because… yeah, it’s impossible to make out what the locals are saying. It shouldn’t really matter, we’re only here because someone hired us as their new gardener and we have until Monday morning to do it. The house is just across this bridge so we pick up the bridge key and make our way across.
We have now officially entered the world of Grunn, so let’s see if we can pinpoint the exact moment where the “normal” cozy vibe turns into straight horror. We arrive at the Garden area and it's obvious no one has lifted a pair of shears here in years. Between the waist-high grass, the piles of junk, and the constant molehills, we’ve got our work cut out for us before Monday. Our shed is in the middle of the garden and the person that hired us left some important notes. You’re allowed to take the shears, trowel and watering can from this shed. Try not to wander off during the night because it gets cold and foggy up here in the north. But please note that my house is off-limits. And it's that last rule that stands out. Makes you wonder what the person who hired us is hiding in there, doesn’t it?
I mean, either way, I'm sold. A relaxing gardening game in a Northern Dutch town sounds like a good time. So let’s grab the shears and head out, because the grass and hedges aren’t going to trim themselves.
Cutting the grass is satisfying in a way that's hard to describe. I really wasn't expecting to feel this way about a game advertised as horror. Like, I came here for scares, and instead I'm getting the same dopamine hit I get from organizing my inventory in Resident Evil 4. It’s the snip of the shears while the progress counter in the corner slowly ticks upwards. It’s very videogame-y but it works for that pure, simple accomplishment feeling. And I think that's what makes these cozy games work so well. They tap into something primal about transforming chaos into order, watching a neglected space slowly become something beautiful through your own effort. There's a reason why power-washing simulators and lawn-mowing games have found such massive audiences: the human brain is hardwired to find satisfaction in visible, measurable progress. It’s a very normal feeling.
So I'm working my way through the garden, section by section, and honestly? I'm vibing. The sun is out, I'm making progress, and for a supposed horror game, this is still remarkably peaceful. But here's the thing about Grunn that I'm starting to notice: There are certain moments where it feels like someone is watching. It’s hard to explain until this moment where I was minding my own business and I turned to look directly at… A figure has been watching us the entire time, lurking from the shadows. And the second I turn the camera to look directly at him, he’s gone.
This is the first real moment where Grunn reveals that something about this town isn’t quite right. But that’s not what’s disturbing about this game. Because the next area we enter, the Church, is hiding some secrets. And just by looking at it, this area could also use some gardening. So here we go again, we start cutting down the tall grass with the shears. And I mean look, we know it’s a horror game, we know things are only going to get worse from here, but once again I can’t help but find myself feeling strangely relaxed.
We can see the day go by in the top right corner and just like games like Animal Crossing and Stardew Valley, the residents of this small town all have schedules. But it doesn’t quite work the way you’d expect. I found out when I accidentally ignored the warning that told me not to cut the white roses in front of the Church. Ghosts appear from the tombstones and we get the first ending of the game. Wait, what? Suddenly I'm staring at a game over screen, genuinely confused about what just happened. I cut some flowers, but this is when I realized I wasn't playing the game I thought I was playing.
Well to be honest, there’s something I didn’t tell you. This game isn’t normal at all. Before I downloaded Grunn I decided to check out the reviews on Steam and found something I thought had to be a mistake. There were tons of posts that went like this. “If you liked Outer Wilds, you’ll enjoy this too.” or “This one weirdly kind of scratches my Outer Wilds itch and I will not elaborate.” Because here’s the thing, Grunn has 11 different endings and most of them, well, they involve dying. Stay out at night for too long, try to pet the dog, literally drown or… cut the sacred flowers.
This is why the time of day matters, because the residents move around and the only way for us to catch them at the right time is by figuring out where they’ll be during the day. And if you've played Outer Wilds, which is an incredible game by the way, you’ll immediately understand what's happening here. Grunn is essentially a time-loop mystery disguised as a gardening simulator. Each death isn’t really a game over because it's information. You're meant to die, to explore every dead end and to piece together the town's secrets through experimentation.
And I know the comparison seems absurd at first, because what could a Cozy gardening game possibly have to do with exploring a solar system? But they're both built on the same fundamental design philosophy: knowledge is progression. Every time you die you return to the bus at the start but everything you’ve learned stays with you. And this is brilliant horror design, because it means every mistake, every time the wrong flower is cut or we stay out too long at night, isn't necessarily frustrating. It's teaching us the rules of this world. We're learning what this town considers sacred and so the horror isn't just jump scares, it's slowly realizing that this cozy gardening town has very specific, very dark rules. And we've been breaking them.
So naturally, I decided to explore more of this town. Because if I'm going to die eleven different ways, I might as well see what I'm working with. We can head into the Church, and immediately the tone shifts. It's dark in here, almost maze-like, and as I'm turning a corner, there he is again. The same figure. Just staring. And the second I see him, he vanishes. On the floor nearby, there's a skeleton with what the game calls a "magic trumpet". Apparently it can reveal ghosts and calm them down when played. Something is very wrong with this town, but the game refuses to make a big deal out of it.
The Church leads us outside to the road where we first arrived. There's a corn field here, and yeah, it's about as ominous as you'd expect walking through tall corn in a horror game. Next to it is a gas station, and at the edge of town, there's a boat with two kids inside. But what really catches my attention is this crypt on the other side of this bridge. I head inside and immediately the water is up to my knees. It's claustrophobic and I'm starting to get that feeling that I probably shouldn't be here. At the end of the crypt, we find the previous gardener dead. It’s heavily implied he tried to enter the house that we were warned was off-limits. And when I look up through a hole in the ceiling, guess who's staring down at us? This figure has been following us everywhere. He hasn’t really tried to attack or harm… up until this point because the crypt starts filling with water. Luckily we have our gardening tools to get out before it’s too late.
Now, here's something I need to talk about, because Grunn has this mechanic that I didn't fully appreciate until my third or fourth loop. Polaroids that are scattered through the town. At first, they kind of seem like collectibles. Little snapshots that are taken from odd angles, random corners or places we might not have been yet. But they're doing something way smarter than that because they're teaching you how to read the town. Each polaroid freezes a perspective we haven't seen yet. A corner we haven't turned. A fence we didn't know you could push past. And when we finally stumble into that exact spot later, there's this moment of recognition. We've been here before, not literally but through that picture. The game showed us this place before we understood what it meant.
And this is how shortcuts operate as well, because once we’re on the 10th loop, it’s pretty neat to know this hedge can open to unlock a different area early on. And the first time we arrived in this town, everything felt very long. We're walking the same routes over and over, taking the long way around because that's all we know. But as we explore, as we pay attention, routes start to collapse. We’re not unlocking the town with keys or upgrades, we’re learning it. That's the genius of Grunn and why it’s being compared to Outer Wilds so often. It’s a metroidbrania, as long as you have the knowledge, you’ll make moving forward easier. Basically the reward for paying attention isn't a journal entry or a quest marker. Instead it's confidence and efficiency. By the time I realized how interconnected the town really is, I was already moving through it like someone who belongs here.
And yeah, I know the title of the video, but the question that’s stuck in my mind is.. Is this a horror game that’s pretending to be cozy? Or is this a cozy game that’s pretending to be horror? Anyway before we can really answer that, there’s one area left we haven’t explored yet, so let’s see if we can do any gardening work there.
The Park is the last place that still pretends to be normal. On paper, it’s exactly what you’d expect from a small town like this. A foodtruck, a playground, some people hanging out. Honestly, after everything we’ve seen so far, this place almost feels intentional. Because Grunn really makes this town feel lived in. There are the schedules the inhabitants have, shops close, people go home when it gets late. And I just love it when videogames do this because it makes it feel like we’re not the center of this world but just passing through it, especially because of the language barrier from everyone speaking Dutch. Sure we can interact with people, hell there’s even an achievement for it, but we can never truly connect with them.
Actually, as you've probably been able to tell, I am Dutch. And "Grunn" isn't just a made-up name… it refers to this place, a province in the far North of the Netherlands. And so even though I grew up in the South, the accent up there is so heavy that I genuinely can't make out what people are saying half the time. So bonus points for accurately representing what it would actually be like in a small Dutch town in the North. And I'm not just talking about the haunted stuff.
We were specifically told not to wander off at night, so let's grab our stuff and head back to the shed to sleep. Something I’ve been avoiding is this strange door inside the building that we can unlock. It leads to a hallway that just keeps going. And going. And when we finally reach the end, we step into this void where we meet the owner of the house. Turns out he's trapped here because evil spirits invaded the world and turned this place into some kind of gateway. He was about to deal with it himself, but now that he's stuck, he needs us to do it instead.
And this is where the game gives us a choice. We can literally just wait until Monday, take the bus, and leave. Basically abandon the town to whatever fate is waiting for it. Or we can actually try to solve this mystery. The owner mentions there are at least four spirits active here, and each one's soul is attached to an idol. So our job, or, well, our new job is to find those idols and bring them to the church.
Something Grunn loves doing is putting a door somewhere that realistically shouldn't lead anywhere, and we’ll need to learn how to move through them to find the idols. Like this narrow opening in a wall that’s somehow connected to a beach surrounded by water. With nothing but a blanket hanging on a clothesline. No transition or explanation, just a beach that exists inside a building. And the game keeps pulling this. There's a small structure in the garden that, when you walk inside, opens into this massive maze. It's unsettling to navigate through it, but eventually it gives way to a room with a fountain. And there, sitting in a chair, fast asleep, is the figure. The one who's been watching us this whole time.
Now look, after all the stalking, I feel pretty justified grabbing a hammer and hitting him. And apparently, that was the right call because he transforms into an idol right in front of me. That’s the first spirit down. Three more to go. There are skeletons scattered around town, and I can take a bone from one to distract the dog guarding a nearby house. Inside, there's a toy boat. I bring it to those two kids sitting in the boat at the edge of town, and when I hand it over, one of them gets so furious he transforms into the short idol. The last two are easier to track down. The gnome idol is hidden behind another impossible doorway… This one leading to a mushroom cave. And using the magic trumpet, I can turn one of the ghosts from earlier into the shy idol. Alright. Four idols. Time to head to the Church.
It's midnight and we open the door to the Church. We light some candles and a tomb rises from the ground. Inside, we place the idols in their designated spots and this ominous red light starts glowing from behind them. When we step back outside the tomb, there are skeletons. Sitting in every chair of the Church and just staring at us. And I'm not gonna lie, this might be the most unsettling moment in the entire game. Because clearly something must have gone terribly wrong.
We exit the Church and the town is on fire. But now, finally, we're able to enter the house we've been told to avoid this whole time. Before we go in, there's a note on the ground that reads: "The spirits are EVIL! The idols must be destroyed! They must NOT be returned to the church at ALL COSTS… Their combined power will open a gateway to a hellish world!" Oh. So we just did exactly what we weren't supposed to do.
Inside the house, we can feel this dark presence, and a message appears on screen: the world explodes in two and a half minutes. We need to move fast but it's room after room of dead ends, empty spaces, nothing useful… until we find him. The ghost of the REAL previous owner of the house. Turns out that guy we met in the void? He was tricking us. We just helped open his gateway. And, well, you might have noticed this glitch effect he has so I decided to pause the game at that exact moment. I guess it was kind of obvious.
The real owner explains that the ruler of this domain is a terrible dark force waiting outside, ready to break and destroy this world. But he gives us a key to the attic where his blessed sword should be boxed up. So we sprint to the attic, tear through boxes until we find the holy blade, and head back outside to face the demon. And you know what, the sword works better than expected. One strike and the demon is defeated. The world is restored. The real owner's soul is freed, and he tells us we can forget about the gardening work. And that's how we get the good ending.
Now, I want to talk about why Grunn works as well as it does. Because on paper, this shouldn't work at all. A cozy gardening simulator mixed with cosmic horror and time-loop mechanics? That sounds like three different games mashed together. But Grunn understands something really important about horror: that the scariest moments aren't when you're already on edge, they're when you let your guard down. Just think about it. Every major horror beat in this game happens right after you've been lulled into that cozy rhythm. You're trimming hedges, watching the progress bar tick up, feeling genuinely relaxed, and then… something's watching you. You're exploring a peaceful park, and suddenly you're neck-deep in cursed water staring at a corpse. The game weaponizes comfort. It makes you feel safe so that when it pulls the rug out, it hits twice as hard.
And that's what separates Grunn from other indie horror games that just slap "cozy" and "creepy" together and hope it works. Grunn earns both sides of that equation. The gardening isn't just window dressing, it's genuinely satisfying. The horror isn't just aesthetic, it's baked into the town's rules, its history and its entire structure. You're not playing a horror game pretending to be cozy. You're playing a game that is genuinely both, and that tension between the two is what makes it so unsettling.
Now, I'll be honest, Grunn isn't perfect. Some of the endings feel a little arbitrary, and if you're not into time-loop games where you have to die repeatedly to learn the mechanics, this might frustrate you more than intrigue you. But if you're willing to lean into that Outer Wilds-style experimentation, if you're okay with a game that refuses to hold your hand, then Grunn is something special. So if any of this sounds interesting to you, give Grunn a shot. It's short, it's weird, and it's one of the most unique horror experiences I've had in a long time.
So as always, thank you for watching. I hope you enjoyed my take on Grunn and if you did, make sure to like, comment and hit the bell notification icon to stay up to date. And I’ll see you in the next Cosmic Lore video.