GRAFT: A RPG Horror Where Body Modding Is Essential To Survive
Are y’all looking for a fresh horror game that will make your skin jump off ya and crawl away? Harebrained Schemes is bringing in a mess-up body horror cyberpunk named GRAFT. Body modification has never been more…GRAFT-ic?… I know where the pod bay door is.
What In The Body Morph is GRAFT?
At its core, GRAFT is being billed as a “post-cyberpunk survival horror RPG” (quite the mouthful) that will take you on a futurian dive into body horror. The game drops you onto the Arc, a continent-sized, rotting mega-structure that floats along in space.
The citizens, once biomechanically enhanced living beings, have twisted into monstrosities or treacherous survivors. You play as the classic “hero with amnesia” archetype, and your goal is to just escape this meaty death trap. Just because you’re trying to escape doesn’t mean you will be leaving the same as you were inside. This world wants to see HOW you will escape.
The Body Mechanic Requires Parts
As the title suggests, GRAFT forces you to physically alter your body to stay alive. And by that, you have to tear pieces off your enemies and attach them to your own body. Literally looting bodies for parts to save your own skin (unintended pun) and utilize them to tear more enemies apart.
There is no bias here when you pick up a piece of modified flesh like an arm with a massive blade for a hand, or eyes that can see in the dark. The RPG progression system has you constantly evolving, turning hostile creatures into reluctant merchandise. You are the embodiment of the “Ship of Theseus:” replacing parts of your original body with new ones. If all of yourself has been repaired and replaced, are you still you?
Identity Crisis: Grafting the Pieces Together, Physically and Mentally
GRAFT wants you to weaponize yourself, but it also weaponizes your new attachments against you mentally. By adding a piece of the entity to your body, you inherit the previous owner’s identity. The game’s description mentions “strange cravings” and “half-glimpsed memories” flooding your system. You take in the part, and suddenly you don’t feel like you, yet you also do feel like you (…and that hurts my brain).
This narrative mechanic is sadistic gold because it means your “build” isn’t just about whether you want to be a tank or a stealth character; it’s about whose nightmares you want to inherit. It adds a psychological-horror fragrance to the body horror aspect, elevating the story above standard genre fare. You get all the rewards AND consequences of taking from someone (or something?) else.
Harebrained Schemes: Can They Do It?
Harebrained Schemes are the folks who gave us the BATTLETECH strategy game and the incredible Shadowrun Trilogy. They know how to handle dark, gritty cyberpunk settings, and they definitely know how to write a compelling RPG narrative. While they are known for tactical, isometric turn-based games, seeing them pivot to what looks like a more visceral survival horror experience is intriguing.
They have a pedigree for “choices matter” gameplay, and they promise that the alliances you form in the Arc will shape your journey. With that track record on display, I say they can guarantee us solid writing and fantastic world-building that will make us flinch and cringe at the same time.
Final Thoughts: Construct Me Like One of Your Cyborgs, Dr. Harebrained
From the trailer, the visuals look suitably grimy and atmospheric, scratching that specific “techno-catacomb” itch of festering biomechanical. There is currently no release date set for GRAFT, with the Steam page simply saying “To be announced.” While the developers continue with their “surgery,” it is at least slated that the game will be released on the PC via Steam and the Epic Games Store. So keep your eyes peeled (not literally) for another announcement!
