Looks very interesting at first glance, but I think I'm gonna have to look up some gameplay videos to get an understanding of what exactly you do in this game moment-to-moment.

If anyone has tried this game, I'd be happy to hear what exactly the gameplay entails - like, are there puzzles/exploratory segments or is it more of a choose-your-own-adventure style game?

The artwork looks amazing (felt like Hellboy and classic Sandman comic book artwork) and the story felt like cosmic level of lovecraftian creation myth.

But what's the gameplay?

The trailer.
Disturbing.
Yet I feel somehow welcomed.

You made something completely different there. Wish you all the best; will support you.

I played a demo of the game during one of Steam's big week-long demo fests; it's more akin to something like a walking sim/visual novel. You spend the entire game inside of the cave (unless there's some later twist that I'm unaware of), characters come to you asking for guidance, and the only answers you can give are in the form of constellations you draw in the stars. Each constellation has one or two general meanings attached to it, like "heart" or "gold" or "caution" or whatever, but each character will interpret those meanings in their own way, so ultimately the goal is to try and read their personality and give the answer that you think they'll interpret in the way you desire. Or just give bullshit star readings and see how it affects the world.

I tested it out a bit and so far I like the atmoshpere and the concept of the game – you make divinations out of star constellations. But it's not so much a puzzle game where you try to uncover some hidden meaning in the stars. You mostly just make stuff up, trying out different constellations each time.
The important thing is – you give no context or interpretation, just the name of a constellation you "saw" (like Hurricane, Frog, Sword, Moose etc.), so it all falls down on the person asking you to interpret the meaning. And that proves a problem...

Some "divinations" seem obvious – you can tell whether they will give good or bad outcomes for the villagers. Others are complete guesswork. So you can make up random fortune or try to steer the tribe to a certain outcome – either way it's gonna be hard to anticipate how will the villagers interpret your "wisdom".
Im gonna give a short example. The village chiefs right hand approached me asking should he trust the chief with making the right decisions. I just gave him a "Frog". He interpreted it as a sign that he should take matters in his own hand and seize his destiny... whatever that means.

The only thing I'm worried about is that the constellations have a finite number (there is only so much you can see up there) and after half an hour of playing my cave wall (where all constellations you uncovered are recorded) was half full. Wheter something changes and you will later get some new mechanics remains to be seen (the sceenshots show some kind of bone throwing, which may spice things up in the later game?).

Still the game is highly original and has a great atmosphere, ideal for long, quiet night sessions, and that in itself is enough to get me invested.

So after watching the trailer, you the player are actually the liar? o_O

There is a bit more ambiguity as to that. It is implied, but there are also other liars in the game. I haven't made it far, just fooled around with it to see if it tickles my fancy. Though personally I think that it is not that the player is a liar (that of course depends on you), rather you try doing your best, but are in the end quite literally fumbling in the dark.

From what I gather, this game swims in ambiguity. The same things have vastly different meaning to various people. Everything depends on the context at hand. The dev's have done a good job in giving you that feeling.

Loving the artwork and artdesign. Pricing seems fair/reasonable as well. Definitely will keep this one in my sights and hoping we might get some buyer reviews on its store page eventually

the designs are decent.....its very endearing...at least to me.

It looks amazing, if writing and gameplay are as good as it looks I'm looking forward to play this!

Interesting concept. Wishlisted.

Thank you for this nice explanation. Very interesting. :)

Thanks for the information on the gameplay everyone. Sounds pretty interesting.

For those interested in the game, I found a review by Rock Paper Shotgun's Katherine Castle which seems to drive home two central points:

- "While the advice you give does have an effect on some of Grotto's more minor storylines, the overall thrust of the narrative follows the same handful of beats on every playthrough, robbing your choices of some of their power."

- "Still, even if you only play Grotto once, what it has to say about the limitations of language and the meaning of words will stick with you long after you reach the end credits."

In the comments section, she also says:

"Heaven's Vault involves a lot more active translation of the alien language, and using your knowledge to expand your understanding of words and phrases to tackle more complex sentences. Grotto's scope is much narrower. You only ever have to think about the meaning of these 24 symbols, but the way they change isn't nearly as organic as HV. It's much more prescribed by the circumstances of the story rather than your own understanding of it.

In fact, Heaven's Vault is probably exactly what people should play if they like the language aspect of Grotto, but want a proper branching narrative game with meaningful choice and consequences like I mention at the end!"

No idea if this reflects the experiences of the people around here who've already played the game, but maybe this will help some other people who might be interested in the game.

Actually that sounds like an awesome plot twist. Like we know we don't know anything but we try our best to help people even when we're bullshitting around.