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Crafting and cooking turn the raw goods gathered from Farming and Fishing and Mining into useful products. Processing and crafting are tied directly to the investigation: the player discovers and crafts precious items to ward off whatever is stalking the town.
Processing Raw Goods
Harvested crops and gathered materials can be refined through several processing methods rather than only sold raw. Confirmed processing options include milling, juicing, and fermentation, which turn produce into higher value goods. Ore mined from the ground can be smelted at Jade's forge into ingots for use in crafting.
Crafting Items
The player can craft a range of items from gathered and processed materials. Examples shown in early gameplay include thread, flasks, preserves such as jam made from harvested fruit, and a crowbar used for investigation. Some crafted items are precious wares meant to ward off the supernatural threat plaguing the town.
Cooking
Cooking turns crops and gathered ingredients into prepared dishes that can be eaten by the player, gifted to residents, or used in quests. Recipes seen in early hands-on coverage include falafel, a confirmed cookable dish. Not every resident is a chef themselves: Aria, the local musician, is one named character explicitly unable to bake.
Occult Uses
Harvested items in Grave Seasons have a wider role than usual for a farming sim. According to the developers, the same crops and gathered materials can become food, gifts, crafting ingredients, or occult components, the last category folding directly into how the player resists the supernatural threat plaguing Ashenridge.
Crafting And The Investigation
Crafting is part of staying safe and getting to the truth. Each month brings a fresh threat, and the player has only a limited window to craft the right countermeasure before the next killing. It is down to the player's investigation skills to identify the next victim and save more blood from being spilled, and crafted items are part of that effort. The crowbar in particular is a crafted tool used to break into locked spaces while searching for clues. See Investigation and Clues and The Murder Mystery.