Revision 1

Grave Seasons is built around a fixed calendar. Each playthrough covers one in-game year and ends with a defined conclusion, which works hand in hand with the randomized killer to make repeat playthroughs feel different. The title's reference to seasons reflects how central the calendar is to both farming and the murders.

One Year, Four Seasons

A playthrough lasts a single year divided into four seasons: Spring, Summer, Autumn, and Winter. Each season runs as its own month within that year. The season determines which crops can be grown, so the player's farming plans change as the months turn. See Farming for how growing is tied to the seasons.

Seasonal Murders

The calendar also paces the killings. As each season passes, the supernatural serial killer targets at least one victim, so the murders are spread across the year rather than happening all at once. With four seasons in a year, that works out to at least four potential victims across a single playthrough. The killer's choice of target depends on which character was drawn as the killer at the start of the run, and which residents the player has befriended along the way.

Each season gives the player a recurring window to investigate, gather clues, and try to protect the next person before time runs out. See The Murder Mystery and Investigation And Clues.

A Defined Ending

Because the year has a fixed length and a defined ending, each playthrough is a complete story. How that story resolves depends on the player's choices, including who lived, who died, and whether the killer was identified or influenced along the way. Once the year is over, the current save concludes; starting a new game draws a fresh killer from the subset of named residents, so the next run unfolds differently.