When comparing Grave vs Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead, the Slant community recommends Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead for most people. In the question“What are the best single player & open world survival-horror games on the PC with a focus on base building?” Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead is ranked 2nd while Grave is ranked 19th. The most important reason people chose Cataclysm Dark Days Ahead is:
Get taken back to when games were completely made of ascii letters and your imagination. Venture forth as an @ and survive the wild. With the classic ascii art, it is hard to ignore that this is not a graphical powerhouse, but of course that is part of the fun, allowing your imagination to fill in this void.
Specs
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Pros
Pro Surrealist world that changes every night
The world changes on every passing night giving the game a unique and original twist.
Pro Light based fighting
All weapons in game are light based and used to fight darkness.
Pro Day and night cycle
There is a day/night cycle in Grave, with the night time events being different in that there are new regions that are able to be explored as well as different dangers awaiting.
Pro Survive the Night Mode
Survive the Night Mode has been added as a gameplay option, though it does cost $10 currently.
Pro Oculus Rift support
There is built in support for the Oculus Rift.
Pro Classic computer gameplay that offers a lot of nostalgia
Get taken back to when games were completely made of ascii letters and your imagination. Venture forth as an @ and survive the wild. With the classic ascii art, it is hard to ignore that this is not a graphical powerhouse, but of course that is part of the fun, allowing your imagination to fill in this void.
Pro Open source and very moddable, making for a game that anyone can change to their liking
The mod community is pretty active on this game, and you can create some really cool things with the tools they already provide. This way anyone can change their game to how they like.
Pro Super involved gameplay that allows the user to dive deep into the mechanics of the game
Everything from weather to crafting to martial arts are accounted for in Cataclysm. You can spend hours mastering the depths of this games systems that allow you to play however you want.
Pro Being in constant active developed allows the game to constantly grow
Experimental releases exit a few times in a single day. Many people are working on finding bugs, and developers are quickly fixing them and adding new features. This makes for a situation where the game is constantly growing and improving.
Pro Free for anyone to download and try, which leave no one out
The game is free of cost as well as open-source, meaning that anyone can download the game, install it and play it.
Pro Graphics can be used instead of ASCII, for those that would enjoy something more visual
Not supported on every version of the game, but you can have a graphical experience if you want by using a graphical tileset for the game. This will need to be done manually.
Cons
Con Not released yet
Grave is not released yet with no publish date set. A demo is available to the backers of its Kickstarter.
Con Lacking hardcore survival feel
The game gets to be rather easy once you spend a little time with it. Basements full of everything one needs to survive in every other house, and stores that look like they were left as seem out of place since in a disaster scenario most items would probably have been taken already.
You can tweak the options to suit a more hardcore experience if you so desire. The options allow for a wide variety of difficulty and playstyles.
Con Difficult to learn at first
This could be a pro for some but for many this will turn them away from the game.