A graveyard simulator, a story of epitaphs, a tale of ghosts that haunt, a game with no goal all valid descriptions of Boon Hill.
To put it as simply as possible, Boon Hill is a game about reading gravestones. There might be a few other elements and things you can do, but the bulk of the game is just walking through a graveyard, reading epitaphs and thinking about who these people were and never will be again.
it might be hard to imagine why someone would want to play a game about walking through a graveyard. Have you ever done that? Just walked through a graveyard and spent time examining all the different gravestones and what's written there? You should if you haven't.
The gameplay is simple: you move around and examine things. The most obvious things being the headstones, of course. You can also interact with any NPCs you might encounter.
But How Do You Win?
The game itself has no win scenario. As the protagonist you'll start with a specific gravestone you're looking for, but finding it won't end the game. Looking at every gravestone once won't end the game. Doing everything there possibly is to do won't end the game. The game ends when you decide to leave the graveyard. The experience is yours. It isn't dictated by some preset guidelines.
Can You Lose?
The game has no lose scenario either. There is nothing threatening the player. No zombies bursting up from the graves and no vampires hidden deep in the mausoleums. The gravedigger is not digging a grave for you and it's impossible to be buried alive. There's nothing to be afraid of at Boon Hill, except perhaps your own mortality, despite what some NPCs might tell you.
Though they do say you should never fall asleep in a graveyard.
Discover Mystery in the Graveyard
I don't want to imply the game is aimless. Boon Hill is about inferred stories, about the connections people have that continue even after they die. The graveyard tells many tales woven by those who've long since passed on: stories of love, life, sorrow, and joy, told over generations.
The threads of narrative are woven throughout the gravestones for you to discover, if you have the inkling to look. A row of graves all with the same last name, most of them having died very young, suggests a specific set of circumstances. An epitaph that reads 'Survived by no one' is dour, yes, but clearly someone carried out their last wishes. Here, people are tied together by something as simple as similar birth dates, the places they were born or died, and even the styles of their grave markers. Subtle stories abound in the rows of stone.
