Mythologies around the world tell of guides who ferry souls to the afterlife. In Shadow’s Grove, a DigiPen student action-adventure game, players take on the role of one such “spirit farer” named Astrid. But there’s a twist: the soul you must guide this time belongs to your own recently fallen wolf companion, joining you for one final, emotional journey.
The impressive new game project is the work of Fenris Games, a 36-student team who spent three semesters imagining, building, and refining the project during their junior and senior years. Now available on Steam, Shadow’s Grove stands as the polished culmination of their collaboration. The game has already earned accolades, winning the 2025 Music Award in the Game Audio Network Guild’s Student Game Music and Sound Design Competition.
We sat down to chat about the newly released student game with a few members of Fenris Games, including Brandon Hsu (Technical Director), Canon Coker (Associate Producer), Harrison Neiyer (Producer and Gameplay Programmer), Nick Saether (Audio Director), and El Heitmann (Narrative Designer). Tune in for insight into the development of the ambitious project and a dive into the team’s inspiration behind their characters and their world set between life and death.