Grayout
| Category | Price | Seller | Device |
|---|---|---|---|
| Games | $2.99 | Mrgan LLC | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
“Grayout is exceptional as a game, as a compelling narrative, as an experiment in communication. It is simple, poignant, and horrifying.” —Gamezebo
Grayout is an aphasiac text game set in a medical dystopia. It’s a prequel to the censorship game Blackbar.
In Grayout, you play Alaine, a rebelious resident of the totalitarian community called The Neighborhood, who wakes up in a hospital research lab following an accident… or so she is told. The game is a series of conversations with hospital staff, made challenging by Alaine’s post-traumatic aphasia—a disorder that affects one’s ability to process language.
Grayout simulates the experience of having a word on the tip of your tongue, the frustration of knowing what you mean but not how to say it, the feeling of being overwhelmed by the runaway thoughts inside your head and struggling to reign them in.
This is a game for fans of text adventures, interactive fiction, word puzzles, story-driven games, and emotional simulations.
“Marvelous.” —The Guardian, The best iPhone and iPad apps of 2015
“Liked Blackbar? This is harder but also cleverer. Lots more feels too. Prepare your brain.” —Sam Barlow of 'Her Story'
We hope your stay in the Neighborhood Hospital is pleasant and brief. Get well.
Reviews
Well written but broken
jjthemick
Am interesting world and concept and I liked Blackbar- unfortunately there’s a game breaking bug that makes it impossible to progress past the (irritatingly obscure) “waiting for godot” reference. I checked a couple of walkthroughs, the “correct” answer doesn’t work, impossible to move forward...
Less than an hour of gameplay
Iceblurg
A very interesting concept, but the story is lazy, as it seems most of the effort went into the word play (which was often clever). Beyond that, it provided less than an hour of gameplay. To be fair, that may be because I had to look up instructions online. Not answers: instructions. The game provided none. Do I use all the words? Am I supposed to form grammatically correct sentences or just whatever gets my message across? Even with instructions, it was difficult to know what I was trying to say, what my response was supposed to be. Maybe I missed something, but this game was not worth the price it asks for. Bonus points for mentioning a polyamorous relationship though, I guess.
Not a recommendation of mine
hutchbrett
Logic isn’t great from clue to clue. No ability for hints, not really great leading. It ended up being mostly a waste of time and I’m deleting it without finishing because I’m so bored with it.
So rad
Mike Rundle
I love these style of games and this is incredibly good. Like a killer sci-fi novel set in a future you never want to live in.
maybe found a bug?
ingernet
On screen 33, the green one after Eston says he's a "slopoke," there's no dialog, only the word cloud. Is this intentional? Also, a hint about what the character is feeling would be nice in a future revision. nothing sophisticated, mind you, because of the word salad thing with the brain. but a single word like "confused" or "ouch" might be nice. other than that, rad game! nice work on this. thoughtful visual and sound design.
Way too short
snoop_z
Like its predecessor, blackbar, this is a great dystopian tale wrapped in a novel puzzle... but gameplay is way too short
Wonderful storytelling
Laydros
Games can exist purely for fun or challenge, but they can also be a new medium for storytelling. This game is an engaging method of telling a story, while still being fun and challenging. I have to admit to using a guide for 3 pages, but it was because it was like a book I couldn't put down. A couple of the phrases could be more accepting of slightly different order. Otherwise excellent. I hope we get more games like this and Blackbar.
A Satisfying Tale
Between Two Parks
Bravo to the developers! The mix and pacing of easy and difficult steps is very good. On several occasions I needed to put Grayout aside for a while in order to think of a different perspective. The challenge continues all the way to the ending credits.
Excellent prequel
kurtispj
A lot of fun. Got stuck a couple times, but went back to it the next day/brute forced the solution. There was a typo on the page with the doc's joke about estragon where he says "wuldn't". Also... When visiting the red-backed page with the allergic reaction at any time, went to a different page, if I then switched to a different app and back, the words would be shaking like the allergic scene. Thanks for making such a great follow up!
