Gray Dawn (video game)

Last updated
Gray Dawn
Developer(s) Interactive Stone
Publisher(s) Interactive Stone
Engine Unreal Engine 4
Platform(s) Windows
ReleaseJune 7, 2018
Genre(s) Survival horror
Mode(s) Single-player

Gray Dawn is a survival horror game from Romanian independent game studio Interactive Stone. It was released on June 7, 2018. The game is a psychological thriller infused with religious elements and revolves around Father Abraham, a priest who is trying to find the missing altar boy.

Contents

Gameplay

The gameplay is survival horror from a first-person perspective. The player takes the role of the protagonist, Father Abraham and explores the scenes by walking around and clicking on certain objects. The game features voice-overs and subtitles to convey the story and the player has the option to listen to recordings to learn more about it. In order to advance through the story, the player has to solve some puzzles and can optionally collect seven images of Christ. Depending on whether the player found all seven images or not, there are two different endings to discover.

Plot

The game is set on Christmas Eve in 1920. Father Abraham has to solve several mysteries at once, starting with the disappearance of altar boy David. It is implied that Father Abraham has killed several children and he has to find evidence in order to save himself from wrongful persecution. In dream-like sequences, Abraham finds more clues in a world from David and finally uncovers what really happened. Father Abraham has to piece these clues together in order to prove his innocence — if he is innocent.

Development

The game has been in development since 2015, and after a failed Kickstarter campaign with only €2,542 of the €50,000 goal, [1] it was released on June 7, 2018 for PC. The Bucharest-based games incubator/accelerator Carbon offered development funding for Gray Dawn and they also helped with mentorship as well as support with PR/Marketing. [2] On July 13, 2018, an update was released including a German as well as a Romanian and Hungarian translation. On 28th of april 2024 the game was released on ps4 and ps5 [3]

Reception

The game received mixed or average reviews.

Gray Dawn received a rating of 5/5 stars on digitallydownloaded.net with reviewer Ginny W. saying, "The real strength of Gray Dawn lies far from its decent controls, its ability to run economically on a PC whilst looking amazing, and its employment of psychological horror tropes to get your heart rate up. This game peers at the line between portraying real life religion in a game and using it as artful commentary, and completely obliterates it." [6]

The Overpowered Noobs gave a rating of 7/10 and noted that, "Gray Dawn calls itself a horror title, a psychological thriller, and it certainly has elements of that, but it lacks the running, being hunted, and overall villain that many games in the same genre have." [7]

Gamespace.com praised the "engaging story with twists", but criticized the voice acting, religious iconography, and the character model design, while saying, "Gray Dawn is true to its description of being a psychological thriller with religious elements, but it can’t seem to focus in on which religious elements it wants to portray." [8]

Related Research Articles

<i>Heroes of Might and Magic III</i> 1999 video game

Heroes of Might and Magic III: The Restoration of Erathia is a turn-based strategy game developed by Jon Van Caneghem through New World Computing originally released for Microsoft Windows by The 3DO Company in 1999. Its ports to several computer and console systems followed in 1999–2000. It is the third installment of the Heroes of Might and Magic series.

<i>Sanitarium</i> (video game) 1998 video game

Sanitarium is a psychological horror point-and-click adventure video game that was originally released for Microsoft Windows. It was developed by DreamForge Intertainment and published by ASC Games in 1998. It was a commercial success, with sales of around 300,000 units. In 2015, it was ported to iOS and Android devices.

<i>Sunless Sea</i> 2015 video game

Sunless Sea is a survival/exploration role-playing video game with roguelike elements developed by Failbetter Games. The game was released on 6 February 2015 for Windows and OS X following a successful Kickstarter campaign to crowdfund the project. The game takes place in the universe of Failbetter's browser adventure game Fallen London, in which Victorian-era London has been moved beneath the Earth's surface to the edge of the Unterzee, a vast underground ocean. On 11 October 2016, the game's first downloadable content Zubmariner was released, which allows players to explore beneath the surface of the "zee". A sequel, Sunless Skies, was announced in September 2016. It surpassed its funding goals on Kickstarter and was released on 31 January 2019.

<i>Penumbra: Overture</i> 2007 video game

Penumbra: Overture is the first in a series of episodic survival horror games developed by Frictional Games. The game follows a physicist named Philip who travels to Greenland after his mother's death and is forced to explore an abandoned mine. Penumbra: Overture received average reception from critics.

<i>Outcry</i> (video game) 2008 video game

Outcry is a first person psychological thriller point-and-click adventure video game developed by Phantomery Interactive, released for the PC by Noviy Disk May 22, 2008 in Russia, and by The Adventure Company September 3 in the US.

An adventure game is a video game genre in which the player assumes the role of a protagonist in an interactive story, driven by exploration and/or puzzle-solving. The genre's focus on story allows it to draw heavily from other narrative-based media, such as literature and film, encompassing a wide variety of genres. Most adventure games are designed for a single player, since the emphasis on story and character makes multiplayer design difficult. Colossal Cave Adventure is identified by Rick Adams as the first such adventure game, first released in 1976, while other notable adventure game series include Zork, King's Quest, Monkey Island, Syberia, and Myst.

<i>Pillars of Eternity</i> 2015 video game

Pillars of Eternity is a 2015 role-playing video game developed by Obsidian Entertainment and published by Paradox Interactive for Windows, OS X, and Linux. The game is a spiritual successor to the Baldur's Gate and Icewind Dale series, along with Planescape: Torment. Obsidian started a crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter for it in September 2012, raising over US$4 million. The game uses the Unity engine.

<i>S.T.A.L.K.E.R.</i> Video game franchise

S.T.A.L.K.E.R. is a first-person-shooter survival horror video game franchise developed by Ukrainian game developer GSC Game World. The series is set in an alternate version of the present-day Chernobyl Exclusion Zone in Ukraine, where, according to the series' backstory, a mysterious second Chernobyl disaster took place in 2006. As a result, the physical, chemical, and biological processes in the area were altered, spawning numerous nature-defying anomalies, artifacts, and mutants. The player takes the role of a "stalker" - a name given to trespassers and adventurers who have come to explore the exclusion zone and its strange phenomena.

<i>Until Dawn</i> 2015 video game

Until Dawn is a 2015 interactive drama horror game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. Players assume control of eight young adults who have to survive on Blackwood Mountain when their lives are threatened. The game features a butterfly effect system in which players must make choices that may change the story. All playable characters can survive or die, depending on the choices made. Players explore the environment from a third-person perspective and find clues that may help solve the mystery.

<i>Darkest Dungeon</i> 2016 video game

Darkest Dungeon is a roguelike role-playing video game developed and published by Red Hook Studios. The game was first released for Microsoft Windows and OS X in January 2016, which followed a year-long early access development period. Later that year, it was released for PlayStation 4, PlayStation Vita, and Linux, with a port for iOS being released in 2017, and ports for Nintendo Switch and Xbox One being released by 2018.

<i>Whispering Willows</i> 2014 video game

Whispering Willows is an indie adventure horror video game developed by independent developer Night Light Interactive for Ouya in May 2014.

<i>Thimbleweed Park</i> 2017 video game

Thimbleweed Park is a point-and-click adventure game developed by Ron Gilbert and Gary Winnick for Linux, macOS, Windows, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, iOS, Nintendo Switch, Android, and Amazon Luna. The game was revealed on November 18, 2014, along with a Kickstarter crowd-funding campaign with a goal of US$375,000, and was released on March 30, 2017.

<i>The Park</i> (video game) 2015 video game

The Park is a first-person psychological horror video game developed and published by Funcom. The game was released for Microsoft Windows via Steam on October 27, 2015 and is a spin-off of an earlier Funcom game, The Secret World. It was released for PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on May 3, 2016 and Nintendo Switch on October 22, 2019. It was released in Japan on September 24, 2020. The game takes place in the Atlantic Island Park that closed in 1980 for mysterious reasons that are gradually revealed throughout the game.

<i>Hard West</i> 2015 video game

Hard West is a turn-based tactical game developed by CreativeForge Games and published by Gambitious Digital Entertainment. It was released digitally on November 18, 2015, for Microsoft Windows, OS X and Linux, and was released for the Nintendo Switch on March 7, 2019. A sequel, Hard West 2, was released in August 2022.

<i>The Town of Light</i> 2016 video game

The Town of Light is a psychological horror adventure game developed by LKA and published by Wired Productions. It was released for PC on February 26, 2016 and PlayStation 4 and Xbox One on June 6, 2017. On February 1, 2018, a Nintendo Switch version was confirmed. This version was released on February 7, 2020.

<i>The Inpatient</i> 2018 video game

The Inpatient is a psychological horror video game developed by Supermassive Games and published by Sony Interactive Entertainment for PlayStation 4 and its virtual reality headset PlayStation VR. The game was released in January 2018.

<i>Twin Mirror</i> 2020 video game

Twin Mirror is a 2020 adventure game by Dontnod Entertainment. Co-produced with Shibuya Productions, the game was released for PlayStation 4, Windows, and Xbox One on 1 December 2020. It received mixed reviews from critics.

<i>Someday Youll Return</i> 2020 video game

Someday You'll Return is a psychological horror video game developed by Czech company CBE Software. The game follows the protagonist Daniel in the search for his daughter in Moravian forests. The game features Czech realities, such as tourist signs, the Czech landscape and natural monuments. It is dubbed in English, initially with the possibility of Czech or English subtitles.

<i>Maid of Sker</i> (video game) 2020 survival horror video game

Maid of Sker is a 2020 first-person survival horror game developed and published by Wales Interactive. The game is set in 1898 in the Sker Hotel, on an imaginary island called Sker Island. The protagonist, Thomas Evans, is invited by his lover, Elisabeth Williams, to uncover the mysteries of the hotel after she notices her family's strange behavior. While exploring the hotel, Thomas learns cult followers called "The Quiet Ones" control the place. He finds notes and gramophone records scattered around the hotel that reveal the history of Elisabeth's family.

<i>Saint Kotar</i> 2021 video game

Saint Kotar is a psychological horror detective point & click adventure game with branching storylines and multiple endings, set in a hand-painted world. Developed by Croatian independent studio Red Martyr Entertainment and published by Soedesco, it was released for Microsoft Windows on October 28, 2021, Mac and Linux on September 2, 2022 and consoles, in both digital and physical forms, on November 22, 2022.

References

  1. ↑ "Gray Dawn by Interactive Stone - Kickstarter". Kickstarter. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  2. ↑ "Gray Dawn - Carbon Incubator". Carbon. Archived from the original on November 1, 2020. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  3. ↑ "Gray Dawn UPDATE!". Steam. 13 July 2018. Retrieved 2018-07-15.
  4. ↑ "Gray Dawn for PC - GameRankings". GameRankings . Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  5. ↑ "Gray Dawn for PC Reviews". Metacritic . CBS Interactive . Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  6. ↑ "Review: Gray Dawn (PC) - Digitally Downloaded". digitallydownloaded.net. Archived from the original on August 2, 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  7. ↑ "Gray Dawn Review - OPN". theoverpowerednoobs. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
  8. ↑ "Our Review of Gray Dawn - Gamespace.com". Gamespace.com. 26 June 2018. Retrieved July 3, 2018.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.