The Night is Grey
Type: 2d, Point and click, Third Person, Mystery, Horror, Dark Themes, Mature.
Developers: Whalestork Interactive
Publishers: Whalestork Interactive
Date Released: 5th January 2024
“If you don’t behave, the wolves will come at night. They will take you away, as you scream. Do you hear me, you spoiled little brat?”
So begins this game with this less than cheery quote. Who this is and who they are speaking to we do not yet know. But it’s certainly intriguing and sets the tone for what’s to come in this dark, mystery adventure game. We then see a man who has just escaped out of the woods from what appear to be some hungry wolves. Seemingly safe now, he takes a breather but just then he sees a light flash just ahead. Exploring a little further, he comes across an isolated house. Upon entering the house, he is surprised to see a little girl holding what appears to be a rifle pointed directly at him. Her mother has gone out to the generator but has yet to return. After convincing the girl he is not a monster, he decides to set out and bring the girl to her grandparents and if possible find out what happened to her mother. However, that will be a lot easier said than done as this means they will have to go back through the forest and hopefully avoid those wolves and other dangers which may be present.
One of the things which makes this story work so well is the interaction and contrast between the two main characters. Graham is a grumpy man in his mid to late thirties who suffers from self-loathing whereas Hannah is an eight year old girl who one second is prone to a temper tantrum and another second can cheerfully call Graham weird. While this father figure – child relationship doesn’t reach the heady heights of The Walking Dead or The Last of Us, the game still does an excellent job of making us care about both characters. We want to help Graham get over whatever trauma he is going through and we also want to protect Hannah and help her get to safety to her grandparents. Whenever there is any hint of danger our hearts are in our mouths as we urge Graham to get back to Hannah as soon as humanly possible. This interaction is the heart of the story and it’s what drives our emotions throughout the game.
The other part of the story that worked well is the mystery. What is the deal with the mine? What has happened to all the wildlife? And why does Graham suffer from such self-loathing? The success of a mystery story hinges on its resolution. If this is unsatisfying then the whole plot unravels (I’m looking at you Lost!). Thankfully, in The Night is Grey the resolution is well thought out and makes sense. That said it may be divisive to some players but at least it wasn’t tacked on last minute. It makes you think about the characters and events they have gone through in a different light and is one of the reasons this game will stay in your memory long after playing it.
The game is a typical point and click with inventory and some logic puzzles. Some actions will require some quick reflexes when for example you need to start a generator. These sequences help to add variety to the gameplay but it may also be tough for people who don’t have good reflexes. Unfortunately, there is no way to skip these sequences and they don’t get any easier. Thankfully they aren’t very frequent and hopefully won’t cause people too much difficulty but it would have been nice to have a skip option after several failed attempts to avoid frustration. There is no way to make the character run but double clicking on an exit will fast travel. There is a handy optional hotspot highlighter if you want to make sure you don’t miss any items but it would have been nice for the name of the item to be displayed when hovering the cursor over the hotspot as it can be difficult to know exactly what the objects are.
Puzzles are a mixed bag as some are fun such as trying to get access past an electrified gate. This is a multi-tiered puzzle and also involves some relatively basic maths. In this puzzle you need to find out a certain number and then you need to figure out the correct combination to reach this number. This was challenging but fun to figure out and felt relevant to the story and is one of the better puzzles of recent years in adventure games.
Unfortunately there were a couple of puzzles that didn’t fit as well into the story and one section in particular which brought the enjoyment down somewhat. One such puzzle involves trying to figure out the correct combination while watching a threat appear on different screens. For me there wasn’t enough guidance and unlike the other previously mentioned puzzle this felt more tacked on and not as relevant to the story. A bigger issue however was one whole section which involves traipsing through a maze (Yes a maze!). I thought that maze puzzles had gone the way of the dodo but unfortunately this makes a return in this game. To make things worse if you take a wrong turn in this maze you will die and need to reload. I don’t mind death scenes in adventure games but once again this felt like it was tacked on to make the game artificially longer. You do have a map but this doesn’t include the full information you need to survive so you will need to rely on some trial and error. This was by far the most frustrating part of the game and I imagine some people may very well quit the game at this point which would be a shame.
Thankfully there were no issues at all with the art. This game features some gorgeous hand drawn backgrounds with beautiful colour palettes. This game also includes detailed expressions for the characters and some lovely animations. For example, every so often, Graham will sigh and wipe his glasses. As well as looking lovely, this also helps with character development. Another animation early on in the game sees Hannah comically marching out of the house behind him while Graham is cleaning his glasses telling her to stay in sight.
There is no voice acting which is a shame as good voice actors would have helped immerse the player further. That said it’s challenging to voice a child character well so poor voice overs would have detracted from the experience. We do hear some sounds such as Graham sighing and Hannah blowing on a whistle. The music however more than makes up for it with beautiful orchestral compositions. All of the music is perfectly evocative of the scene we are in and helps to emphasise the melancholic tone throughout the game. In every way the music really is a triumph.
While it may be very early to discuss games of the year it would be a surprise if this wasn’t in our top ten lists at the very least. While the maze is quite frustrating and some of the puzzles might not be very relevant to the story, it’s worth playing this game through to the end. With its well written story, gorgeous background and character art and beautiful orchestra and a well thought out ending this is sure to be one of the most memorable games of the year.
Pros:
Well written plot which holds your interest until the end.
Surprising and well thought out which makes you think about the game in a different way once complete.
Gorgeous character art, animations and backgrounds.
Some fun and challenging puzzles.
Nice contrast between two main characters.
Fast Travel & hotspot highlighter.
Beautiful melancholic music.
Cons
Some Puzzles not related to story.
Some quick reflexes needed for certain actions with no way to get around them.
Frustrating maze with possible death scenes.
Good voice acting may have helped immerse the player further.
Ending may be divisive.
No item descriptions when hovering cursor over hotspot.
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