Gray Matter

I really enjoyed this game. The puzzles were fun, challenging at times but never so difficult that I had to pull up a walkthrough. The the story and characters were interesting, and the ending was done pretty well too. Definitely a hidden gem of a game.

Great game, glad I stumbled on it.

Livestream: https://youtube.com/live/AvgSw8tiY5Y I was recommended this game years ago by a few friends of mine and what they spoke about was how the one singing the main song of the game is also the daughter of one of the people who actually worked on the game. She's part of a emo-folk band called the "The Scarlet Furies" where they cover some of the songs, including Sam's song (the main character) which is really addictive and I bought off itunes: https://youtu.be/lJzU4j4ob5c?si=l0IsX2tLito-O48f So you play as this young woman named Sam who gets diverted on her way to London to learn about this mysterious "Daedalus Club" (which you learn is a secret magician society) but the home her bike breaks outside of, lives a scientist whose research digs into the paranormal as he attempts to connect to his late wife, who he claims to be seeing or getting messages from. Sam cons herself in, pretending to be an assistant sent by the local university so that she can have a roof over her head and pay off the repairs for her bike before finishing her journey to London, however, she soon learns that here in Oxford she's able to take part in a set of tasks to gain membership and attempts to learn who might be staging the events that happen at the same time as his experiments. Could they really be pranks? Who is causing them? And why? You also get to play as the doctor who is using his equipment to attempt to reach his wife, feeling certain that her presence is nearby and recording every event of her appearance. Her perfume suddenly in the air. Sightings of her walking around the house. Sounds of her humming and brushing her hair. Is this all in his head from the trauma or has he really contacted the dead? Is this some prank and if so, who is causing this? Unlike other games, this one has less "moon logic" in it than most games, though sometimes you are expected to check locations you had in the past for any changed and ways to fool people or get what you want requires that you use your magic! You have a book of magic tricks that explain how the trick works, even in the actual menu so that you are reminded, in what order and where to move the item in each step. This gets a little confusing as the instructions say "Your right hand" but the image you are look at of her is of her facing you, so you have to remember it's HER right hand. This is a little irritating tbh, but it's best to take your time as there's no time limit on setting up the trick and if you get it wrong, it removes the commands up to the last correct one, so you don't end up starting all the way over. A really helpful feature is that you can highlight all the interactive items in a location, which can be really helpful if you get stuck and you aren't certain if you need to interact with something or not or you might just want some fun dialog choices. The item combination is done a little differently, as it uses items because you have to add them to your hand first before using them either in the world or with another item in your inventory. It's different, but soon enough you get used to it and still manage to get through the game well. Being a fan of magic ever since I was a kid and when a little older, watching "The Masked Magician" I quite liked seeing how some of these tricks were performed, some were even ways to teach you how to do tricks that don't involve items or misdirection, but logic like the card game or the cups that emulate the shell game. This was a very enjoyable title and though I had some issues with it here and there and there was no fast-travel off the screen (but there is to all the different locations) it could get a bit annoying, but really, I enjoyed myself a lot with this game and enjoyed all the colourful characters that you encounter in it too!