Gray Skies, Dark Waters

[b]I hear a lark, The woods are dark, I put my fingers on the bark. I like these trees, They're near the sea, I like the way they set me free. I ask them why, I sometimes cry, When the silver moon is in the sky. But they don't say, They never say, And so I always go away.[/b] I love story driven games, and this one was set in a fictional small town in Virginia known as Avett's Landing. The game even reminded me of Life is Strange at times, especially as it went on to uncover more details to add to the story. Visually the game is great, nothing mind-blowing but that's because every scene is a hand-drawn painting like you'd expect from your kids' book illustrations, which really add to the overall theme of the game. Nothing but the character in the game are something that moves, everything else is just still in a painting, so I'd suggest seeing gameplay of couple minutes before picking it up. To me, I didn't even know it was going to be like that when I bought it since I went in blind, and while it did put me off for a bit upon discovering that when I launched the game, that feeling went away quicker than it came and I ended up appreciating the artwork in this amazing story. Coming to soundtrack, this game kept me satisfied through and through in that regard. There's a very very nice variety of instrumentals playing in background in the entirety of the game, even when someone is talking, it's playing in background but it is never intrusive at all; if anything, it actually soothes you down while you learn new twists and such throughout the game. And when you finish the game, there's one song plays that made me want to see through the credits happily because it was that good, I'd definitely suggest checking out the OST for this game, I bought the Deluxe Edition of the game from Steam so I received the Art Book as well as the Soundtrack of the game; I'd suggest you do the same since it's not that much more expensive at all. Now comes to the strongest point of this game, story. Without it the game wouldn't have fared well at all, which is true for majority of the titles out there but personally for me, in a point and click game like this, if I wasn't delivered a decent story then I would've been sorely disappointed. But alas, that wasn't the case here. It starts off light which reminds me a bit of a recently played indie title, Virginia, since the story revolves around a missing person -- but as you play it a bit more, interact with things, talk to other characters, some twists starts to come out that you wouldn't have been expecting at all, I really was just thinking this was going to end up like something what I experienced from Gone Home since that was also set in the house and told the story by interacting with objects around the house, but nope. In favor of not spoiling it for anyone, I won't go into details of the twists but I will say it, just when you think you had it all figured out because you're smarty pants like that with the twists, they throw you another one in the end to mess up the whole theory you had in mind, leaving you a choice in the game to make the decision of what you thought of all the information that you came to know, which opens a few options to your imaginations but I really liked the one I picked, which we can discuss in comments if anyone else has played the game already with appropriate spoiler tags mentioned. This baby was made by a small but talented team that was formed out of University of Virginia, and this was also their debut title, the guys behind it are Green Willow Games. Hell, they even used the 'personal edition 'of Unity to make this game, which was quite fun and made me share it with a friend of mine freshly getting into CS and interested in working with games as a hobby, tools like these really gives masses the freedom to play around with their creativity. This game just proves it once again, you do not really need state of the art gameplay or realistic graphics to make a great game, as long as you have a right story to go along, it can really deliver a fulfilling experience, which is what indie games are really all about for the most part. This is a slow paced game, so if you are into sitting back and spend 2-3hrs of your time for an 'experience' instead of playing war simulators like CoD, Battlefield and such, then you're in for a treat. Instead of watching a few episodes of your favorite TV show, you can spend playing this game instead and will walk away with an experience that is told through some of the best movies out there, I know I did and I definitely recommend this game, it's super cheap to pick up on Steam and with specs that doesn't even require a dedicated GPU to run, anyone and everyone can afford to play this game and be content with it.

Disclaimer: I was a beta tester for this game. I really liked GSDW. It's a nicely drawn and well voice-acted story-driven exploration focusing on the emotional relations of the characters. The objects strewn around do a wonderful job setting the backdrop of a believable family, and all the quirks and joys and hardships of living together. With different endings depending on how you interact, it has solid replay value, and you get to decide how you'd like the story to go. Looking forward to more fantastic games from the crew at Green Willow!

How did I clock the twist within the first 15 minutes? While the themes of mental illness were interesting, I do feel like the plot revolving around Vivian was predictable once you catch on to the first few context clues. The foreshadowing was as subtle as a red hot brick, and the weird audio quality often threw me for a loop. It was an alright read, but hopefully this studio improves on those aspects as they do have potential.

[b]Este juego nos mete de lleno en la vida de los Garrett, una familia marcada por la pérdida, que tendrá que recomponer sus piezas para finalmente seguir adelante. Claro que antes ayudaría saber exactamente qué les pasó.[/b] Análisis completo publicado [url=https://www.simpatiaporlacritica.com/single-post/2017/06/09/Gray-Skies-Dark-Waters]aquí[/url] La vida de Lina Garrett, nuestra protagonista, marchaba igual que la de cualquier adolescente en edad escolar, hasta que un día su madre se marchó inexplicablemente y nunca más supo de ella. El único sospechoso en la causa fue su propio padre, pero ante la falta de pruebas fue exonerado y la Policía concluyó que Vivian Garrett simplemente abandonó a su familia. A un año de aquel terrible acontecimiento, Lina buscará encontrar las respuestas que tanto necesitan ella y sus hermanos. En la misma línea de grandes juegos como Gone home, To The Moon o Dear Esther, Gray Skies, Dark Waters (en adelante GSDW) tiene un fuerte contenido narrativo que le da forma -y fuerza- a toda la trama. El trabajo literario es minucioso y fresco, sin sobrecargas en el lenguaje que distraigan ni lugares comunes que aburran. La historia de los Garrett es sólida y con mucho material para sumergirnos en ella. De acuerdo a nuestras decisiones, o mejor dicho de nuestras opciones de diálogo, el juego tendrá diversos finales, algunos más felices que otros, pero sin duda todos satisfacen al jugador (¿o lector?) de igual manera. El apartado gráfico es correcto, por supuesto que no está a la altura del nivel del guión pero no desentona con los climas que propone la historia: paisajes dibujados a mano, con referencias oníricas y una gran variedad de matices. La decisión de diseñar a la protagonista en 3D quizás resulte un poco confusa, más que nada teniendo en cuenta la gran calidad de los dibujos, pero es algo bastante común en aventuras gráficas de antaño y algunas modernas también. La interfaz es sencilla y agradable, con una opción "fast travel" que les ahorrará a los ansiosos varios minutos de caminatas. Si tenemos que marcar un aspecto de GSDW que desentona con el resultado final del juego, sin duda tenemos que hablar de las voces. El problema no es en la actuación, sino más bien en la calidad de grabación y diferencias notorias de volumen entre una línea y otra (a veces en el mismo diálogo) lo cuál nos lleva a pensar si no era más saludable dejar los diálogos escritos. La música, por otra parte es simplemente brillante: evoca matices folclóricos con pasajes de verdadero encanto. Después del guión, sin duda es lo mejor del juego. La jugabilidad resultará familiar para quienes estén acostumbrados a las aventuras gráficas, aunque la focalización de los puzzles siempre estará más dirigida a develar trama que a descubrir objetos. En ese aspecto está más emparentado con los walking simulator, aunque tiene algunos momentos de aventura gráfica clásica. Dicho esto, resulta obvio que la dificultad no es muy elevada, aunque queda claro que esa es la intención de la desarrolladora. El objetivo principal de este juego es contar una historia que tenemos que descubrir. Recomendamos este título para quienes aman la lectura, un buen libro de misterio, con pizcas sobrenaturales y gran desarrollo de personajes. Siempre es una buena noticia encontrar juegos que desafíen las reglas sobre lo que se considera "divertido" o "aburrido". Sumérjanse en este pueblo de Virginia y déjense sorprender.

Wow, I just realised that it only has 20 reviews. Play this thing if you like point & clicky games and walking sims that actually have story. It's a perfect autumn melancholy game.

Неторопливая, странная немного по визуалу, но почему-то затягивающая история в жанре симулятора ходьбы. Начинаем с исчезновения матери главной героини, но из расследования сюжет перетекает в мистическую сказку. До конца непонятно, есть ли все-таки в сюжете мистика, но мне кажется - да, есть. Интересно было искать разные детали истории и собирать воедино эту сюжетную головоломку. Хорошая игра, хотя и хотелось бы, чтобы главная героиня побыстрее ходила, и персонажи были отрисованы поаккуратнее. Простота стиля локаций понравилась, создавала настоящее ноябрьское настроение, а вот фигурки персонажей давали нехорошие ассоциации с квестами нулевых. 8/10 https://youtu.be/i_TbsAVftdQ

I tend to have a love for games that are or have scenes that are quiet and contemplative where you just hang around and interact with the cast to learn more about them and/or explore and interact with things that has the protag reminisce about things and/or flesh out the characters and world as well. For example the home base stuff in the new Wolfensteins, a good chunk of Life is Strange, the hubs in Shadowruns Dragonfall and Hong Kong, and the last level of the PS2 horror game Rule of Rose. Lulls in the action like that can really lend themselves to nice character moments and really immerse me in the setting. Gray Skies, Dark Waters is just a whole game of those types of scenes, it's a somber, meditative game about a family dealing with the loss of a loved one under mysterious circumstances. The Garett family live in the fictional Virginian town of Avett's Landing on the Chesapeake. Their lives are irrevocably changed when the mother, Vivian, mysteriously disappears. The game begins a year after the event and you play as the eldest sibling, Lina. Lina is still trying to search for answers, though it's up to the player to decide what Lina thinks what happened and how avid she is in her search. She has been looking out for her younger two sisters and brother, the moody Violet, the outgoing Merle, and the bookish Gus in the interim as her father did not take the disappearance very well and has become more distant to his children as he retreats into his work. As Lina search brings her to a possible explanation the player will have to decide whether it’s mundane or possibly something more… The gameplay is mainly dialogue choices and exploration. There technically is an inventory system but you only really use it to open new dialogue with Lina's family. The dialogue choices you make do indeed matter and you can get wildly different endings depending on how you played Lina, i.e. I played her as mostly convinced that her mom was dead and she supported her siblings through it all but you can a get a tonally different ending than mine. The game gives you a to do list of main objectives as well as sidequests essentially, which are usually finding an item and talking to Lina’s family about it. The starting area is the Garett House, but the game will also take you to a forest park and a beach walkway. The game’s environmental art and soundtrack are quite good, really setting the game’s melancholy tone. Now there are some rough aspects that show its very modest budget, namely the character models and VA recording quality. The character models don’t look too hot, like something out of a budget Euro adventure game from the 2000’s, though you’ll only really get a good look at Lina or Gus because I think Green Willow know the models looked jank because the perspective when talking with Violet and Merle is more zoomed out. The voice actors actually do good work, it’s just that its clear they didn’t have the best recording setup as volume can tend to fluctuate and they added an echo effect to all of Lina’s thoughts which can be a bit grating. The game’s writing succeeds at being affectively pensive, bittersweet, and forlorn. Lina’s got a lot of things to say about her family, her house, and the town around her and it really builds a strong picture of the cast. The game’s plot isn’t some big bombastic adventure even though there may be some supernatural elements if you allow it, it’s a character piece all about coping with loss and trying to move on with life. Green Willow listed Gone Home and Kentucky Route Zero as inspirations and it definitely shares some of their heart. Overall with its writing and atmosphere Gray Skies, Dark Water has an elegiac beauty to it. Gray Skies, Dark Waters may be unpolished in some ways but ultimately it still shines and it’s definitely a strong start for a team that didn’t have all that much experience making games beforehand. (Biggest example being is that it was made in Unity Personal) It’s a quiet and unassuming game and that’s probably one of the reasons it got utterly ignored in a year with so many rockstar titles. Give it a chance, it might just stick with you too.

Gray Skies, Dark Waters zostało zrealizowane przy niewielkich nakładach finansowych, co w szczególności zdradza oprawa audiowizualna, acz kolorystyka plansz podkreśla klimat snutej tu opowieści. Niezaprzeczalnym atutem produkcji jest za to fabuła, a dopracowanie warstwy narracyjnej objawia się nawet w pozornie nieistotnych hotspotach. Ta prosta pod względem mechaniki przygodówka prezentuje wnikliwy i refleksyjny obrazek z życia pewnej amerykańskiej rodziny, która mieszka w małym miasteczku i boryka się ze zniknięciem najbliższej osoby. Gracz zaś, kierując jedną z członkiń tejże familii, próbuje dociec, jaka tajemnica kryje się za owym wydarzeniem. Doceniam również obecność kilku zakończeń, a więcej na temat tytułu napisałam w [url=http://crouschynca.blogspot.com/2017/06/gray-skies-dark-waters-recenzja.html]recenzji na moim blogu[/url].