The Night Is Grey Review – Point, Click, Run from the Wolves
The Night Is Grey by Whalestork Interactive
The Night Is Grey is a traditional point-and-click adventure game following Graham, an unfortunate man lost in a dark forest with a pack of wolves on his tail.
He soon stumbles across a young child called Hannah, seemingly left alone in the woodland cabin she calls home. Together they set out to get to the child’s grandparents and to safety.
The Night is Grey features all of the staples of classic point-and-click adventures: a combination of carefully crafted animations, appealing location art, exploration, slow-burn narrative, and puzzles. Graham himself is a well-conceived protagonist, conveying a kind of weariness coupled with an awkward but charming sense of humor that feels recognizable in the circumstances he faces.
The puzzles in The Night Is Grey follow a familiar pattern for fans of the genre. Most depend on finding items and often combining them in the inventory to craft the necessary tools to progress.
Point-and-Click Perks and Quirks
There are some quirky little moments where the game pokes fun at itself (or its genre); at one point, I needed a pen to leave a note and resorted to seeking charcoal from the fireplace; Graham thought about it but decided it was absurd and that he should just find an actual pen like a sensible person.
The puzzles are largely straight forward and the game has the kindness to provide hints here and there when the challenge ramps up. It’s always possible to bring up an overlay showing all of the objects on screen that can be interacted with, which helps when trying to figure out where to go next.
One small niggle with the interface is that the inventory drops down from the top when the mouse cursor is there, and some objects of note occupy the same space, making it fiddly to click on them without instead opening the inventory.
Grey, Grim, and Gorgeous
The story itself is well-paced and unfolds slowly. It mixes a sense of danger with just enough levity to remain inviting while a dark undertone builds in the background, suggesting things are not all as they seem and awful truths wait to be discovered.
It crafts a somber atmosphere that serves to keep the story compelling even during its slower segments.
The Night is Grey is beautiful to look at; the animation is exquisite and the attention to detail is worthy of respect. Little details like Graham dropping a match into water only for it to sizzle at his feet help to enrich the presentation enormously.
The location art is also excellent, providing an array of atmospheric places to explore and puzzle through. This is all backed up with a solid soundtrack that offers a range of eerie ambiance to serve the setting.
The Verdict:
The Night is Grey is a worthy entry in the point-and-click adventure genre, providing a beautifully crafted world and engaging characters to explore.
The art is stunning from top to bottom, and it’s used to good effect to present an appealing but dark world that serves as an absorbing backdrop to the adventure of traveling through its titular night.
The Night Is Grey is available via Steam.
Watch the trailer for The Night Is Grey below:
