14 DAY TRIAL // 
Gray Dawn is a “psychological thriller with religious elements” developed by a small studio called Interactive Stone. Although the game includes a fair share of gory scenes, I would definitely not put it in the horror genre since it misses lots elements.
I always thought that religion is a deeply intimate thing that everyone deals with it as he/she sees fit, but Gray Dawn goes all out on this theme and that's what makes it quite interesting. However, in an attempt to keep the audience hooked for the entire experience, Gray Dawn makes the mistake of overwhelming the player with religious symbols, pagan rituals and supernatural leitmotifs.
For someone who isn't interested in these topics, Gray Dawn won't say much, but even if you're mildly acquainted with these subjects the game doesn't make it easier to follow the narrative. Either way, if you plan to pick this one up, prepare for one hell of a ride since Gray Dawn is definitely an emotional roller-coaster no matter how religious you are.
In Gray Dawn, you play Father Abraham, a member of the Catholic Church living in England, who is accused of murdering seven children from a local orphanage, and the abduction of an eighth. But that's just an excuse since everything appearing in the game is related to the Orthodox Christianity and East European traditions that strongly blend with this specific religion.
As Father Abraham, you'll have to prove your innocence while trying to find out what happened with the missing children, including your own – David. Your adventure starts in an office at Father Abraham's manor, conveniently located near a cemetery and, of course, a small church.
Going forward, Gray Dawn aggressively toggles between reality and fiction, which wouldn't be an issue at all if the player would have been given some landmarks. It's like wondering the mind of a madman that has lucid moments, or the other way around, a sane person with glimpses of madness.
Gameplay-wise, Gray Dawn plays like a pure point-and-click adventure game. What makes it special is the unusual sheer of gory scenes that try to shock the player, and it most cases it succeeds. The puzzles are rather simple and make perfect sense most of the time, though there are moments when you don't really know what to do.
Father Abraham's investigation starts with the first “fiction moment” where he visits another world where he meets David, his guide for the entire journey. Since David is still missing in Abraham's mind, the priest is clearly driven by the will to solve the mystery of his disappearance. Soon after entering this lush landscape, you're warned that each such location that you'll visit throughout the game will contain a certain number of saint portraits that you'll have to find, which are very important.
Unfortunately, David's spirit doesn't know or wouldn't tell why these portraits from saints from the Orthodox iconography are important and why should you bother looking for them. On top of that, there's no way to return to a location to find a portrait that you missed, unless you load a save from the beginning of that chapter.
The game has two endings, so depending how you perform in the game you can experience the good or the not so good one. Still, I was expecting to be able to choose the outcome in the end, but it appears that Father Abraham's journey of redemption relies on your attention to details.
Gray Dawn is quite brutal when it depicts the evil behind Father Abraham's tragedy, but it's also equally eloquent describing the opposing force: the good. Because the thin line between reality and fiction is almost non-existent, it's very hard to distinguish between right and wrong, especially that the evil can always impersonate the good, whereas the vice-versa never happens.
Even though Gray Dawn isn't long at all (it can be finished in 3-4 hours), it's so condensed with angst that you'll feel spiritually exhausted at the end. I reckon that I didn't learn anything that I haven't already know about eastern religion or rituals, yet I still had to take a break a few times due to depressing moments.
Visually, Gray Dawn is a almost a masterpiece, but some of the animations are hilariously bad. Also, the voice acting is a hit and miss, as some voices are way too cringe, while others are very good. Thankfully, I've only encountered a single game-breaking bug that forced me to load a previous save, but since the game saves very often I believe it's a minor issue.
The Good
- Enticing story, heavy on supernatural
- Visually (almost) gorgeous
- Well-paced narrative
The Bad
- Exaggerated iconography and religious motifs
- Very rough animations
- Uneven voice acting quality (some are very good, others are plain bad)
- Ending dependent on gathering certain objects
Conclusion
Supported by an enticing story and shocking, gory scenes, Gray Dawn ticks all the right boxes to be categorized as a true psychological thriller. The feeling of anxiety and dread is masterfully instilled throughout the game without making use of any elements of the horror genre.
The only downside to the formula adopted by Interactive Stone is that they have clearly exaggerated with the religious iconography. Apart from that, and a few design issues, Gray Dawn is a short but deep immersion into the human subconscious, an exposition of the endless battle between good and evil.
