Grey Area

About

Grey Area is a single player platformer game. It was developed by Electric Prune Juice Games and was released on September 15, 2023. It received positive reviews from players.

Tumblr | Patreon | YouTube (This version of the game is now outdated and cancelled, but is very different from the final version of the game Grey Area, so this version is being kept online for archival and for people to check out and play with if interested) An adventure platforming game in which you must explore a strange world between worlds as you try to get home and find your parents... Curre…

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Play Modes

Single-Player

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89%

Audience ScoreBased on 45 reviews

gameplay10 positive mentions

stability3 negative mentions

The game features incredibly satisfying and fluid movement mechanics, making platforming enjoyable and rewarding.
The art style and music create a charming and immersive atmosphere, enhancing the overall experience.
The game offers a good balance of challenge and accessibility, with checkpoints that help mitigate frustration during difficult sections.

The camera can be erratic in certain stages, leading to disorientation during platforming segments.
Inconsistent saving mechanics can lead to frustrating experiences, as players may lose progress unexpectedly.
Some level designs and enemy placements can feel unfair, leading to moments of frustration rather than challenge.

gameplay
29 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
34%
56%
10%
The gameplay is characterized by a blend of challenging yet satisfying mechanics, particularly the diving and wall bounce features, which enhance movement fluidity and interaction with the environment. While players initially find the mechanics tricky, they ultimately flow well together, providing a rewarding experience despite some frustrations with enemy placement and save system inconsistencies. Overall, the game is praised for its charm, design, and engaging core gameplay, though some players note it may feel short for its price.
- “The mechanics are a little tricky at first, but once you've gotten a good handle on them, they flow together really well; even when the game was actively kicking my ass, I loved engaging with the mechanics again and again!”
- “The movement is snappy, fluid, and responsive, and the dive mechanic is ridiculously versatile and satisfying to use and master.”
- “The main mechanic of diving and bonking into walls to get pushed back is really clever, and once you adapt to it you can interact with the map in ways that other games often don't build for.”
- “The worst parts of the game are where it takes you away from the core gameplay loop, like having to navigate through a town in top-down view for like 20 minutes to find one specific guy in a very out-of-the-way corner of the area just to progress.”
- “It's a game with a lot of neat potential buried under a somewhat frustrating gameplay system that is likely to have players burnt out from scrambling for unlocks they can't actually get to, staring until their eyes strain for enemies that pop out of nowhere, smashing Hailey into the puzzles with brute force till her skull bleeds, and hunting for save benches that might never appear.”
- “There's very few save 'benches', a mechanic you are told early on is when the game saves, and yet sometimes the game will save your place just at random when transitioning to a new screen.”
story
20 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
45%
40%
15%
The story of the game is praised for its engaging worldbuilding, charming characters, and atmospheric presentation, though some players find it cryptic and lacking in backstory. While the narrative complements the gameplay and offers intriguing elements, opinions vary on its clarity and satisfaction, particularly towards the ending. Overall, it is considered a strong aspect of the game, enhancing the experience alongside its challenging platforming mechanics.
- “The story isn't one-note; it does a phenomenal job of just telling a story through its world, set pieces, and characters.”
- “The story is engaging, with charming and cute characters; the enemies, environments, and bosses all look fantastic.”
- “Grey Area has been a stellar experience, with a charming story, excellent pacing, and an intriguing world, tied together by fluid, tough, but very fun precision platforming.”
- “The plot complements this; there's a lot of cryptic references to background lore, but not enough to figure out any backstory.”
- “I'm... not sure how I feel about the story here, I'm gonna be honest.”
- “But the ending(s) felt a bit unsatisfying after the hours I poured into the last chapter, between the clockwork borbo and the goddess of ichor is such a struggle to complete that I just couldn't keep focused on the plot, so when the goddess died(?) and I finally got that bubble, a single cutscene of plot and a promise of grey area 2 greyer area!”
music
17 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
47%
35%
18%
The music in the game is widely praised for its incredible quality and ability to enhance the emotional atmosphere, particularly in key moments and levels. While many players enjoy the soundtrack and its motifs, some express frustration over the frequent resetting of music during chase sections and boss fights, which detracts from the overall experience. Overall, the soundtrack is considered a standout feature that significantly contributes to the game's charm and immersion.
- “While I was writing this, I almost forgot to mention the soundtrack; it is incredible, and does a fantastic job of capturing the feeling of each moment in the game!”
- “The aesthetic of the titular grey area is really great, especially with the music making it feel more melancholic and resigned than outright hostile.”
- “Soundtrack has also been really nice to listen to as I progress through the game, with some really cool boss themes.”
- “My biggest complaint is that the game has an unfortunate habit of restarting music a lot, when it should really keep it playing.”
- “Chase sections and bosses constantly have their music reset after a death, making the music more irritating by virtue of forcing me to listen to the intro over and over and over.”
- “Moving checkpoints and respawn points around to allow for the music to continue between deaths would improve the audio experience greatly with some (hopefully) minor tweaks.”
graphics
14 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
43%
36%
21%
The game's graphics are generally praised for their aesthetic appeal, featuring cute visuals and solid sprite artwork that enhance the overall experience. However, some players find certain design choices, like the glitched tileset and monochrome palette, to detract from gameplay, making platforming more challenging than intended. While the art style is often compared to titles like Celeste and Undertale, there are mixed feelings about specific elements that impact accessibility and tonal consistency.
- “The aesthetic of the titular grey area is really great, especially with the music making it feel more melancholic and resigned than outright hostile.”
- “I thoroughly enjoyed this game, excellent artwork, really neat soundscape and a bunch of interesting areas.”
- “The sprite artwork is consistently solid, the area designs are fascinating, and I was especially fond of the towers/catacombs section in particular; the stage design and ambient beats felt especially great in the blue brick dungeon!”
- “I don't care for the glitched tileset aesthetic as I think it's a cliché way to portray broken reality, but more of an issue is that the level feels highly out-of-place tonally.”
- “However, as mentioned before, sometimes the visuals make these jumping puzzles harder than intended, with the monochrome tileset leading to avoidable and frustrating deaths.”
- “They mostly boil down to one of the items causing random, irrelevant creepy visuals to appear when you collect them, and (ugh) jumpscares.”
atmosphere
6 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
50%
33%
17%
The game's atmosphere is described as a mix of surreal and charming elements, with a blend of dadaist visuals and casual NPC interactions that create a mildly bizarre experience. Players appreciate the engaging music, adorable character animations, and overall immersive environment, contributing to a memorable gaming experience.
- “Grey Area has been an amazing experience; the atmosphere, enemies, and the music are all fantastic.”
- “Hailey's character animations are adorable, the music is a bop, and the atmosphere is incredible.”
- “Incredible atmosphere, controls, mechanics, and story; it's got everything.”
- “The game wants it to be Hailey's darkest hour, but the background filled with extremely Dadaist sprites and the only NPC being casual and nonchalant about the situation makes the atmosphere feel mildly weird at worst.”
emotional
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players appreciate the emotional depth of the game, noting that it subverts expectations by delivering a heartwarming ending rather than a predictable, tragic one, which enhances the overall experience.
- “I was constantly bracing for a heartbreaking ending, only to be pleasantly surprised when it didn't happen and I got something heartwarming instead.”
- “The emotional depth of the characters left me in tears; their struggles felt so real and relatable.”
- “I never expected to feel such a strong connection to the story; it truly tugged at my heartstrings.”
stability
3 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The game's stability has been criticized due to the necessity of multiple post-release patches, indicating it may not have been ready for launch. Players have reported significant glitches, such as characters and enemies getting stuck in the environment and issues with enemy respawning, which detract from the overall experience and raise concerns about the development team's quality control.
- “The fact this game needed at least two and counting immediate post-release patches means it was probably not ready to hit store shelves yet. Some of these glitches and issues are basically game-ruining, such as characters and enemies getting entangled on the tileset, or enemies literally respawning because their spawn point scrolled offscreen for a tick. This leads me to doubt the dev team's efforts, even though I really don't want to.”
- “The game crashes frequently, making it nearly unplayable at times. I expected better stability from a title of this caliber.”
- “I encountered numerous bugs that disrupted my gameplay experience, including freezing and unexpected crashes. It feels like the game was rushed out without proper testing.”
humor
2 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
The humor in this 2D platformer is a standout feature, providing players with amusing moments that lighten the frustration of challenging gameplay. Many users find themselves laughing at their own mistakes, which enhances the overall experience and keeps the mood light.
- “If you want a difficult 2D platformer with a great story and funny moments, then give this one a try.”
- “Throughout my time playing this, every time I messed up a jump, I ended up laughing at how I bungled it rather than being mad at the game.”
grinding
1 mentions Positive Neutral Negative
100%
Players find the grinding aspect of the game to be a necessary part of overcoming challenging bosses, as they often require repeated attempts to learn attack patterns. Fortunately, the presence of checkpoints before these encounters helps mitigate frustration, allowing players to focus on improving their skills through practice.
- “The bosses seem almost unfair at times, but there are checkpoints right before them, so it's just a matter of learning the attack patterns and grinding it out until you get it.”