Gray Matter is a science fiction, horror-thriller game presented as a classic third-person, point-and-click, 2D/3D adventure game. This marks the return of Jane Jensen to the adventure gaming scene more than ten years after the release of her last full-scale adventure game, GK3: Blood of the Sacred, Blood of the Damned, in 1999.
The player will experience the game from the perspective of two distinct characters. One of them is Samantha Everett, a wandering street magician, and student originally from the United States but currently in the United Kingdom. The second is her somewhat reluctant boss, Dr. David Styles, an Oxford neurobiology researcher who experiments on the human mind’s power and potential. Styles recently lost his wife; shortly after, he became a widower. For Sam to assist the reclusive David, she will need to use her unique skills that involve sleight of hand. He requires help recruiting several students from the nearby Oxford campus to participate in the trials. This is not an easy assignment considering the notoriety of Dr. Styles and his home estate, which is known as Dread Hill House. While she is there, Sam is also on the lookout for a secret magician’s society into which she would like to be accepted.
The graphics are a mix of two and three dimensions, with the backdrops being pre-drawn in two sizes and the characters rendered in three dimensions. In addition to the standard inventory puzzles, the two playable characters’ areas of expertise, namely Sam’s magic tricks and David’s scientific research, are fully integrated into the gameplay and interface of Gray Matter. This allows the player to solve various puzzles and overcome multiple obstacles throughout the game. A progression system has been incorporated into the game, enabling players to keep tabs on the activities and occurrences specific to each of the game’s eight chapters.
