Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story

1. MickyNW

   Nov 27, 2020

   10

   Amazing game love it. I like style and music and love the story. Can’t believe a game like this came from such a small team. Want to see moreAmazing game love it. I like style and music and love the story. Can’t believe a game like this came from such a small team. Want to see more from these guys.… Expand

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2. Samfeeley99

   Nov 8, 2020

   10

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. A really good value single player game, took me around 8 hours and for £12, there was a lot of action that kept me on my toes… Expand

   • 1 of 2 users found this helpful
4. Nik94

   Nov 15, 2020

   8

   This review contains spoilers, click expand to view. Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story is a stealth adventure game in the vein of (yes believe me) The Last of Us.
   You follow the main character Harper as she tries to find out what the hell happened to the world around her. This is a road trip. Traveling through the countryside of England to small towns, military bases and so on. As enemy types there are "Zombie-like humans" and the famouse Tripods everyone knows from the H.G. Wells original story.
   
   First things first, yes this game is the absolut definition of an Indie Title. (The credits were over within seconds). A big respect to the small team for assembeling such a game. This is why this game should also be rated as an Indi game. It did not cost the full price, but rather 12-15 Euros (depending on where you are buying it). For such a low price, I got everything and more out of this game. It kept me on the edge of my seat during every stealth section and the more action oriented ones with the Tripods. It took me around 5-6 hours to finish the game.
   
   Pros:
   - Amazing Soundtrack + Vocal Music
   - Very atmopheric and believeable world.
   - Strong voice acting (which is usually bad to average in Indie Games)
   - Lots of different Levels (You get the feeling that you are traveling through a country. A Road Trip)
   - Tripods!
   - Graphicwise it looks very decent for an Indi game with some places being truely beautiful. (Forest at the beginning)
   - Lots of references to the source material.
   
   Cons:
   - Only one "fight scene" with a Tripod.
   - While I dont hate the idea of there being zombies, I would have liked to hear some kind of explanation as of why they are there. As they werent part of the original novel.
   - The Checkpoints are truely frustrating. You play through the entire level, die shortly before the end and then start at the VERY beginning of that level. It can be easily fixed with a patch, but as of right now, it can be very frustrating.
   - Controls can be very clunky at times with Harper just stopping while on the run from the enemy.
   - A few minor bugs but not game breaking bugs.
   
   What I truely loved about this game is the world building. I havent played such an atmospheric game for quiet a while and you really have the feeling of traveling through a broken country.
   The game took obviously inspiration from The Last of Us and Death Stranding and while it obviously does not reach that height, it does stand on its own feet and should there ever be a sequel, I would glady buy it. It is a game you should play for its story and atmosphere, rather than for the gameplay itself. I know it sounds weird, but as I really loved the world, the soundtrack and the level design I was very forgiving when it came to the clunky controls.
   
   Its not a perfect game by any means but I kept my heart racing and most importantly... I had fun playing. And I think that is the most important thing a game should achieve ;)
   
   8/10… Expand

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5. PaulaD91

   May 6, 2021

   8

   I rated this game with an 8 judging by its team's size and capabilities. I am not comparing it with a AAA game. The game for such a small teamI rated this game with an 8 judging by its team's size and capabilities. I am not comparing it with a AAA game. The game for such a small team is great. Decent graphics, nice sounds, great soundtrack (some remothered, days gone, alan wake and resident evil influences in the soundtrack) many many different, beautiful environments to explore (environments gave me strong original resi 2, 3 vibes), correct level of difficulty. Nice use of the upgrades to solve puzzles in the game, they were straight forward and not too complicated. Nice crafting menu, if only it could take more advantage of the very useful decrafting feauture. Without rushing, game took about 6 hours. Weak points - didn't take advantage of its potential. It could have deeper story / characters. Some bugs here and there. Secondary characters and enemies could look better. All in all I spent three very enjoyable days playing this indie gem while waiting for resi 8 release. Hope we get more 3rd person survival horror from those devs.… Expand

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6. ElToggo

   Jun 3, 2021

   6

   Firstly, let me state I feel like there was definitely some passion put into this game. Perhaps I am being too nice, but to hold it to theFirstly, let me state I feel like there was definitely some passion put into this game. Perhaps I am being too nice, but to hold it to the same standard as a AAA game is not the way to do it. Anyway, to the point. Being based on an established piece of media is always going to be tricky. The game tries to do a modern spin on the classic science fiction novel, and that is both good and bad. I have less umbrage with the actual setting and story (minus some poor or nonexistent explanations as to why things are they way are). Moving on from that, I'd be lying if I said this game has nothing going for it. It tries to be inventive, and that's fine. However! The world is hardly immersive, yes I suppose you could handwave the fact that the lack of people can be attributed to a deadly alien invasion. But the few people that are around are somehow even less expressive the manikins from Silent Hill, and that says something. Unfortunately this also extends to the main character. Additionally, the controls are very clunky and unintuitive at times, which is the last thing you want in a game billed as a stealth action title. Most of the issues I had were more towards the visual style, it isn't good or bad just very mediocre. Minus a few lighting effects nothing really sticks out. I feel like I am rambling at this point, as I am hardly a professional critic. Can I recommend this game? Probably not, but to say it has nothing of merit would, as I said, be a lie.
   
   In summation:
   
   The Good
   
   A good concept.
   Some nice music choices (though I do question some of the more religious leaning ones as HG Wells was not a man of religion himself).
   
   The Bad:
   Awkward animations and framerate.
   Poorly implemented tutorials and checkpoints.
   Nothing to really make the game stick out gameplay wise, the devs didn't really try to innovate.
   
   A game like this would definitely do well getting the NieR Replicant ver 1.22 treatment a few years down the line, which I doubt it will but that's just my take. If anyone takes the time to actually read this, I really appreciate it. If not, well, that's fine too. As for Steel Arts Software, you have a promising baseline to work off of, I would recommend looking into companies like Tinybuild to help smooth out your future endeavors. Also, DEFINITELY get some outside opinions when it comes to things like playtesting.… Expand

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7. SuperkenGaming

   Nov 15, 2020

   4

   Grey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story
   2 hours of no thank you.
   I’m just going to get it out of the way. Grey Skies is near awful, I feelGrey Skies: A War of the Worlds Story
   2 hours of no thank you.
   I’m just going to get it out of the way.
   Grey Skies is near awful, I feel bad saying that because its clear this games studio tried.. there was effort put into this game and I appreciate that… theres a great soundtrack, you can tell they try really hard to be cinematic, but it just never hits.. this 2 hour horror stealth game starts with you completing a grocery list.. cereal, toilet paper, and milk.. luckily for you youre in a ps2 era open wolrd grocery store and those are the only 3 things it sells!
   have fun running around the shelves looking for the square button rather than toilet paper or cereal… after that is out of the way, boom, plane crash, super drawn out cinematic moment where youre slowly walking while a nice little song plays.. caught my attention, had my hopes up.. get thrown into some little farm area, figure out how to escape.. and then the game turns into horror stealth, enemies are introduced, you sneak around and find items needed to progress, the typical horror stealth stuff, and this is when the game just starts to fall apart.. cafting, using items to distract, and pulling out your flashlight.. these are the things you can do in this game, and the controls are so unintuitive that of coruse id be constantly turning on my flashlight when I mean to throw an item to distract an enemy leaing to a chase sequence.. and checkpoints in this game are absolutely awful, they essentially don’t exist anywhere within the chapters.. so failing right towards the end of one frustratingly has you doing the whole thin all over again, and really, It just becomes unbearable…
   Grey skies has its moments of okay this could be worth playing, but ultimately its more annoying that it is good, theres nothing here youre missing out on by staying away
   I give Grey Skies: A war of the Worlds Story
   a 4/10… Expand

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8. valente_nebula

   Jan 18, 2022

   4

   What happens if you mix all the defects of The Last of Us, Resident Evil & Tomb Raider? Grey Skies! This derivative, soulless "game" just doesWhat happens if you mix all the defects of The Last of Us, Resident Evil & Tomb Raider? Grey Skies! This derivative, soulless "game" just does everything wrong: the gameplay is borderline broken, with a character control that will frustrate Buddha himself; stealth AI mechanics that don't obey the same laws 2 times in a row (encouraging to just run by everybody and get on with it); unclear mission objectives throughout the whole game ("look around" is not a **** objective, pricks); absolute lack of lighting - which makes you play in the dark 80% of the game, with a torch that shakes like a crazy horse; bugs here, there, and everywhere; a severe pacing problem (various boring walk-only segments that last about 5 mins each); and issues, issues, and more issues!
   
   This is an unacceptable game by any 2020 standards, and for any piece of software altogether. While the graphics may be the only positive point (not great, but some decent scenarios), gameplay wise, this is a PS2 era, mediocre & uncreative game that shows nothing that's been done before 100 times better. My favorite part: where you die 50+ times in a single action scene that only lasts 2 minutes and actually requires you to be precision-perfect, just because of broken, clunky controls.
   
   There's no fun to be had here at all. Simply a NO GO, and a waste of your money and time.… Expand

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