Greyhill Incident review

Greyhill Incident tries to offer something different to the alien gaming space, drawing on conspiracy theories and classic books, series and movies like Fire in the Sky, The X-Files and Communion. The concept is interesting, but the execution fails miserably in all areas.

Early 90s and the quiet neighborhood of Greyhill will change forever. Residents, suspicious of the government’s lies about the existence of aliens, prepare and patrol for an impending invasion. You take on the role of Ryan Baker, who witnesses his son being abducted by a UFO, right over his house. Determined to do everything and with the whole neighborhood as an ally, Ryan begins his counterattack trying to save his son while showing the aliens that Earth is not theirs to conquer. Unfortunately, the story “comes from everywhere”, everything happens so abruptly and abruptly, without a trace of preparation for the player to perceive the gravity of the events taking place in front of his eyes. Even the most dramatic moments of the narrative unfold in such a comically tragic, sketchy fashion that leaves you with no room to take the game and its story seriously.

Greyhill Incident is first-person stealth, where your main concern is to perform various missions while avoiding the aliens that have taken over your neighborhood in search of human life forms. The entire game takes place in that area, covering only a few blocks to explore. There is no map or compass to your destination, just a few minimal lights and lamps pointing the right way. The game is too dark and “gross”, as a result of which several times you lose your orientation and bump into the aliens out of nowhere. You’re supposed to be able to crouch and move slowly to avoid unwanted encounters, but with so much darkness around you it’s like playing your luck with crown-letters every time, as you’re not sure where they’re going to come at you. The character has also struggled with fitness, as your stamina depletes so quickly and takes a long time to replenish, playing on your nerves.

Your survival supplies include a flashlight, a baseball bat, and a pistol with minimal ammo to use against enemies. Every supply is as if it was specially made to make your life a torture. The flashlight to get light you have to constantly press the button on the controller (which has feedback but what can you do) and is useless because with the slightest beam of light your aliens go straight for it. The baseball bat is useful for opening blocked paths and doors but completely useless for defense as its offensive movement is so clumsy and requires such good timing that you almost never find a target. The pistol is the only reliable means of survival, but ammo is so scarce, you’d be better off keeping a bullet for yourself and getting rid of the arduous process of completing the game.

Speaking of the game’s ending, we must mention its blatantly short duration, which barely exceeds an hour. Looking more like a student’s work in progress than a finished work (which charges a not inconsiderable amount for what it offers), the game is over before it even begins. Personally, I strongly believe that the problematic mechanics, the absence of autosave and the low stamina of the protagonist that prevents him from running for a long time are there on purpose, maybe to add a little more length to the game. The icing on the cake is the fact that for half the game you’re wandering through an invisible cornfield trying to get out without seeing anything around you. You’ll hate the game so much you’ll never eat corn again for the rest of your life.

Of course, the creators had the biggest sense of humor when they implemented the stealth gameplay. It is so unpredictable and “broken” that there is a chance that you can either go through all the stages of the game without anyone bothering you, or that the enemies will notice you directly as soon as you take a few steps. A typical example is when there is no soul around you and you decide to enter a house to find some items, many times as soon as you open the door the alien pops up in front of your face and kidnaps you. There are places to hide but if you are discovered you have no hope. You can repeatedly press the relevant button to temporarily escape, but if you’re found, you’re better off accepting your fate and just sitting down to be kidnapped. How much worse than what you are experiencing at the moment? The design of the aliens is also laughable, as they look and move like people who just put on a mask and went out to play pranks on Halloween. After all, there are no bosses, no big battles, but only one kind of enemies, who are eager to return to their planet, rather than participating in this particular game.

In this general wreck, we could not expect miracles from the audio-visual sector. The visuals, as mentioned above, are dark, lacking in detail and desperately trying to give the illusion of an open world in limited contexts, to no avail. Literally the entire game is set around five houses, a road, and a hated cornfield. The character models have some interesting details that match the style of the title, but this is of little consequence. The attempts to satirize the situation through the voice acting of the protagonist and the characters you meet are deplorable. Acoustically, the tracking device the aliens use to bug you stands out a bit, which is kind of jarring. There are otherwise very few effects (and no music) to accompany this stunt.

Greyhill Incident is a game that has absolutely nothing to offer. It doesn’t do well in any area and has minimal durability (but not a correspondingly low price). Stay away from him and better watch X-Files on repeat once again.