Greyhill Incident, developed by Refugium Games and published by Perp Games, aims to deliver a thrilling survival-horror experience set in the early ’90s, where a small neighborhood faces an alien invasion. While the concept holds potential with its sci-fi/horror mashup, the execution falls short in many aspects. The game’s underdeveloped gameplay mechanics, frustrating stealth elements, lackluster visuals, and campy narrative ultimately contribute to a disappointing experience. Let’s delve into the details of Greyhill Incident and explore its strengths and weaknesses by checking out the PlayStation 5 version.
Greyhill Incident adopts a first-person perspective, similar to other walking simulator-style horror adventures. As the protagonist, Ryan Baker, armed with a baseball bat and a scarce supply of bullets, players navigate the atmospheric neighborhood of Greyhill. Unfortunately, the gameplay mechanics are underdeveloped, particularly in terms of stealth and combat. The stealth mechanics are frustrating, as the aliens can easily spot the player, often resulting in unsuccessful attempts to hide or escape – making you want to not bother after a while. Additionally, the controls feel sluggish, with delayed response times hindering combat effectiveness. Swinging the baseball bat is slow and requires preemptive timing, making encounters with the aliens a tedious dance of avoiding their grasp. The limited ammunition availability adds to the frustration, as finding bullets is a challenging and unrewarding task. These issues significantly detract from the gameplay experience.
Greyhill Incident’s visual presentation leaves a little to be desired as well. The environments suffer from dark and muddy visuals, hindering visibility and immersion. The character models and animations lack polish, contributing to a lifeless atmosphere. This might be a smaller production, but we’ve seen much better examples in the genre. On the audio front, the campy voice acting and cringe-inducing dialogue further detract from the intended horror experience, and the combination of poor visuals and audio fails to create a truly immersive and engaging atmosphere.
The premise in Greyhill Incident, revolving around an alien invasion in a small town, initially sparks intrigue. However, the execution falls into the realm of clichés and stereotypes. The narrative fails to deliver a compelling or coherent story, leaving many threads unresolved and lacking satisfying closure. The characters, though attempting to emulate classic alien invasion archetypes, come across as caricatures rather than engaging individuals. The reliance on familiar tropes, such as aliens conducting experiments involving probing, results in unintentional humor rather than terror. The game’s narrative and dialogue ultimately miss the mark, failing to immerse players in a captivating story.
Greyhill Incident falls short of its potential as a thrilling alien invasion survival-horror game. The frustrating gameplay mechanics, lackluster visuals, and campy narrative contribute to a disappointing and unfulfilling experience. With other recent releases in the genre offering more engaging and polished gameplay, it is difficult to recommend Greyhill Incident to players seeking a satisfying horror adventure, though its relatively short runtime might sway those curious to check it out because of its interesting premise.
Score: 4.0/10
Press Play Media 