Review of Greyfox

Not a lot to say here. It's an RPG Maker game without combat. You move with the move keys and push a button to interact with people and objects. There are choices in text boxes. You can collect money, but you don't need more than $20. There's a driving section in the beginning. It wasn't terrible, but I totally ran a dude over in the bicycle lane and nobody cared. There are some reused assets along with new ones, but I wasn't too bothered (It was actually kind of funny that the Monk from Last Dream was recast to play an obnoxious cashier, and I'm pretty sure the last elf Helios played the funeral home director). Oh yeah, and I beat it in 90 minutes. Like, the whole game. I know there are alternate endings and whatnot, but that's a pretty bold move these days with a non free game. I think it's worth my 3$ however, and I'll tell you why in the fluff.

The Fluff

Spiritually, Greyfox is a lot closer to a point and click adventure game than what we traditionally call an RPG. Though unlike most RPGs I play, this is a Game where you Play a Role. I really stepped into this protagonist's shoes and felt her fear, disgust and insecurity. You make choices, but they don't matter in the sense of gaining good/evil powers, or unlocking a sex scene with a space alien. They matter because they make me feel sad and uneasy, because they're affecting the soul of the protagonist and the lives of the people she judges.

(Minor spoilers from here on) The story begins with you playing a woman who has just decided to quit. Quit her job, leave her apartment and spend the rest of her life in a retirement community named Greyfox. After a short driving sequence, she arrives at the town and then just kind of dicks about until a room opens up. There is a sequence of (arbitrary as hell) events to progress of course but for the most part it feels pretty open. She makes small talk with the inhabitants and they're mostly pretty negative. Sometimes sad, usually funny but always kind of a downer and obviously not what the protagonist was expecting. Eventually she get's a room, calls it a night, and dreams about a mysterious woman. Mysterious Woman(that's what the game calls her) turns the protagonist old, and offers her the chance to live the lives of four old people and decide their ultimate fate.

From this point the story resembles a (slightly) less mean spirited and far more mature retelling of Tales From the Crypt, where Mysterious Lady is the Crypt Keeper and you are the bitter irony. I won't spoil anything else, but all four tales are equally funny, sad and harrowing even while they maintain a different tone and feel for the limited size and scope. The dialog is no Planescape: Torment but it's also lightyears ahead of Last Dream. The writing is clear, clean and conveys all of the meaning it needs to, even if it can be a bit on the nose(Mysterious Lady really does sound like the Crypt Keeper at times). The story is told in a very morally neutral, documentarian fashion. There is no punishment or redemption, only cause, effect, and what you can live with. This can be a bit at odds with the visuals; even by RPG Maker standards, it looks like a crappy looking SNES game. The Protagonist's model looks great. It conveys a lot of expression in a small number of animations and portraits. All of the other models are way less consistent though, and the UI is straight up ugly. This didn't affect my being affected by the story, but it was off putting at first.

The Verdict

This game is like Always Sometimes Monsters had a baby with I Have No Mouth And I Must Scream. It's not as good as either, and I know a lot of people will be put off by the short time it takes to finish, but I can say without hyperbole that very few pieces of narrative, let alone videogames, made me feel so deeply.