Dull Grey
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In Dull Grey, experience the emotional story of a mother and son, free will and the search for happiness among foggy mountains and grey pipes.
You will be making the same choice again and again: who should the son become – a lamplighter or a tallyman? It may feel like the situation leaves you no choice at all, but if you take your time and think it over, you may just see your story in full colour.
Immerse yourself in a dramatic, dystopian visual novel like no other, with a thoughtful choice mechanic which appears simple but contains a lot of depth. Discover multiple endings and secret content – Dull Grey is designed to be replayed for the full experience.
Key features:
- Experience the drama of everyday life in the context of a retro-futuristic world controlled by the Progress-program
- An unusual choice mechanic that leads to an unexpected multitude of endings and hidden content
- A visual style tracing back to early 20th-century Soviet art
- Themes and narratives inspired by the works of Russia’s finest storytellers – the worlds of the Strugatsky brothers, Dostoevsky’s novels and Tarkovsky’s movies
- A short but meaningful experience, designed to be replayed
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Steam User 76
It's not the choice that matters, but the way you make it
The Strugatskys, Dostoevsky, Tarkovsky. That's what the store page said and that's all it took for me to fire this up as soon as I could. And what greeted me was a vast grey-white, desolate landscape accompanied by droney, sprawling dark ambient soundscape... and then the black text box appeared with simple words and angular, sharp lines evoking that early 20th century futuristic Soviet aesthetic in black and white. From the colours, shapes, sounds to the words, and overall presentation, everything in this game oozes minimalism and simplicity. And that goes for its length too. It could be said that Dull Grey is an interactive fiction equivalent of a short story whose one playthrough can be finished in about half an hour. But it packs quite a bit in that short playtime especially as you play more.
Dull Grey is like a choices game about having no choice. Basically, a choices-don't-matter game. But as the main character will learn, it's not so much about the abundance of options, but the importance that the choice you can make is actually yours. "It's not only your choice that matters, but the way you make it." And we see that as we follow two characters, Mother and Son, as they go from location to location, on the way for Kir (the son, actual protagonist) to choose his profession. His only two options are lamplighter or tallyman. We're always presented with this same choice, as various characters pose the question, over and over: his mother, a robot, his aunt, his crush, an 'uncle', a drunk 'revolutionary' and in the end, the navigator, the one who will actually seal his future. What's interesting is that the choice is always made by the Mother. Even when she's not present, as soon as the question is asked, she rushes in and answers it in place of her Son. But there is something else interesting that happens. I will now mark this as a spoiler not because it's an actual spoiler storywise, as you can't spoil this kind of story, but in terms of having full experience, it's better to discover this through playing it. If you wait long enough, a third option appears, an actual Son's choice, a simple: "I don't know". I discovered this early on, at the very start, thanks to my habit to linger. But if not then, you will see it in front of the navigator as it seems it appears faster then.
I played this by sticking to the same choice at first, tallyman then lamplighter; then mixing it up. The most interesting and amusing in terms of answers and character reactions to them was the one involving the spoiler above. But regardless of what you choose during the playthrough, only the last choice, in front of the navigator, actually matters. The game also autosaves on this last node even if you click to start over. That's convenient. (Otherwise, there's no manual save, but as it's quite short it isn't really missed.)
On this dull journey that looks predestined, you will hear what other characters think about specific profession, especially as you replay it a few times, and that way we can learn about this world bit by bit. World building is very effectively achieved with subtle, but evocative details. Writing is on point and succinct, relying on visuals and music to convey what is unsaid. All three are minimalistic in nature and all three complement each other like pieces of collage. There's no need for some elaborate exposition because hints and nods actually achieve more, the result being a story simple on the outside, but rich underneath.
The world seems to be retro-futuristic with some dystopian vibes, but not quite. It's a sci-fi, technologically advanced society, either what remains of it, or perhaps we're seeing the outskirts of it (the big city of Algova is mentioned). Parts of broken robots are used for porches, abandoned huge spider-robots wander around, navigators have augmented glowing eyes. Empty schools that are not really schools but clubs, stations, gondola, crater, "hot springs, mountains, pale sky and silence" and steam, steam everywhere - we're moving through these locations in a slow-motion long tracking shots that follow the rails like in a Tarkovsky movie.
I've never played the developer's previous game, but this is apparently in the same universe of Progress-program, a computer/net-based system that governs the lives of people and calculates the best profession for them, where they fit in a machinery and effectively their future (like an all-seeing benevolent? government). This is some vague communist / collectivist utopia/dystopia or better, utopia turned mundane and monotonous, disillusioned. Strugatsky brothers meet Dostoevsky perhaps. The existentialist idea of dull grey mundane everyday, living but not living, waiting to die; this fatalistic outlook clashing with free will, the question of happiness (Kir's mother asks: "What is this happiness of yours?"), the inevitable but noble suffering that will be rewarded, "the way it should be" - this is all so Slavic/Russian or should I say Orthodox Christian, often tackled in Russian classic literature, especially in the cited as influence, Dostoevsky.
These themes are universal and the setting is just a backdrop for a personal tale of Mother and Son, archetypal representations of ordinary people; essentially a coming-of-age story. Progress-program has decided that Kir only has two possible futures which all look the same to him, "foredoomed" with no exit. That's the game: find the other way, 'break' the system, find an error in Progress-program, colour the grey world, make Kir happy. Navigator encourages it. As you dabble with choices a bit, you realise, as the new options/roads open up, that it's essentially an illusion. It's simple. It doesn't matter what you choose, but how you choose it... and that *you* chose it. And the difference between happy and unhappy endings is one of attitude.
What is also interesting is how vague tallyman and lamplighter actually seem. We get a general idea, kind of like Kir, that the lamplighter represents manual labour, an honest physical work suitable for settling with a family (or not), while tallyman is a bureaucratic, analytical, solitary work, one that nurtures comforting loneliness (or crippling). What brings happiness and joy also differs: relax and don't stress in the first case, never relax and always challenge yourself in the latter... or "the suffocating dull grey will be the only thing left."
Ah, look how much I wrote for such a short story that looks especially suitable for portable devices and is limited in options. But, I just love when something so simple on the outside proves to have a lot hidden underneath when you scratch the surface. 'More than meets the eye' is an apt description for this interactive fiction gem.
Reviewed by Drugoja In The Dreaming
Steam User 0
I don't think this is a bad game or anything, it just wasn't for me. It seems like it has a lot of good things in the story if it captures your attention. Just not my cup of tea.
Steam User 0
Грустная и проникновенная игра, очень понравилось. Зайдет совершенно точно не всем, тут очень скудный визуал и геймплей.
Steam User 0
Очень необычная визуальная новелла о выборе, самостоятельности и одновременно зависимости и независимости от окружения. Ну, во всяком случае, так ее понял я. Играть только на русском.