Gray Dawn is a first-person horror game developed by Romanian studio Interactive Stone. It tells the story of a priest on a quest to prove his innocence, taking place in a remote village in England around the year 1920. Guilty or not, you find yourself trapped in the middle of strange events involving a demonic possession and divine apparitions. It is a first-person psychological thriller infused with religious elements seen through beautiful and terrifying worlds, creating a sense of constant dread and anticipation. Throughout the game, you will often be transported to the beautiful world of Romania, inspired by the mysticism of Eastern Europe.
Gameplay consists in solving puzzles and exploring levels in first-person perspective. Interaction with objects will open new paths, allowing the player to move forward in the story. The game is replete with religious iconography and symbols in every level and chapter, not only Christian iconography, but also other pieces of art and symbols borrowed from Buddhism, Egyptian religion, Judaism. It also takes inspiration from several sources and aesthetics, such as Lovecraft, H.R. Giger, Gothic fiction, and so on.
Spanning 21 acts, the journey of the priest Father Abraham Markus will take the player through several locations, beginning from the priest's home and the surrounding areas. The player is often transported to mystical locations that seem to take place in other dimensions or eras. It's an exploration of guilt, taboo, religious transcendence and mysticism. It features two endings that depend on how the player approaches the journey and how they collect an amount of religious icons.
Gray Dawn is the debut title of Interactive Stone, formed by three Romanian developers who worked in mobile game development. The studio is partenered with Carbon, a Bucharest-based games incubator-accelerator. Carbon offered development funding for Gray Dawn and also helped with mentorship, and support with PR/Marketing.
