Gray Matter

Gray Matter lets ghost out of the bag
Friday 25-Aug-2006 12:05 PM First details lifted on Gabriel Knight creator's new PC adventure, promising mind tricks, magic and a horrible house

Last week's news that Gabriel Knight creator Jane Jensen would be dishing the gory details on her latest project, Gray Matter, at Leipzig should have had horror fans gnawing their fingers down to blooded stumps in anticipation. Well people, stop chewing because those initial details are here!

The plot, on first impressions, seems to be an intriguing mix of '60s ghost film The Haunting (not the tripe remake), Frankenstein, Poe, with a large chunk of David Blaine thrown in for good measure. It revolves around a reclusive neurobiologist Dr David Styles, mourning his deceased wife in the unattractively titled English country estate abode, Dread Hill House. Surely with a name like that, he's just asking for trouble!

His life seems to take a small turn for the better when he enlists American student and street performer/magician, Samantha Everett, as his assistant, ordering her to find experiments for his perfectly savoury studies. Unfortunately, what this triggers are visitations from his dead wife, unexplainable ghostly events, and a dark and strange secret supposedly nestled within the walls of Dread Hill House. (We warned you that was a dodgy name).

If this very English adventure sounds right up your darkened alley, you'll get to flick control between both protagonists as you delve deep into the awaiting horror. The intriguing gameplay twist seems to be the magic tricks that Samantha will have to do in order to solve puzzles. Plus, the emphasis on mind studies and human psychosis should provide a freaky blurring of the imagined and reality.

Gray Matter is set to infest PCs at the end of next year, and will be published by Avalanche.