Jane Jansen rocks!
Not only she hasn't lost a bit of her writers gut over the years, but also she managed to turn what's basically a pretty sweet romance into a thrilling, very atmospheric and towards the end also beautifully dark matter. It didn't seem like it from the beginning, though...
Because from the beginning, in the first chapter that is, desperately little is going on and although there's plenty to look at (from the gorgeous pre-rendered backgrounds to the main heroine herself), the expected immersion simply doesn't happen. Samantha alone (a real beauty at first glance, and without all the mess in her face I might even call her my perfect type) is during the first chapter nearly unsympathetic, with her voice actor being somewhat off and her mentality being somewhat doubtful. Needless to say, even though the first hour of the game wasn't exactly a torture, I still shook my head in disbelief and sometimes even rolled my eyes thinking "So Jane indeed lost it, too bad..."...
...But early into the second chapter the cards turned over and I started to enjoy my time in local Oxford a lot. It seemed as if Sam along with her voice actor just began to put passion in what they do, the side characters began to gain third dimension, the cleverness and diversity of the gameplay began to surface (first puzzles, magic trick, etc), the dialogues more interesting, Sam's backstory more unravelled...and I could go on like this through three more lines at least, but I suppose it's more than enough to get the idea.
But the absolute fall-in-love took place only in the third chapter, that is in the moment the game lets you control the second main character of the game, David. And David is from the very first word he says an utterly fascinating guy, which you'll fall in love with immediately (in an absolutely non-homosexual way, of course). The biggest credit for that goes to his voice actor, for his voice is simply amazing. And then the love grows - the way he talks (oh, Jane..), the way he thinks, his devotion, intelligence, self-will, rock solid charisma...he's simply the full package. And again, I could continue through quite a few more lines praising this guy up, but I better stop now, before it gets weird.
Across the following four chapters there's a whole lot going on, and basically it's all a nice combination of detective-like investigating, moving romance, remarkable science fiction (which is on the edge of being supernatural only barely, and is served realistically enough for one's liking), and an occasional magic trick thrown in the mix now and then. That all in an adequately stunning backgrounds with some captivating music pleasing player's ears. One is wondering what more could they wish for, and after a long and thorough consideration, one realises there's really nothing more to want.
I have to dedicate an entire paragraph to the very final chapter of the game, though. Because that's one of the finest finales I've ever witnessed in my long gaming history. All of sudden, the game moves us from Oxford to London, to a certain magic club to be specific, and needless to say this short stay makes for an unforgettable experience. During the previous chapters, the game makes you solve puzzles in a very sad amount, and so it makes up for it right there, in the eighth one. And since I refuse to spoil anything, and giving away even the slightest detail about this chapter would be considered a heavy spoiler, I'll put it short and simple - from the very first to the very last loading screen of the eighth chapter of the game, you solve one puzzle by another in locations designed in such a way you wouldn't come up with anything remotely similar even with the greatest imagination...under drugs.
How to conclude? As much as romance in any type of media usually spins far away from my radar, if it's mixed with enough of different interesting ingredients and the finished mixture also tastes great, not only I don't mind it. I gladly welcome it. Because the romantic line we're dealing with here is an important part of the whole and without it, Gray Matter wouldn't be Gray Matter. And if Gray Matter wasn't Gray Matter, I'd be heartbroken and I'd spend quite some time hating on Jane. As for me, I found the game of the year. Ts, the year...of the last five years at least. And I don't give a damn I didn't kick anyone in the head, nor shoot it off with yet another shotgun. Such games, even if awesome, don't really provoke my emotions and don't have much of an impact on me overall. Such games don't stick in my head for too long...Gray Matter, on the other hand, can proudly stand in the line of legends of Gabriel Knight calibre. In other words, Gray Matter is a game I'll remember till I die.
And Jansen is bloody awesome.
+ Believable characters, backstories, realism and logic, music, voice acting, atmosphere, story, original features, dialogues, gradation, the final literally gormand chapter
- The first chapter kinda fails compared to the following ones, very low difficulty, all in all two complex puzzles and that's it, very short gametime, technical flaws, animation bugs...and other junk noone really cares about.