Small in scope, detailed, gritty text-based fantasy RPG. Recreates the gameplay of the old gamebooks. Simple battle system and hassle-free inventory management.
All Reviews:
Positive (10) - 100% of the 10 user reviews for this game are positive.
Release Date:
Apr 7, 2023

Sign in to add this item to your wishlist, follow it, or mark it as ignored

Check out the entire Brick and Rock collection on Steam

Download Greymarsh Demo

Buy Greymarsh

Buy Brick and Rock Gamebook Collection BUNDLE (?)

Includes 2 items: Greymarsh, Bloodwood Dungeon

-15%
$10.18
 

Reviews

“Very good, albeit very punishing, role-playing gamebook adventure.”
HEXEN

“The writing in Greymarsh is ideal in length, detail, and succinctness”
Cookie Monster

About This Game

Greymarsh is a text-based adventure game. RPG-style battle and inventory management are combined with a branching story. Atmosphere and dialog are important aspects. You will get intimately acquainted with the bustling city of Greymarsh. There are abandoned ruins, arenas where you can fight for money, and streets where shady characters are waiting to trick you.



Give Greymarsh a go if the following statements ring true when you play RPGs or adventure games:
* You like to read, as opposed to just skimming the text
* You like your fantasy to be dark, mature and gritty rather than a funhouse of goblins, elves, knights and trolls
* You put large emphasis on story, coherent world building and atmosphere
* When you spend lots of time optimizing your stats or tinkering with your inventory, it feels like a necessary evil that you could do without

You should probably skip this game if your gaming persona is better described by this list:
* You value replayability and "finding all the endings"
* You like your game world to be expansive and sprawling
* You have an attention span not suited to long swaths of text


The main game loop is exceedingly simple, and purposely so: the player reads what happens, and then gets to choose from a small number of actions to progress the story. Most locations can be revisited and fast travel is available through a map.

There are just four stats parameters to consider: hit points, strength, armor and fighting prowess. That's it. In addition, the protagonist keeps an amount of gold and some items, including weapons.

The fighting system is turn-based, like everything else in the game. Despite the basic battle loop, there is room for tactics.

A started session is associated with just one save slot, meaning permadeath in theory. In practice, this is circumvented through an in-world mechanism that is akin to the bonfires of the Souls games.


Greymarsh was heavily inspired by the gamebooks that were so popular in the eighties. One of the most appealing features of this form of solo adventuring was the small scope: rarely did these books consist of more than 500 situations in which to choose from a small number of actions so as to further the story. The battle system and inventory management were rudimentary and designed to be mastered immediately. That way, the action could start right away.

The meticulous tinkering with inventory items and stats optimization so popular in games these days... there was rarely much of that.

And even though the interactivity was low with today's standards, the reader/player still had the illusion of agency, of having the power to affect the miniature world conjured up within the gamebook's pages.

Greymarsh strives to recreate that feeling.

System Requirements

    Minimum:
    • OS: Microsoft Windows 10
    • Storage: 310 MB available space

Customer reviews for Greymarsh

Review Type


Purchase Type


Language


Date Range
To view reviews within a date range, please click and drag a selection on a graph above or click on a specific bar.

Show graph



Playtime
Filter reviews by the user's playtime when the review was written:


No minimum to No maximum

Display
Show reviews in selected display order





Learn More
Show graph
 
Hide graph
 
Filters
Excluding Off-topic Review Activity
Playtime:
Played Mostly on Steam Deck
There are no more reviews that match the filters set above
Adjust the filters above to see other reviews
Loading reviews...