# Grayout — user reviews > 62 indexed App Store user reviews of Grayout by Mrgan LLC, rated 3.70/5 from 61 ratings. - Source: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/grayout/id1023152763/reviews - App overview in markdown: https://appshunter.io/ios/app/grayout/id1023152763.md - Rating breakdown: 5★ 28 · 4★ 10 · 3★ 7 · 2★ 7 · 1★ 9 ## What do users think of Grayout? Overall sentiment: mixed **Pros** - 💡 Unique and innovative concept - 📖 Engaging and well-written story - 🎨 Creative wordplay and imagery - ✨ Thoughtful narrative and storytelling - 🧠 Challenging and thought-provoking puzzles - 🎭 Empathetic character portrayal - 🌟 Original and artistic game design **Cons** - ⏳ Very short gameplay duration - 💰 High price for short experience - 🤷 Arbitrary and illogical puzzle solutions - 🧩 Frustrating guessing game mechanics - 🚫 Restrictive input and lack of flexibility - 🤔 Lack of clear instructions or hints - 🎶 Annoying or unchangeable music - 📱 UI issues on certain devices (e.g., iPhone X) **Commonly reported bugs** - Game-breaking bug preventing progression - Text formatting errors on some screens - Typo in dialogue - Visual glitch after switching apps **Most requested features** - Add a hint system - Improve sentence validation logic - Allow for more flexible sentence input - Add option to mute music - Improve UI for larger screens - Consider AI for language parsing ## Newest reviews (12 of 62) ### 3/5 — Interesting concept but short and sometimes irritating *2022-07-12* I applaud the designers for this unique idea, but I found the “right” sentences were not always logical, or other possibilities that were equally valid — e.g. “Yeah sure” instead of “Yeah right”—were not accepted. And the game is very short for the money. ### 3/5 — Good story, not really a game. *2018-03-03* I loved Blackbar, so gave Grayout a whirl, too. The story is wonderful; it places you in a chilling dystopian scenario with sadistic keepers and little hope of escape. I enjoyed it. But as for gameplay, there’s not much here. The only “puzzle” comes from trying to figure out what the game designers thought my responses to other characters ought to be. And if the game designers thought, for example, that I ought to respond “That’s the right answer” then saying “That is correct” or “You’re right” or “That is right” or “You’re not wrong there” or even “That is the right answer” won’t be accepted by the game. I understand they wanted me to experience the frustration of helplessness and aphasia. But this is just the frustration of pure guessing, like randomly trying numbers on a bike lock until it opens. There’s never the delighted feeling you get when you finally figure out a puzzle based on cleverly hidden clues. There are barely any hidden / contextual clues to discover. The rest is just moving words around until you guess right. ### 2/5 — Bad Design *2018-02-23, version 1.0.2* The app still does not support the iPhone X and has very few design elements. Changing it to support it would be easy. Dev is either unskilled or lazy. ### 3/5 — Too restrictive *2018-02-23* I loved the idea of playing with language and the challenge of expressing thoughts using limited words. I hated trying to guess the RIGHT thing to say - what the game expected. Developers: this would be really cool to experiment with some AI and language parsing - a kind of double-sided Turing test ### 3/5 — Love the idea *2018-02-22* But there needs to be some kind of hint system. I’ve been stuck on the same “level” for hours unable to get it right. If it at leas gave the first word I might be able to steer it into the right direction but there are so many different sentences you can make with all the words given to you. I don’t want to look it up either and just be spoon fed the right answer. ### 4/5 — Interesting, but sometimes too difficult *2018-02-22* It does often turn out to be nothing more than a guessing game sometimes, and there were several parts where I ended up searching for answers online because I had no clear idea what to do (and upon reading some of the later answers, sometimes I had no idea how the heck I was supposed to figure the puzzle out). Very interesting story and idea, though, just wish it could’ve been something more. ### 2/5 — Cool Premise, just a guessing game *2017-03-01* There's no logic or "game" feel to it. You just have to guess what words are supposed to go up there. It would be better if it told you how lose to being right you were but you get no feedback until you've somehow guessed the right combo. ### 2/5 — Confusing *2016-06-06, version 1.0.2* Would have made a great dystopia short story but as a word game not so good. I found the game awkward. I didn't enjoy it. But the story was great! ### 4/5 — Very hard.... *2016-04-11* This game, like Blackbar, is something new and different. I love word games so I had to try them both. The downer on this one is you cannot turn off the music, very annoying. It's very hard. Two questions in and I found myself stumped for two days. ### 3/5 — Not as good as Blackbar *2016-03-20* This is easily better than most app games but that is a low bar. I downloaded this after having loved Blackbar but this was too easy and the challenges felt incredibly redundant. The key to solving many of the puzzles was often trial and error rather than a comprehension of the puzzle's rules and mechanics. I felt myself wishfully thinking it would get more difficult but after less than 48hrs I have completed the game. ### 5/5 — A beautiful, empowering game. *2016-03-19* Fun to unscramble. I've played Blackbar too and would be up for any new games from this author! ### 3/5 — Nicht schön, aber interessantes Konzept *2016-03-07* Das Spiel ist ein Text Adventure, dass einem die Probleme verschiedener Sprachstörungen aufzeigt. Ich finde es allerdings nicht besonders schön, insbesondere die Typografie könnte besser sein. Die letzten Rätsel sind als nicht native speaker teilweise schwierig... ## Most critical reviews (10 lowest-rated) ### 1/5 — Utter rubbish / maybe broken *2019-12-29, version 1.0.3* What a waste of time and money. ### 1/5 — Avoid *2018-09-27, version 1.0.2* Starts out well. Until context starts to shift and you’re left with dozens of possibilities where only one is deemed correct. Goes from challenging to tedious surprisingly quickly. ### 1/5 — Not a recommendation of mine *2018-03-21, version 1.0.2* Logic isn’t great from clue to clue. No ability for hints, not really great leading. It ended up being mostly a waste of time and I’m deleting it without finishing because I’m so bored with it. ### 1/5 — I don’t get it. *2018-02-23, version 1.0.2* This is one of the worst games I’ve ever played. I have no idea how it got so many glowing reviews. The answers to the puzzles are completely arbitrary and oftentimes make zero sense. Do not recommend. ### 1/5 — Dumb *2018-02-21, version 1.0.2* It’s a guessing game that has no logic. Just read the story on google and save yourself feeling annoyed you spent money on this ### 1/5 — Quirky but not satisfying *2016-01-23, version 1.0.2* This felt like a waste of time and just didn't deliver on the concept. For me it was a complete waste of time. ### 1/5 — Pretentious nonsense *2015-12-22, version 1.0* No real gameplay and very little story. Wish I could get my money back but please don't spend yours! ### 2/5 — Too short *2022-07-12, version 1.0.3* This game was intriguing, and it did start to grip me, but ultimately it’s way too short and low-tech for a paid-for experience. Had it been free, I would have rated it a four, maybe. Creative, and some lovely word play and imagery. But just nowhere near enough of it. The story had just got exciting and it ended. Waste of money, for me. ### 2/5 — Less than an hour of gameplay *2020-01-03* A very interesting concept, but the story is lazy, as it seems most of the effort went into the word play (which was often clever). Beyond that, it provided less than an hour of gameplay. To be fair, that may be because I had to look up instructions online. Not answers: instructions. The game provided none. Do I use all the words? Am I supposed to form grammatically correct sentences or just whatever gets my message across? Even with instructions, it was difficult to know what I was trying to say, what my response was supposed to be. Maybe I missed something, but this game was not worth the price it asks for. Bonus points for mentioning a polyamorous relationship though, I guess. ### 2/5 — Well written but broken *2019-09-16* Am interesting world and concept and I liked Blackbar- unfortunately there’s a game breaking bug that makes it impossible to progress past the (irritatingly obscure) “waiting for godot” reference. I checked a couple of walkthroughs, the “correct” answer doesn’t work, impossible to move forward... ## Most praised reviews (10 highest-rated) ### 5/5 — AmaZinG ... hOurS oF FUn *2021-06-08* As a class we did Grayout over the course of 3 weeks. The kids say: creepy, fascinating disturbing... but in a good way. Exciting and full of twists. Make a new one! We already did Blackbar. ### 5/5 — A simple idea well executed *2017-12-28, version 1.0.2* A good story with a very simple method of execution, well worth the cost for the time and entertainment it brings - recommended. For the developers: On a few screens, the text ended without completing a sentence, I don’t think it was deliberate, but perhaps a formatting error for the phone. Nevertheless, it didn’t detract from the gameplay at all. ### 5/5 — Not easy, but a good purchase *2017-08-23, version 1.0.2* Amazing how character-driven this seemingly simple app is. Feels almost...real. Thank goodness it's not! ### 5/5 — Fesselndes Adventure *2017-08-10* Grayout ist ein erfrischendes textbasiertes Adventure. Auch wenn das ein oder andere Rätsel sehr knifflig ist, hat mich die Geschichte von Alaine und ihrer Welt bis zuletzt gefesselt. Sehr gelungen! ### 5/5 — Minimal design, unique, weird and frustrating *2017-05-28* Although it relied heavily on text, it used color and lower and upper capitalization to separate the characters. Eerie and one of a kind storyline and frustrating game play. And that what made playing Grayout a fun experience. Some puzzles were easy and some puzzles made me surprised that I figured it out. I used walk thoughs for hard puzzles. The characters were three dimensional and the backstory and details were slowly revealed so you understood as the story went. ### 5/5 — Great! *2017-05-05* It takes about 90 minutes to work through and would have gladly have kept playing. So glad to see the makers of a blackbar making something in a similar flavour. I hope they make more! ### 5/5 — Need Therapy Now! *2016-07-15, version 1.0.2* I am sooo addicted to this App! If you are A.D.D. you may not like it. VERY CHALLENGING! ### 5/5 — A well designed game *2016-04-17* Well designed and thought out. I tried this after loving Blackbar. Looking forward to more from Mrgan LLC ### 5/5 — Evocative *2016-04-13* This was a challenging, interesting game and I found the storytelling to be very effective. Uneven at times but it's so rare to see real innovation and artistry in storytelling in games, I'm always happy when I do. ### 5/5 — Loved it! *2016-04-09* Great sequel to Blackbar! Looking forward to more games like this in the future. 🙇 Thanks to everyone involved in making this game happen! --- *Data collected daily from the US App Store and indexed by [AppsHunter](https://appshunter.io/). User reviews are verbatim App Store reviews. Ratings, prices and chart positions refresh continuously; this snapshot is from 2026-09-08.*