Grayout vs Squell
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both games, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Grayout
Experience a unique text-based adventure game set in a dystopian medical facility. Navigate challenging conversations as a character with aphasia, struggling to communicate due to a disorder affecting language processing. This narrative-driven game explores themes of communication and internal struggle.
- Aphasiac text game mechanics
- Narrative-driven gameplay
- Interactive conversations
- Word puzzle elements
- Emotional simulation
- Dystopian setting
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“One of the most essential iOS games of the year. Proves just how interesting and vital gaming as a medium can be. 9/10” —Pocket Gamer “Grayout is exceptional as a game, as a compelling narrative, as an experiment in communication. It is simple, poignant, and horrifying.” —Gamezebo Grayout is an aphasiac text game set in a medical dystopia. It’s a prequel to the censorship game Blackbar. In Grayout, you play Alaine, a rebelious resident of the totalitarian community called The Neighborhood, who wakes up in a hospital research lab following an accident… or so she is told. The game is a series of conversations with hospital staff, made challenging by Alaine’s post-traumatic aphasia—a disorder that affects one’s ability to process language. Grayout simulates the experience of having a word on the tip of your tongue, the frustration of knowing what you mean but not how to say it, the feeling of being overwhelmed by the runaway thoughts inside your head and struggling to reign them in. This is a game for fans of text adventures, interactive fiction, word puzzles, story-driven games, and emotional simulations. “Marvelous.” —The Guardian, The best iPhone and iPad apps of 2015 “Liked Blackbar? This is harder but also cleverer. Lots more feels too. Prepare your brain.” —Sam Barlow of 'Her Story' We hope your stay in the Neighborhood Hospital is pleasant and brief. Get well.
Squell
A casual spelling game combining vocabulary challenges with spatial reasoning. Rearrange letter grids to form words, with move count impacting score. Enjoy offline play and save progress to return anytime.
- Spatial reasoning word puzzles
- Move-based scoring system
- Save progress and resume anytime
- Offline gameplay
- Addictive and engaging gameplay
- Simple, clean design
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Squell is a casual spelling game that challenges your vocabulary and your spatial reasoning. Imagine Boggle got a little too friendly with a Rubik's cube and you've got Squell. Rearrange a grid of letters to spell words. How many moves you make matters, but get good and keep the game going to rack up tons of points. Squell games are controlled by how many moves you make, so you play it at your own pace. It's a great game to put down and come back to later, since all progress is saved on your device as you play and you can always review the words you've already spelled. It works offline, so it's great on a plane, a train, or in that waiting room with no cell service. Squell is simple to play, but with plenty of strategies to uncover and master, you'll come back to it again and again!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Squell at 4.8 against Grayout's 3.7. Squell also leads on review sentiment (100% vs 63%) and update cadence (every 8 days vs every 3 weeks). Grayout's advantage is chart position (#32 vs #135). On ratings volume, ads, in-app purchases and monetization model there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Grayout costs $2.99 and Squell $0.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Squell holds the better App Store score, 4.8 against 3.7. Both are backed by a comparable volume of ratings — 61 and 26 respectively. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of Grayout's written reviews are positive against 100% of Squell's.
Grayout ships an update every 3 weeks, Squell every 8 days. The most recent releases landed on September 26, 2026 and September 28, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Grayout | Squell |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | $0.99 — better |
| Rating | 3.7 (61 ratings) | 4.8 (26 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.9% of reviews | 100.0% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 61 — better | 26 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Every 8 days — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #32 — better | #135 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.4 — better | 12.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 29 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mrgan LLC | Compassionate Robot Studios LLC |
Customer experience
Grayout
Squell
User reviews
Grayout
From 61 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 💡 Unique and innovative concept
- 📖 Engaging and well-written story
- 🎨 Creative wordplay and imagery
- ✨ Thoughtful narrative and storytelling
- 🧠 Challenging and thought-provoking puzzles
Room to improve
- ⏳ Very short gameplay duration
- 💰 High price for short experience
- 🤷 Arbitrary and illogical puzzle solutions
- 🧩 Frustrating guessing game mechanics
- 🚫 Restrictive input and lack of flexibility
Squell
From 26 App Store ratingsWhat we love
- 🎮 Addictive gameplay
- 👶 Engaging for all ages
- 🧠 Challenges mental abilities
- 👌 Simple and clean design
- 🎯 Provides feedback and rewards
Room to improve
- ⏰ Lack of leaderboard feature
Bugs and requests
Grayout
Reported bugs
4 issues- Game-breaking bug preventing progression
- Text formatting errors on some screens
- Typo in dialogue
- Visual glitch after switching apps
Requested features
6 requests- Add a hint system
- Improve sentence validation logic
- Allow for more flexible sentence input
- Add option to mute music
- Improve UI for larger screens
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- Consider AI for language parsing
Squell
No bugs or feature requests surfaced in reviews.
In-app purchases
Grayout
No in-app purchases
Squell
No in-app purchases









