Grayout vs Overwords
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.
Overwords
A minimalist word-puzzle game where you stack words to expand the board. Overlapping letters fuse into new words, requiring careful planning for a calm, distraction-free experience. Enjoy pure gameplay with no ads or in-app purchases.
- Minimalist design
- Distraction-free gameplay
- Word stacking mechanics
- Board expansion
- Relaxing audio
- 30 levels
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Overwords is a calm, minimalist word‑puzzle about stacking words. Pick a word, place it on the board, and let overlapping letters fuse into new words—plan carefully, expand the board. • Minimalist, distraction‑free design • 30 levels with free updates ahead • Relaxing audio landscape • No ads, no in‑app purchases—pure, gameplay‑first focus • Support a passionate solo developer Thanks for playing!
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is rating: Overwords at 4.7 against Grayout's 3.7. Overwords also leads on update cadence (daily vs every 3 weeks) and review sentiment (83% vs 63%). Grayout's advantage is ratings volume (61 vs 9) and iOS requirement (11.4 vs 13.0). On price, 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 Overwords $2.99 up front. Neither carries in-app purchases, so what you see is what you pay.
Overwords holds the better App Store score, 4.7 against 3.7. That said, the two scores are not equally well evidenced: Grayout has 61 ratings behind it against 9, so its average is the more settled of the two. Written reviews point the same way: 63% of Grayout's written reviews are positive against 83% of Overwords's.
Grayout ships an update every 3 weeks, Overwords daily. The most recent releases landed on October 18, 2026 and October 8, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Grayout | Overwords |
|---|---|---|
| Price | $2.99 | $2.99 |
| Rating | 3.7 (61 ratings) | 4.7 (9 ratings) — better |
| Positive reviews | 62.9% of reviews | 83.3% of reviews — better |
| Number of ratings | 61 — better | 9 |
| Update frequency | Every 3 weeks | Daily — better |
| Ads | No | No |
| In-app purchases | No | No |
| Monetization | Paid | Paid |
| Best chart rank | #83 — better | #181 |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad, iPod | iPhone, iPad, iPod |
| Requires iOS | 11.4 — better | 13.0 |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 37 MB | 118 MB |
| Age rating | 12+ | 4+ |
| Developer | Mrgan LLC | Maciej Targoni |
Customer experience
Grayout
Overwords
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
Overwords
Not enough reviews yet to summarise bugs or requests.
In-app purchases
Grayout
No in-app purchases
Overwords
No in-app purchases









