{{short description|Science fiction RTS video game}} {{About|the video game|the doomsday scenario|gray goo}} {{Infobox video game | title = Grey Goo | image = File:Greygoo-cover-art.jpg | caption = | developer = [[Petroglyph Games]]<ref name=FAQ>{{cite web|title=Grey Goo FAQ|url=https://www.greybox.com/greygoo/en/info/faq/|website=GreyBox.com|accessdate=13 January 2015}}</ref> | publisher = Grey Box<ref name=FAQ /> | director = | designer = Andrew Zoboki<ref name=GamespotReview>{{cite web|title=Grey Goo, and the Rise, Fall, and Rise of the RTS|url=http://www.gamespot.com/articles/grey-goo-and-the-rise-fall-and-rise-of-the-rts/1100-6418604/|accessdate=28 March 2014}}</ref> | programmer = | artist = | engine = GlyphX | writer = | composer = [[Frank Klepacki]]<ref name=GreyGooSoundtrack>{{cite web|title=Grey Goo - Creating the Soundtrack|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VHDoudEsMsI|website=YouTube|publisher=[[Petroglyph Games]]|accessdate=13 January 2015}}</ref> | platforms = [[Microsoft Windows]]<ref name=FAQ /> | released = January 23, 2015<ref name=releasedate>{{cite web|title=GREY GOO LAUNCH DATE ANNOUNCED|url=https://www.greybox.com/greygoo/en/news/grey-goo-launch-date-announced/|website=Greybox.com|accessdate=13 January 2015}}</ref> | genre = [[Real-time strategy]] | modes = [[Single-player video game|Single-player]], [[Multiplayer video game|multiplayer]] |producer = Six Foot}} '''''Grey Goo''''' is a [[science fiction]] [[real-time strategy]] video game [[video game developer|developed]] by [[Petroglyph Games]], produced by Six Foot, and [[video game publisher|published]] by Grey Box on January 23, 2015<ref name=releasedate /> exclusively for PC [[Microsoft Windows]].<ref name=FAQ /> It features a playable faction based on the [[grey goo]] scenario.
==Gameplay== In ''Grey Goo'' players can choose one of four playable factions, the Humans, the Beta, the Goo, or the Shroud<ref name=GreyGooGameInfo>{{cite web|title=Grey Goo Game Info |url=https://www.greybox.com/greygoo/en/info/ |website=GreyBox.com |accessdate=13 January 2015 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150412165124/https://www.greybox.com/greygoo/en/info/ |archivedate=April 12, 2015 }}</ref> and use them to complete a [[single-player video game|single-player]] campaign or play in a competitive [[multi-player video game|multiplayer]] [[game mechanics#modes|mode]] [[player versus player|versus other players]]. Each faction features a unique set of units, structures, and play style as well as its own segment of the single-player campaign. The Beta faction relies on speed, mobility, and power to dominate the battle through battle machines and specific units able to mount themselves on "hard-points" for defense. The human faction is well-rounded and highly based on reconfiguration of their base. They possess teleportation technology, able to reconfigure their sentinels and other structures and also transport their units to anywhere on the battlefield. The Goo faction features the game's namesake, self replicating nanobots that can move around the map consuming enemies and forming themselves into new units. Due to this, they only rely on pure strength and speed to destroy anything in their way. The Shroud faction is the main antagonist of the universe, using strong but flimsy units to dominate with pure firepower. The game bases itself around "macro decisions over micro management" and features a qwert hotkey system for unit control and construction.<ref name=GreyGooReveal>{{cite magazine|last1=Zacny|first1=Rob|title=Grey Goo exclusive reveal: a throwback RTS that emphasizes macro decisions over micro management|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/grey-goo-preview/|website=PCGamer|date=12 March 2014|accessdate=13 January 2015}}</ref> Also, maps feature terrain obstructing vision similar to games such as ''[[Defense of the Ancients|DotA]]'' and ''[[League of Legends]]''.<ref name=GreyGooRTS-IGN>{{cite web|last1=Hafer|first1=T.J.|title=GREY GOO: AN UNCLEAN RTS (IN A GOOD WAY)|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/12/15/grey-goo-an-unclean-rts-in-a-good-way|website=IGN|date=15 December 2014 |accessdate=13 January 2015}}</ref>
==Plot== The story takes place 500 years after humans first ventured outside of the [[Solar System]]. The Beta (or ''Mora'', as they call themselves), a once-spacefaring culture, has fled with the remainder of their civilization to Ecosystem 9 (which they call ''Falkannan''), the planet the game takes place on, from an unknown threat they call the Silent Ones. During a test firing of the [[wormhole]] they meant to use to return to the stars, they are attacked by enemies coming through the portal, or "Keyhole". These advanced [[Unmanned Combat Vehicle|drone]] units are first suspected to belong to the Silent Ones but are later revealed to be human in origin. As the conflict between the Beta settlers, led by Aran (Commander) Saruk, and the human forces intensifies, an explosion in orbit scatters wreckage all over their colony, from which the [[Grey goo|Goo]] emerge and attack both sides.
After a long history of war and exploration in space, during which no intelligent life was found, humans had returned to planet Earth in an attempt to seek peace and stability in a [[Post-scarcity economy|post-scarcity]] society guided by [[Artificial intelligence|AI]]. A signal is detected from the distant planet Ecosystem 9 in the outer [[Scutum–Centaurus Arm|Crux Arm]], and the starship ''LSV Darwin'', captained by Lucy Tak, is sent to investigate. Landing forces are engaged by the Beta (who are designated as such by the humans because their original planet was the "beta candidate" for intelligent life during previous [[Search for extraterrestrial intelligence|radio telescope surveys]], but subsequent investigation did not receive any more signals — likely a consequence of the Silent Ones' attack) and collect samples from the surface, including Goo, which promptly escapes and destroys the ''Darwin'', reaching the Beta colony site in the re-entering wreckage. Despite their initial conflict, the Beta and the now-stranded humans agree to an alliance to destroy the Goo that threatens them, which is revealed to be part of the artificially intelligent "''Pathfinder''" [[Self-replicating spacecraft|Von Neumann probe]] system sent from Earth centuries prior to chart the galaxy in advance of the human expansion. The probes were believed to have been decommissioned when exploration was abandoned, but presumably the Goo on Ecosystem 9 somehow altered its own programming, becoming self-directing.
After sacrificing himself to destroy what was believed to be the last Goo on the planet, the robotic human commander Singleton's consciousness merges with the Goo. It is revealed that the Goo are attempting not to consume life, but rather to protect it from "the growing shroud of Silence" that is expanding across the [[Milky Way|galaxy]] — the same unknown force that destroyed the Beta civilization. All previous hostile actions were merely attempts to expand in order to effectively defend the planet. With Singleton's assistance, the Goo fights back from the brink of extinction and carves a path to the Beta's Keyhole device in the hope of contacting and reuniting with the scattered Goo across the galaxy, to stand united against the Silence. Singleton attempts to negotiate with the Humans and Beta, but the Goo is forced to destroy the opposing armies. Defeated, Saruk, Tak and others who were spared watch as countless Goo masses emerge from Keyholes across the planet. In an after-credits scene it is hinted that the "growing silence" has discovered Ecosystem 9.
In the 'Descent of the Shroud' update, the "growing silence" was revealed as the newly added fourth playable faction, the Shroud.
==Release== ''Grey Goo'' was originally announced on March 13, 2014, with a release slated for fall 2014.<ref name=PetroglyphIntroduces>{{cite web|last1=Cavalli|first1=Earnest|title=Petroglyph introduces RTS Grey Goo with brief teaser, screenshots|url=http://www.joystiq.com/2014/03/13/petroglyph-introduces-rts-grey-goo-with-brief-teaser-screenshot/|website=Joystiq|accessdate=13 January 2015}}</ref><ref name=PetroglyphAnnounces>{{cite web|last1=Macy|first1=Seth|title=PETROGLYPH ANNOUNCES NEW RTS GREY GOO|url=http://www.ign.com/articles/2014/03/13/petroglyph-announces-new-rts-grey-goo|website=IGN|date=13 March 2014 |accessdate=13 January 2015}}</ref> This date was pushed back, and the game was released on January 23, 2015.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Grey Goo on Steam|url=http://store.steampowered.com/app/290790|website=store.steampowered.com|accessdate = 2015-09-17}}</ref>
The [[downloadable content|DLC]] pack ''Emergence'', containing three new single player [[level (video games)|missions]], was released on June 11, 2015. The missions are centered on the robotic human commander Singleton, and how he became the guiding consciousness of the Goo following the events of the main human campaign.<ref>{{Cite web|title = Discover "Emergence" Grey Goo's new DLC - News|url = https://www.greybox.com/greygoo/en/news/discover-emergence-grey-goos-new-dlc/|website = www.greybox.com|accessdate = 2015-06-29}}</ref>
The DLC pack ''The Descent of the Shroud'', containing new single player missions, was released on February 1, 2016. The missions are set months after the game finishes, where it introduces a new faction, The Shroud, also called The Silent Ones.
==Reception== {{Video game reviews | MC = 77/100<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.metacritic.com/game/grey-goo/critic-reviews/?platform=pc |title=Grey Goo for PC |publisher=[[Metacritic]] |accessdate=19 June 2016}}</ref> <!-- Reviewers --> | GSpot = 8/10<ref>{{cite web|last1=Todd|first1=Brett|title=Grey Goo Review|url=http://www.gamespot.com/reviews/grey-goo-review/1900-6416017/|publisher=Gamespot|accessdate=17 January 2016}}</ref> | IGN = 7,6/10<ref>{{cite web|title=Grey Goo Review|url=http://www.ign.com/games/grey-goo/pc-20014601|publisher=IGN|accessdate=17 January 2016}}</ref> | PCGUS = 82/100<ref>{{cite web|last1=Birnbaum|first1=Ian|title=Grey Goo|date=23 January 2015|url=http://www.pcgamer.com/grey-goo-review/|publisher=PCGamer|accessdate=17 January 2016}}</ref> | rev1 = ''Hardcore Gamer'' | rev1Score = 4/5<ref name="hardcore gamer review">{{cite web|url=http://www.hardcoregamer.com/2015/02/08/review-grey-goo/133271/|title=Review: Grey Goo |work=Hardcore Gamer|first=Bradly|last=Storm|date= 8 February 2014|accessdate=13 March 2014}}</ref> | rev2 = ''[[HonestGamers]]'' | rev2Score = 8/10<ref name="HonestGamers review">{{cite web|url=http://www.honestgamers.com/12476/pc/grey-goo/review.html|title=Review: Grey Goo |work=HonestGamers|first=Gary|last=Hartley|date= 8 February 2015|accessdate=13 March 2014}}</ref> | rev3 = ''[[Metro (British newspaper)|Metro]]'' | rev3Score = 7/10<ref>{{cite web|title=Grey Goo review – get stuck into the strategy|date=26 January 2015|url=http://metro.co.uk/2015/01/26/grey-goo-review-get-stuck-into-the-strategy-5035998/|accessdate=17 January 2016|publisher=Metro}}</ref> | rev4 = ''[[GameWatcher]]'' | rev4Score = 8/10<ref name="GameWatcher review">{{cite web|title=Grey Goo Review|url=http://www.gamewatcher.com/reviews/grey-goo-review/12124|publisher=GameWatcher|accessdate=17 January 2016}}</ref> }} {{expand section|date=May 2015}} ''Hardcore Gamer'' gave the game four out of five, stating: "''Grey Goo'' is a stand-out RTS that has found an expert way of blending old with new to create something familiar but fresh. Fans of old-school real-time strategy classics such as ''[[Command & Conquer]]'' will find much to love here".<ref name="hardcore gamer review" /> ''HonestGamers'' gave the game an eight out of ten, opining that it is "a reinvention of how RTS games used to be, looking back on that time when you'd send harvesters out to collect spice and hoped to hell a [[Sandworm (Dune)|sandworm]] didn't eat the bloody thing, or when you geared up to take on that [[Kane (Command & Conquer)|one bald guy]] from Nod. Just in this case, the production values have been ramped up, and it hates you just a little bit more".<ref name="HonestGamers review" /> ''GameWatcher'' scored it 8.0, saying that ''Grey Goo'' is "probably Petroglyph's best game (especially if you're not a ''[[Star Wars]]'' fan), it won't steal the RTS crown from [[Blizzard Entertainment|Blizzard]] or [[Creative Assembly]] but if you want a straight fun strategy you won't regret being absorbed by ''Grey Goo''".<ref name="GameWatcher review" />
During the [[19th Annual D.I.C.E. Awards]], the [[Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences]] nominated ''Grey Goo'' for "[[D.I.C.E. Award for Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year|Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year]]".<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.interactive.org/awards/award_category_details.asp?idAward=2016&idGameAwardType=129 |title=2016 Awards Category Details Strategy/Simulation Game of the Year |publisher=[[Academy of Interactive Arts & Sciences]] |website=interactive.org |access-date=29 November 2023}}</ref>
==References== {{reflist}}
{{Petroglyph Games}}
[[Category:2015 video games]] [[Category:Fiction about drones]] [[Category:Fiction about nanotechnology]] [[Category:Fiction about sacrifices]] [[Category:Fiction about self-replicating machines]] [[Category:Fiction about teleportation]] [[Category:Multiplayer and single-player video games]] [[Category:Petroglyph Games games]] [[Category:Real-time strategy video games]] [[Category:Science fiction video games]] [[Category:Video games about artificial intelligence]] [[Category:Video games about robots]] [[Category:Video games developed in the United States]] [[Category:Video games featuring female protagonists]] [[Category:Video games scored by Frank Klepacki]] [[Category:Video games with Steam Workshop support]] [[Category:Windows games]] [[Category:Windows-only games]]