Gray Matter

The game employs a new Progress Bar system within each chapter too, revealing how far towards solving a specific problem you are and detailing how many 'bonus actions' you've managed to solve along the way. Although not necessary to advance the plot, bonus actions allow you to discover more detail about the back-story. (They also reward you with those inexplicably tempting Gamerscore morsels on Xbox 360.)

It goes without saying that puzzles will be a major focus of the gameplay, and although you do combine objects in traditional style, players can expect a heavy emphasis on magic tricks from the third chapter onwards as well.

These are played out via a detailed instruction manual, and at times you're tasked with utilising Sam's abilities, as Jensen explains during our demo session: "You have to figure out, for example, how to get something from another person, and what trick would be appropriate. You have to collect props sometimes, and place them in certain cases." In a section later in the game, misdirection also comes into play, as you're tasked with fooling your audience into thinking you've burned a film.

During an 80-minute presentation we also get to see Styles' growing obsession with his dead wife and how his perception of reality is increasingly twisted. Jensen says the game is heavily influenced by pulp science books and novels such as The Man Who Mistook His Wife For A Hat, and admits the narrative was guided by her "interest in the mind, and how the mind perceives reality - the idea that perception and our belief systems affect the reality around us".

As you'd expect from a Jensen-penned adventure, maintaining high standards in audio has been a major priority, with voice actors including Phillipa Alexander as Samantha Everett (Alexander also voiced Kate in Mirror's Edge, fact fans), and Steven Pacey (of Blake's Seven and Heartbeat fame) as David Styles called in, while Jensen's musically talented extended family has chipped in to provide the game's aural accompaniment. Hubby Robert Holmes composed a typically gorgeous score to match his acclaimed work for the Gabriel Knight series, and elsewhere The Scarlet Furies have produced tracks for the game, with Jane's step-daughter Raleigh lending her dulcet tones to the band.

The fact Gray Matter has even come to fruition at all is one of the main talking points during Jensen's interview sessions. As the one figure of consistency among the maelstrom that has characterised the game's stop-start development, she admits she "didn't know if it would ever get published or not," when the game was put on the back burner for around 18 months while a new developer, Wizarbox, was found to finish things off.